[sephka]

Ok...I'm sure you guys have noticed that most public events with music are too loud, and that most people who listen to headphones probably listen at unsafe volumes (with crap headphones, to boot.) My question is: Why? At some point, doesn't it dawn on them that the sound shouldn't be causing pain or discomfort? In every case a friend passes me their headphones, I have to turn down the volume. And in every public event with music (sometimes even just spoken word events, like assemblies,) the sound tends to be too damn loud. Worst of all, people in my experience are not understanding, and sometimes are even hostile when I comment on the loud sound.

My question, then, is can anyone explain the reasons for the loud preference? Try to dwell on your own past experience, if it's applicable, and speculate as little as possible for us to find a definitive answer to this question. It bugs me!

 

[D-EJ915]

Some people I know thought it was cool to blow out their ears; but then I came here.

 

[DLP]

My friend was having issues getting along with his parents, part of it had to do with the fact that his parents born and raised in their country weren't used to the way he grew up in America, and the rift because of it caused him misery. Music was his escape, but he only felt comfortable when the music was so loud he couldn't hear a damn thing in the real world.

Myself, sometimes it's just that some things in the music are easier to hear when it is louder. I don't always go around blasting my music at deafening volumes, but at times I feel it easier to hear certain things.

In regards to public forums (concerts and such), that's about the kind of synergy with a performer and the crowd. It's easier to feel it when the music is disgustingly loud.

 

[aerius]

Certain types of music just beg to played loud. Every time I put on a Metallica or Slayer CD I have to restrain myself from cranking up the volume. I can't explain it, that's just the way it is, I honestly can't listen to say Ozzy's "Crazy Train" at normal volumes.

 

[truant truism]

In my appartment complex there's always some jackass tooling around with his car stereo at full volume. They do that because they feel the need to be the center of attention (ironic, when you take into consideration there's dozens of these idiots and they're all playing the same top 40s crap, so they all blend together) Sorry, I just need to vent sometimes.

As for me, I listen to certain things at a high volume to maximize the experience. It's like eating a lot of ice cream instead of a moderate amount. It's all about extravagence. I don't do that much anymore. When I was younger I would do it cause my parents told me not to

Stupid, but true.

 

[D-EJ915]

You should try Living Sacrifice's "Separation" from Conceived In Fire, it begs to rip it up (haha, I'm doing it now, but not at concert levels...)

 

[Dusty Chalk]

It's an attention getting thing.

 

[Kirium]

I find that when I listen to ambient/chill-out/female vocalists, that i listen to the music louder, because i feel it convey's more emotion.... i don't listen to it at painful levels of course.... but the level could be considered loud by some....

 

[Music Fanatic]

Good music sounds better at loud volumes, and except at the highest volumes, most people do not feel discomfort for more than a few minutes. When the sound is louder it can be heard better. This is a well-known trick at audio stores -- they play two systems at different volumes, and the customer often likes the louder one.

 

[brent_mr2]

You have to turn up the volume for more bass, and chest compressing bass is therapeutic

Forget all that new age spiritual crap, just give me some bass.

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

I would say I like to listen to music fairly loud, but definitely not annoyingly or painfully so. For example, I went to this concert on campus two days ago, I stood about 200 feet back from the stage, at the point where the sound stopped hurting my ears and actually sounded good. I'd say there's definitely something to hearing good music at a good volume, but I can't understand why people at concerts, pulic speaking events, etc turn it up way past the point of causing pain

 

[MD1032]

I hope to cure the urge to turn up the volume by getting some SR-325's. The urge to turn up the volume, I've found is due to me wanting to hear the details, but they're not there on the level I want, so I turn it up to hear them. I found this out because when I took my KSC-50's pads off, the details and tonal balance came to where they should be, and the urge to turn things up was knocked down considerably.

 

[FalconP]

When someone is listening in his own room (or with his own headphones), I can see why he may want to turn up the volume hoping to hear more details; but in an amplified concert, the sound level is often so loud as to obscure low-level details-- yet most people do want it that loud. People are surely looking for different things from sonic details: to them the loud sound provides the extreme sensory stimulation that excites them.

 

[Czilla9000]

It is because of good ole human nature:


People perfer quantity to quality.

As Music Fanatic said - they do it all the time of audio stores. This is because practically all decent audio systems sound good at high volumes. Go to a Bose store if you don't believe me.



That is also my secret to getting roles in plays and musicals. While all the other actors might convey emotion better, I am the only one anyone can hear

.


As Goose likes to say "If you can't sing well, sing loud".

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I think music at concerts is loud because that's the way most people like it to be, they don't find it loud at all, it's just the right volume; those of us who find others' music too loud are the outliers and abnormal people

, our ears are just too sensitive

Here in HK I sometimes feel like putting on earplugs when going outside, just because of all the damn brake squeals from double-decker buses >_<