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Sound Quality

Guest theevilfridge

By Guest theevilfridge,
in Reading & Leeds Festivals

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sjseabass Enthusiast

sjseabass

Posted
Posted

Not intended to be specifically about this year, but just while a shitload of gigs are fresh in everyone's minds, I'm intrigued by people's thoughts on sound quality at festivals.

At Glastonbury most stuff was super super loud, except before the headliners on Pyramid - frustrating when you're trying to enjoy Jack White of all people and it just isn't loud and sharp enough. Arcade Fire got mildly ruined for me near the front because the bass was so freaking loud, all I could hear at times - not good for the music they make. Saw The 1975 in William's Green (not intentionally - they were the first of two secret sets and I wasn't losing my place for what turned out to be a phenomenal Metronomy gig) and it was just a mush, loud enough but messy, before half an hour later on the same stage Metronomy was glorious. John Peel Stage sound was great all weekend (the noise Royal Blood made, fuck me), Massive Attack headlining Other a little over-bassy but fitting for most of the music so good, Metallica SO DAMN LOUD AND TIGHT etc etc.

Reading - Drenge was quiet and messy as far as I'm concerned, ruined it for me. Everything was too quiet on Main, really, except Queens of the Stone Age and pre-cockup Paramore. Some bass problems all over the place too. Wolf Alice mostly a mush, Blink coming in and out from decent to shit, and so on. This is after the sound got better every year for me at Reading 2010-2013 (Biffy was unreal) so it was disappointing this year when I know the fest is capable of it.

I could talk about Field Day and BST as well but I must be boring you by now.

I've thought of a bunch of things that could affect my perception of the sound:

How tight the band are;

How good the sound engineers are - does each band bring their own? I'm guessing Metallica do, everyone says their sound is 50x better than everyone else's wherever they play, and post-Glasto I can well believe it;

Where I am in the crowd;

Speaker quantity and quality;

Atmospheric conditions - I believe there are problems at Reading when the wind blows towards town, which means they have to turn it down, so you have the double whammy of the wind taking already deliberately quieter sound away;

Decibel restrictions.

So....thoughts? Particularly ideas which could make things better for me in future :P

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Babyquack Newbie

Babyquack

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I actually have to be right by a speaker in most big outdoor gigs otherwise I can hear fuck all as I fucked up my right ear drum a a gig last year. I didn't watch AM this year but a friend who did said even though she was right by a speaker it was still really quiet. I was in the same spot for QOTSA the night before and didn't have any problems though so I guess it really is just luck.

And in answer to your question, every band normally brings a sound engineer with them :)

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Liam1082 Newbie

Liam1082

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I thought the NME/Radio 1 tent sound was decent this year, Don Broco, Royal Blood and La Dispute among others sounded decent. Saw Pendulum and Netsky in the Radio 1 dance tent and all I could hear was drums and bass, couldn't really make out the synth sometimes. Also, I saw a bit of Jake Bugg on the main stage and there seemed to be coming a high pitched sound coming from the right. For me, most of the acts saw on the main stage really didn't sound great at all, don't know whether that's just my ears or what, but ah well..

Edited by Liam1082
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sjseabass Enthusiast

sjseabass

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I actually have to be right by a speaker in most big outdoor gigs otherwise I can hear fuck all as I fucked up my right ear drum a a gig last year. I didn't watch AM this year but a friend who did said even though she was right by a speaker it was still really quiet. I was in the same spot for QOTSA the night before and didn't have any problems though so I guess it really is just luck.

And in answer to your question, every band normally brings a sound engineer with them :)

That ear thing must suck :(. I'm pretty paranoid about my ears going to shit, I listen to music so damn loud in my headphones for hours every day, so it's a worry...not enough to stop me from doing it, though :/. Thanks for the sound engineer info :).

I don't really know what sort of advice I was expecting tbh, you guys are right, it's clearly just luck of the draw. Unless you're seeing Metallica. Just wish I could pick which gigs to have the good sound at I suppose.

I'm amazed there are people elsewhere saying they enjoyed Drenge and that the sound in the NME was generally good tbh - it was for a lot of bands, sure, but various degrees of bad for others. I suppose I'm just trying to get my head around how it can swing so wildly in the same environment.

It's definitely not just your ears at Main. I suppose it's just really hard to get the sound right for everyone (or even most people) at outdoor gigs, as everywhere struggles with it.

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DaveElNino Newbie

DaveElNino

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Queens had the best main stage sound I've heard since Metallica, but I may very well have ended up in a sweet spot. I didn't notice many issues over the weekend - apart from Blink playing Carousel which sounded dreadful. I did spend most of my time at the main stage getting sound from one of the relay towers which definitely helps.

I even had to use ear plugs for a lot of the weekend - my hearing's not completely fucked up, but I've been wearing ear plugs for most indoor gigs for about 6 years now after a painful experience at a We Are Scientists gig.

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Babyquack Newbie

Babyquack

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That ear thing must suck :(. I'm pretty paranoid about my ears going to shit, I listen to music so damn loud in my headphones for hours every day, so it's a worry...not enough to stop me from doing it, though :/. Thanks for the sound engineer info :).

Invest in some very cheap earplugs! Work like a charm and you still hear the music crystal clear - sure it's not as loud but it can help to lower the bass a fair bit :) I'll never stop listening to music all day long tbh - I have to have it a bit louder now due to the bad hearing but music is worth it as you'll know! ;)

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Yellow_Fellow Newbie

Yellow_Fellow

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Posted (edited)

Invest in some very cheap earplugs! Work like a charm and you still hear the music crystal clear - sure it's not as loud but it can help to lower the bass a fair bit :) I'll never stop listening to music all day long tbh - I have to have it a bit louder now due to the bad hearing but music is worth it as you'll know! ;)

Ear plugs don't reduce the bass :P Edited by Yellow_Fellow
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sjseabass Enthusiast

sjseabass

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Invest in some very cheap earplugs! Work like a charm and you still hear the music crystal clear - sure it's not as loud but it can help to lower the bass a fair bit :) I'll never stop listening to music all day long tbh - I have to have it a bit louder now due to the bad hearing but music is worth it as you'll know! ;)

I just don't think I would do it...I mean I have the option to have my headphones whatever volume I like and I put them up highest most of the time, sometimes even if it reduces the sound quality. I'm basically addicted to volume.

I figure if Lemmy's not deaf yet there's hope for me to keep on like this forever :P

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#FreeComTruise Newbie

#FreeComTruise

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Agreed, I've been completely put off them after seeing their live show twice. The songs were utterly ruined by the unnecessary levels of bass. Quite a few hip hop acts tend to do it actually

I don't think I've seen many hip hop acts come to think of it actually, Odd Future/EarlWolf, Chance the Rapper and Watch the Throne.. Chance's sound was okay though, definitely not an overload of bass, and WTT was incredible

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Babyquack Newbie

Babyquack

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Nah it just reduces the amount the little hairs in your ears wiggle. There's no way in hell ear plugs will reduce bass, unless you're going studio monitors

oh okay - that'll be it then. Either way, it makes the bass less distinguishable and therefore I can hear the full music better. :P

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