I don't want to see a live show ever again. - Page 3

Bobcat Arena, Charlotte, NC. Bruce Springsteen, the sound was terrible I couldn't make out one word in one song, it was difficult understanding Bruce when he spoke and the volume was WAY too loud, earplugs would have been welcome.. Same venue, Alison Krauss & US, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, all perfect audio with the volume where it should be.. It's got to be the sound guys and/or gear that travels with the artist.

having been to hundreds of concerts, played in several bands, and run sound for many concerts myself, i can definitely say that MOST live shows I have been to have had VERY dissapointing sound.

sometimes its the sound guy, sometimes its the venu, and definately it can be uncooperative musicians who refuse to turn down their amp, or any number of other ego driven issues.

another thing that sucks almost as bad is BEING the band that is performing, and having the stage monitor mix suck so that you cant hear what the hell is going on with the rest of your band, or just having to hear a horrible mix of youself playing the entire show.  this happens even more frequently than bad sound for the audience.   Meanwhile you have no idea if what the audience is hearing is just as bad, or great. 

On a positive note, and something seriously surprising, Cannibal Corpse sounds way better live than on their earlier albums. I could actually decipher the guttural secretions coming from Fisher's mic, and afterward he hung around and we talked about the concert, setup, etc. It was great.

I've done live sound a decent amount in the past, and as others have said, a lot can go wrong for bad sound.  You must have an experienced engineer, great room acoustics, great gear and cooperative musicians.  Any one of those goes wrong and things can start sounding terrible in a hurry.

But when it all clicks, its blissful.

My favorite was when we'd do soundcheck, everything sounded great, and then when we came back for the gig the musicians suddenly decided they wanted to play twice as loud as they did in soundcheck.  

Derek Trucks Band shows tend to have some of the most amazing sound I've ever heard, and it mostly starts with the musicians.  

The bass are always more powered than the highs, that's why you almost can't hear them. Anyway, been to a U2 show, and they used these speakers, and for me, the sound was balanced: http://clairglobal.com/i-series/

Quote:

Originally Posted by salannelson 

Damn musicians, they think they know everything don't they?

Their main problem is that they only really worry about what it sounds like on stage.  So if it sounds "mega" on stage, they kind of assume that's great for the audience, or sometimes they don't even really care what its like for the audience.  

Small venues sound good usuaklly but large arenas usually sound not so great due to poor acoustics.

When I go to a show, it's to get lost. Not pay attention to the audio. That said. I'm the guy who waits in line for hours to be right up front.

I wouldn't get very good audio if I wanted it haha.

Well the bands I'm trying to see live at least once in my life are:

Tool

A Perfect Circle

Queens of the Stone Age

Deftones

Nine Inch Nails

.. would be very disappointing if they sounded bad considering how professional these bands are.

I remember wearing earplugs at the DC concert... didn't really help the sound at all. Just made it quieter.

It seems like a hit or miss to me...

I saw Matisyahu a couple of weeks ago at my university's small amphitheatre. The warm up band sounded absolutely horrible as the bass was way overdone and you couldn't even make out the guitar riff. I couldn't get into it for the life of me. Thankfully, they used a different setup for the main act and it sounded superb. It was during a thunderstorm so the whole experience was extremely impressive.

Usually its the venue. There are venues in Tokyo I think twice going to even if when the artist are awesome, like Duo Music Exchange or Yokohama Bayside. I never experienced good music there. OTOH, there are venues which I was never disappointed at, such as Studio Coast.

Also, I try to stand right in front of the mixing boards. The front row is overrated, it has horrible sound.

In my experience, concerts in certain genres are meant to be more a social interaction than a personal communion with the music itself.  The obvious stand outs to this are Classical and Jazz (among others I'll admit).  Even though the Audiophile hobby is geared to recreate the sound of a live performance, it is impossible to get that ideal live performance at a large scale rock or metal (or pop, or rap, etc) concert simply due to the large amount of fans who are there to scream and dance and sing along.  You don't hear the attendees of a performance of Bach humming loudly along to the Brandenburg Concertos, for instance, or holding up lighters while screaming during Don Giovanni.  I always remind myself that I'm not at a rock concert to get pristine audio quality.  That's what my home rig is for: just me, the artist and (hopefully) the black background of a recording studio.

Cheers,

Zach