ke70dave Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 (edited) So i have started this thread, to get everyones oppinions on the current trends associated with live music. First off, i consider myself to be an enjoyer of music. From classical music to alternative rock, i enjoy a bit of every genre. I always have music going in the car, at home, the ipod is the first thing packed when going no train or plane trips. I Just enjoy music. I also consider myself a bit of a snob when it comes to audio gear and audio quality, i just hate low quality sounding music. i have some nice audio gear, headphones etc, and am currently building up a decent set of speakers for home use, coupled with a decent amp should be nice. I have also done a reasonable amount of sound mixing for live productions, admitedly amateur stuff (christmas/easter concerts and musicals at church, using a 48ch digital mixing desk etc), so i do consider myself to have an ok ear as to what i think sounds good and enjoyable when mixing instruments/voices together, though I'm sure some disagree, but i don't get too many complaints! haha. Now we are done with the background info, what is going on with live music? A few examples. I attened a concert on saturday night just gone, a very popular christian pop/rock band, "Paul colman Trio" is the band. Hit up the youtube if you want to give them a listen. Been around for around 12yrs. concert was alright, except for the unbelivable level of bass. I was about 2/3 from the front. The bass was sickening, the roof was shaking, my ears were shaking, my stomach was shaking, i was not enjoying the concert at all. now if you have a listen to a few of their youtube vids (the song "dip" a good example), they are relatively mellow sounding - i guess softish rock, but the sound guy managed to kill it with a rediculous level of bass. It was cranked. Another example, went to see U2 at the end of 2010. the support act was 'Jay Z'. Was at the sydney olympic park stadium, we were a fair way back, probably 2/3 from the front.. the bass from jay Z's sound was so loud that i walked out of the stadium (to the merchandise area) and asked everyone i could (including the medical staff....) if they had any ear plugs. Of course none had any. And i belive i am now a little bit more deaf from that ~30min set of horendous noise. howeever when U2 came on, the sound was fantastic. loud yes. But balanced. Just enough bass to make it sound awesome. The problem with excess bass seems to be even more evident at music festivals where the smaller stages are perhaps inside smaller buildings or marquees. Where no matter where you stand in the marquee, the noise is just completly excessive, and the bass level seems to be about 6x louder than the rest of the noise spectrum. and midrange sounds seem to be non existant. Now I'm not saying i don't enjoy loudish music, i don't mind it at all. but i enjoy good quality, well mixed music that is enjoyable to listen to, and wont make me deaf. Not loud music that wil make your ears bleed and you can't even hear the backup singer over the bass guitar. so my question to everyone is, why does live music have to be so damn loud, and more specifically so damn bassy? what happened to producing high quality sounding balanced live music, which is just enjoyable to listen to? and doesnt mack you cringe everytime they reach for their bass guitar. or alternatively, do people agree with me? or are you happy to put up with the current trend of horendously loud, unbalanced, bass heavy, mid range lacking loud music? rant over! Edited January 9, 2012 by ke70dave Quote
drkbrth Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 Our generation has become.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwGGLrDvfE&ob=av3e As a musician, i know where you're coming from, and feel your pain. I guess it beats too much treble :hmm: Quote
carbonboy Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 I attened a concert on saturday night just gone, a very popular christian pop/rock band, "Paul colman Trio" is the band. Hit up the youtube if you want to give them a listen. Been around for around 12yrs. concert was alright, except for the unbelivable level of bass. I was about 2/3 from the front. The bass was sickening, the roof was shaking, my ears were shaking, my stomach was shaking, i was not enjoying the concert at all. now if you have a listen to a few of their youtube vids (the song "dip" a good example), they are relatively mellow sounding - i guess softish rock, but the sound guy managed to kill it with a rediculous level of bass. It was cranked. Sounds like their mixing hasn't changed since I saw them a couple of times about 10 years ago! :laff: Was so bassy back then you couldn't even hear the snare drum! My theory behind all the bass is the modern generation have destroyed their hearing already via ipods etc, so everything has to be ultra loud just to register. :hmm: Quote
ke70dave Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Posted January 9, 2012 As a musician, i know where you're coming from, and feel your pain. I guess it beats too much treble :hmm: mmm i like treble, if its nice and smooth treble. but generally its harsh horrible treble. no thanks! Sounds like their mixing hasn't changed since I saw them a couple of times about 10 years ago! :laff: Was so bassy back then you couldn't even hear the snare drum! My theory behind all the bass is the modern generation have destroyed their hearing already via ipods etc, so everything has to be ultra loud just to register. :hmm: yeah ive seen PC3 a few times before, all been simliar, but a few times on a much bigger stage (and i much further back). mmm well they had no problem with the snare drum on saturday, few SM57 microphones took care of that.....once again CRANKED through the PA. competing with the bass guitar, and apparently turning them both down wasnt an option. yeah could be the ipod thing, i guess when you are using the AWEFUL headphones supplied with ipods, the only option to attempt to make it sound better is to crank it. Quote
Spencer[RL] Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 The Ipod is a wondeful bit of technolgy , the earphones given with them is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. I hate when theres to much Bass at a Drum and Bass festival. :happy: Quote
Raven Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 It always will come down to the sound engineer sitting at the mixing desk, mixing the set. Being a musician who has played live music myself for many years, there are good live music mixers, and shit ones. The main reason behind the support acts sounding awful is that the event organisers want the main act to sound awesome, so they only get use of half of the audio equipment supplied for the main act, which in turn creates an average sounding mix, no matter how good the mixing is. If you saw Jay-Z as a main act, the story would be different. My 2c - coming from someone who has been in the live music scene as a performer and a fan of live music. Quote
ke70dave Posted January 9, 2012 Author Report Posted January 9, 2012 yeah true.... but has someone told all these mixers that they want it super bassy? seems to be quite a common occurence is all. actually....since you are a musician, how much do you talk to the sound mixer on what kind of sound you want? Quote
Des Posted January 9, 2012 Report Posted January 9, 2012 I went to see Rise against a little while ago with the missus and the lead singers voice was causing a weird screeching/distortion noise and i had a splitting head ache when we left. Didn't enjoy it at all. The support acts were great but the main show was pathetic. Quote
orangeLJ Posted January 10, 2012 Report Posted January 10, 2012 i saw Rise Against play in Sydney, and as soon as I read the first post I immediately thought of them as one of the BETTER acts I have seen live. Sick of it all played before hand and were just as good sound wise. I have to totally agree with Dave though, most concerts these days are terrible, as is most "live music" whether its at a pub, club etc. How many times have you gone to the pub, had tea or a couple drinks just before the band starts, then gotten pissed off with having to yell at the person next to you to have a conversation? Music doesnt need to be loud to be enjoyed. I went to Pink with the missus last year or the year before, some of her music was waaaay too bassy and even too loud at times, the guys that played before hand were even worse (and we were up the back) ACDC, well they were meant to be loud and although it made your head shake at times, i think to play it quitely would be an insult. lol. I 100% agree that most concerts do a shit job when it comes to their sound. Quote
drkbrth Posted January 10, 2012 Report Posted January 10, 2012 (edited) ^ A bit let down by this one :( Edit; The one before it :P Edited January 10, 2012 by drkbrth Quote
Des Posted January 10, 2012 Report Posted January 10, 2012 I love rise against but the music mixer dude needs to not be deaf. Quote
Fatty Posted January 10, 2012 Report Posted January 10, 2012 I love rise against but the music mixer dude needs to not be deaf. You need to stop being such an old man when it comes to loud music. Quote
orangeLJ Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 Like I said, their sydney show kicked ass! Even my missus enjoyed it! lol Quote
kickn5k Posted January 11, 2012 Report Posted January 11, 2012 Like I said, their sydney show kicked ass! Even my missus enjoyed it! lol I'm spewing I missed the Melbourne show. Hopefully Bad Religion will make up for it!!! Stu. Quote
philbey Posted January 12, 2012 Report Posted January 12, 2012 The most impressive bass I've seen was at the Gorillaz last year. Loads of it, from a massive speaker tower, but it was clean and the mixing was very balanced. There was just shitloads of sounds, it was amazing. Best gig ive seen in a long time. Quote
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