Does poor sound quality put you off live music?

RocknRollDave

In response to the OP: YES.

Having been to tons of gigs since my very first in 1989, I’ve heard every quality of sound from clear as a bell to unlistenable garbage.

As others have said, I see no excuse in 2023 for this. 

I know the room plays no small part in this  - Doing my own gigs has taught me that one week I can get a glorious sound and the following week, with the same gear and the same settings, it’s a wooly, echoing mess.

”Ah, but you don’t keep the settings the same, Dave, do you?!” I hear you cry. Well, of course not. I’m no sound engineer - haven’t really got a clue what I’m doing - but I can hear when something isn’t right and I can tweak what needs tweaking.


Most recent gig I went to was Marcus King Band. Seem them a number of times. Always an energetic performance, he has no problem getting a crowd engaged and responsive….except this time the response was muted and flat. Why? Because you go to see an awesome singing guitarist and you can’t hear his voice nor his guitar…you’re going to feel a bit deflated!

Kick drum to flatten universes, but no guitar in the mix?! 

WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION WITH LOUDER THAN HELL KICK DRUM?!?!

Offset

RocknRollDave said:

WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION WITH LOUDER THAN HELL KICK DRUM?!?!

Yeah - and not only live but in the studio as well.  And those with the double foot-pedal and drum sound like a Wile E. Coyote getting a beating from an Acme punching machine.  Just ridiculous.

thecolourbox

I went to a gig a few weeks ago at the Hare and Hounds pub in brum, in their gig room, and fir both the support and the main act the drum sound was the worst thing - the rest sounded fine.

The bass drum was too loud and as I was stood next to the entrance door, I could hear every kick twice as it was vibrating the fire door push bar thing. I'd only go there again if it was my only option to see an absolute all time favourite artist (which let's face it, isnt very likely)

axisus

sweepy said:

Volume ruins live music for me, last year went to see Steve Hackett in Aylesbury. The first set was fine, nice separation of instruments and just the right volume whereas the second set was an unlistenable nightmare, way too loud, turning it into a harsh mush 

That seems strange? I see Steve Hackett every tour these days and I've experienced nothing but excellent sound every time. Why would it change half way through?

axisus

I saw both Van Halen and Satriani (er .... different gigs I hasten to add!) at Wembley Arena back in the day. For both the sound was garbage and the venue was a pain in the ass to get away from afterwards (by car). That was me done with big venues. I've only been to smaller venues since then.

[Just looked up, the gigs were around 91 and 95 respectively.]

stickyfiddle

I tell you what.. I saw Nile Rodger’s this weekend. Small-ish outdoor venue in Dubai. 

Overall it was great. A little loud but not unpleasantly so. But there were plenty of points in the set you couldn’t hear the man’s bloody guitar of all things!!  Thankfully no overbearing kick drum, but it beggars belief. 

prowla

I've seen a number of bands and the rubbish sound has meant I wasted my time.

Linkin Park at the O2 and Marylin Manson at Brixton Academy have been the most notably bad, plus I saw Mars Volta some place in London and there was no vocals.

TBH, I'd rather stay at home and watch telly.

theatreanchor

Danny1969 said:

I’ve been to some gigs that were too quiet, ZZ Top and the Stones certainly were for my taste. There’s all kinds of reasons why the sound can be bad but s lot of it boils down to budget and whether the artist gives a shit. I’ve seen Roger Waters at the O2 and Wembley Stadium and both gigs sounded amazing .. really clear quad sound and you could hear everything with detail.
Some smaller venues, say less than 500 cap  with house PA and FOH engineer can be hit and miss with bartenders covering FOH duty if they have to .. 

At the big end the sound is showfiled so once the act is line checked and the PA is EQ’ ed to the space it should sound OK and certainly does at Victorious fest most years in Portsmouth 

One of the loudest shows I went to was ZZ!

english_bob

I guess I've been lucky over the years, or else I'm not as picky as the rest of you. 

Over the last 10+ years or since Mrs_bob and I have had kids we haven't been to loads of live gigs, and haven't generally travelled far when we have. Most of the bands we've seen have been at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, and have always sounded excellent. The few other Leicester live venues I've seen bands in, or played in myself have sounded good too- saw Ariel Posen at a little 220 capacity venue called The Musician just before the pandemic- great sound, just the right level of volume.

So yeah, it would disappoint me to see a band and have them sound rubbish, but it hasn't happened to me very often.

rze99

OP - yes.

Too many bad experiences that make me feel like I wasted my money.

The last larger gig (not pub) I went to was Teenage Fanclub at the 02 Kentish Town. I deliberately stood behind the mix desk to get their mix which I thought would obviously be best. But no. All bass and drums no guitar and overall level was too quiet - I could see they were working to a DB limit which was displayed on a large screen on the mixing desk and it was mostly reading 93, which was way too quiet in that venue for a guitar band.  Their guitarists were wasting their time I could barely make them out.

rze99

rlw

Yes.  Walked ouf of the Manfreds a couple of weeks ago and nearly walked out of a Samantha Fish gig last week as the sound was just a mess.

I saw Roxy Music at the O2 many years ago and that convinced me never to go there again.

Have had good and bad at the RAH so won't go there to see just anyone.

RFH and Hammersmith Odeon always good.

The Rainbow was the best.  Roundhouse was fucking awful.

I have also learned to not sit too close to the front but rather go about halfway back so you can hear the mix, rather than being in some kind of hole where the sound is just flying past both ears separately.

Jalapeno

Supportact said:

sweepy said:

Volume ruins live music for me, last year went to see Steve Hackett in Aylesbury. The first set was fine, nice separation of instruments and just the right volume whereas the second set was an unlistenable nightmare, way too loud, turning it into a harsh mush 

Same for me. I find that too much volume just confuses the sound for me. I now always take my set of custom molded earplugs to gigs. I originally got them for on stage use but they really do improve things for me as a listener. 

Ditto, always keep a pair of non-custom Etymotics in my jeans pocket. They were very useful for the cinema on occasion (eg. Dune Part 1, which was stupidly loud).

munckee

I still have ringing in my ears from oasis at earls court in 1995, I knew straight after the gig I had damaged my hearing.  I now wear ear plugs to any gig, although i forgot them for Wonderstuff's CFTMI 30 year tour recently and made my ears worse.

O2 seems better than most for me, have seen Roger Waters, Kings of Leon and loads of Country to Country stuff and always sounds good.

scrumhalf

Small venues are in my experience usually fine. Many of my favourite gigs were at either the old Marquee in Wardour Street or the Torrington.

By contrast I've only heard good sound once at the Wembley Arena/cowshed and that was when I was six rows from the front and the barn-like structure had minimal effect on the sound. 

guitars4you

2 live gigs that stick out for me as a poor pa/sound mix both involved Jeff Beck

Manchester Apollo - Guitar Workshop tour - Just to loud especially with far to much lows - Could almost feel my jaw vibrate from sound pressure levels - Not comfortable at all and not needed 

Nottingham Concert Hall - Again far to loud with to much going on in the low end - Vinnie Colaiuta pounding away on a double bass drum pedal - Rhonda Smith on bass and I can't recall the name, but a girl on cello - Just to much activity and/or to loud within the mix - As such you missed what was going on with Jeff 

Springywheel

I always found outdoor festivals to have better sound quality - less chance of the sound getting muddied through reflections, reverberation etc. With indoor venues it's a bit of a crap shoot. 02 in Bristol for example is garbage, as is the Roundhouse in London. Saying that if I like the artist it still doesn't stop me from enjoying the set. 

Modulus_Amps

Yes, it puts me off.

But if you are in a venue and the mix sounds bad try move around the venue a bit to see how it changes, wall reflections, balconies, closeness to the stage change everything.

Saw Stereophonics at Cambridge Corn Exchange many years ago, great gig and sound was excellent with guitars cranking on stage.

Offset

Springywheel said:

I always found outdoor festivals to have better sound quality - less chance of the sound getting muddied through reflections, reverberation etc. With indoor venues it's a bit of a crap shoot. 02 in Bristol for example is garbage, as is the Roundhouse in London. Saying that if I like the artist it still doesn't stop me from enjoying the set. 

That's interesting - I found to one gig I've seen at the O2 in Bristol had good sound, and RH wasn't bad either (although we were listening from the member's bar).

RobDavies

It doesn’t put me off going but it can ruin the night.  I go to The Joiners in Southampton quite a bit and there are two guys there who do the sound, both of them seem to really know what they’re doing - covering a very wide range of music.  Never heard a bad mix there, and I always compliment the fellas on my way out. 

Compare that to Southampton Guildhall… every time I go there it’s dreadful.  At one gig, my mate actually went up to the sound desk and said to the bloke, “are you hearing what I’m hearing?” and got told to fuck off.   I think the difference is that bigger bands play places like the guildhall and have their own sound guys, who don’t necessarily know how to mix a band in a venue with a cavernous ceiling. 

It also really pisses me off when bands with two guitarists are mixed in stereo, meaning if you’re on the left  side of the venue you can’t hear the guitar coming out of the right side of the PA.