I just went to see a great band (Caspian) and it was a tiny gig with about 50 people. It was damn loud. Since I was at the front, checking out the gear and watching them play, I was wearing earplugs. I could barely hear the guitars, the bass drowned out everything. Really, it was just total mud.
So I went to the other room, a cafe, at the back of the house, and from there I could take out my earplugs, and actually hear what was going on (a lot, with guitar layers drenched in reverbs and delays and electronic noises).
The house supplied free earplugs, and everyone I saw in the audience wore them. I was alone in the cafe, so I think I am the only person in the whole place who actually heard the music. I am totally baffled by this experience. WHY!? With a gig of 50 people, why not just turn it down a bit, and ask (without the use of a mic) the audience to remove their earplugs so they can hear?
I read a nice quote by the band before I went there, saying that no matter how much you turn up your home speakers, its still nothing like the punch in the face of live sound. I usually agree with this, but when live sound is reduced to a choice between just pure mud, or sitting in the next room, then my home speakers are actually a far superior experience. SO THE NEXT TIME YOU ARE PLAYING SOMEWHERE WHY THE FUCK DONT YOU TURN IT DOWN A BIT SO WE CAN ENJOY LISTENING.
 Norrköping, Sweden
About me
I enjoy building gear as much as I like playing with it. I havn't been creating music for very long, so don't be too hard on my tracks. I dislike the use of computers, and welcome a more hands on approach. Most of my music grows from live improvisational noise. Constructive critism is of course warmly welcomed.
My Gear
The studio consists of several cassette decks, shortwave radios, vinyl players, diy synths, minidisc machines and modified/circuit bent toys. I sometimes use a computer for multitrack recording and effects. Recently, I've enjoyed building some weird MIDI controllers.
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Electronic Music review: why SO LOUD!?
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Written September 15 2009
Comments
its fucking stupid isn't it. i've ranted the exact same rant to my mates many times after seeing bands recently.
i actually walked out on mogwai in japan. lost all respect for those fuckers, turning it up so loud all you can hear is static doesn't give your music emphasis, it makes you a fuckwit with no idea about sound. fuck off. yeah this blows...
we have really small bars in this town and it sucks when a good band plays too loud... not only can't you enjoy the band, but you can't talk to anyone either. earplugs are nice for saving your hearing, but terrible for picking up subtle acoustics. agreed dach...unless it's sunn o))) of course
 i hate earplugs. x GOOOOOD POINT!!!!!!
"if it's to quiet, you're too deaf"
and you can quote me on that A-fucking-men! I detest loudness bravado.
i cannot abide guitar drone music.
ive been to several gigs in glasgow like this: a tiny room full of crap-beards staring at the stage, arms folded with a fundamentalist zeal for LOUD. these people are flagellants. This is one of the biggest reason I started taking mics and a record to all the shows I see. The mics can handle the loudness way better than my ears, and I can listen to it later, and it fosters a nice relationship with the musicians.
sAMsKi said: "agreed dach...unless it's sunn o))) of course i hate earplugs. x" or my bloody valentine……… for $12 you can get a pair of hearos and those work better than those foam jobs. the hearos have a filter in them so they reduce sound in a flatter way but they aren't perfect. great for $12 but not perfect. you can get custom molded er plugs that will be a mold of your ear canal and take 2 weeks or so and cost $100+ to buy if you want to get real serious.
the hearos work well enough for me. still i agree about things being loud at all the wrong times though.. or sometimes just uncomfortably loud.. but usually that is a sign of bad house sound and harsh mids/highs. it's probably 100% of the time going to be too loud in any venue to not wear earplugs as far as hearing protection is concerned but.. we've all known that since we were in jr. highschool right? or whenever it was you went to your first concert. hearos link yghartsyrt said: "or my bloody valentine………" indeed! monty: *talk to the beard* ;) I am NOT paying money for expensive earplugs just cos the band/house is too fucking stupid to control their volume levels. I mean WHAT THE FUCK!? Why spend tens of thousands of bucks on gear and years of practice, only to sound like utter shit cos someone pushed the master fader an inch too far?
I am really, really annoyed over this. When I am going to play out next, I'm going to turn it down, and explain shit to the audience. Maybe dangerously loud sound is good for dance music with a strong 4/4 kick, but not for music that you actually want to listen to. I must be getting old as I find that most gigs these days are like this
Sometimes if the band is really bad, so that if it's loud it makes people think it's good.
I wear ER-20s ("Musicians' earplugs" - £8 off ebay) and find that i can hear a lot more of what's going on with them.
The necessity for loudness comes partly from how loud acoustic drums are naturally. Playing them quietly gives a totally different sound. I love loud music. I love to feel the bass in my body. It's the reason church organs have pipes to play tones too low to hear. The probelm is often the frequencies given off by distorted tones - that 1k (?) sensitive part of the spectrum. It's the reason that i often don't need earlplugs at a dubstep night: there isn't that sustained onslaught of harsh sound that actually hurts. Playing drums live i need the guitars an bass to be as loud as me, or i just can't get into it; can't "feel" it. in improvised, expressive music that's very important. For me, the loudness of the music is part of the joy of watching a live band. Indeed, i've seen many folky-drone acts that have been ruined by the fact that there was next to no bass at all. A constant drone from 90hz and up is just annoying... chew chew Signup to comment
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