Why does rock concert sound suck?

’electronic manipulation’, wolf, in this case...means ’dsp based acoustic redress’, or some similar meant set of words. But the paragraph,and half the post’s intent was that it as all about DSP based attempts at acoustic manipulation so for me to say it in that specific sentence was not required.

You CHOSE to quote it out of context.

When others say something you don’t have to go out of your way to misinterpret what they say, so you can put a chip on your shoulder about them, and then attack that thing you created. It’s disingenuous. then you proceed to lambaste that person as uninformed an an idiot in a smarmy round about condescending way.

Grow up child. You attempt to appear as an adult; Then show yourself to be one.

IMO it’s a large part of why your commenting PO’s a notable number of people. It’s missing critical aspects of human integrity in the idea of sharing space on a forum and relating.

I PO people for different reasons. To each their own ability to PO, I guess.

An entirely different genre, but last night I went to a rave held in a 100 year old warehouse in Detroit. Not surprising that such a venue not at all conducive to good sound. Concrete floor, high ceiling, metal beams. Highly reflective surfaces everywhere. The sound engineers always crank the bass at events like this, and 24 18" subwoofers in a relatively small space pressurizes the room. The treble was the worst part. On multiple occasions it became ear piercing. Attending such an event and expecting good sound is foolish. Best to set aside critical listening and indulge in the experience.

There are many reasons rock shows generally can sound awful. For one thing, and the most important one is that most of these arenas are not designed for sound quality at all. They are echoey, sound smearing, godawful places of zero acoustics.  All the DSP in the world isn't going to tame that mess. 

In such venues, the best that can be done is to make the show an "experience" with tons of body shaking low bass and a light show to blow your mind.

When you go to a show you aren't paying to see someone in a recording studio. If you get lucky and your band is playing a quality hall, say where a symphony orchestra plays, or a smaller theater with some sound treatment on the walls, you are lucky.

I've seen countless shows over the last 45 years, and the sound quality has run the gambit from great to crap. 

My favorite venues are either outdoor ones that don't have echoey sound or smaller indoor venues having 200 to 2000 people. Think bar shows up to modest venues. They seem to offer your best chance of hearing good sound. 

For instance, over the last 30 years I've gone to an outdoor music festival of Americana/Rock/Jazz/Bluegrass called Merlefest. And the sound there is GREAT, mainly because those running the soundboards actually care. 

Lol a friend and myself went to a bar that had an Irish  band playing for st Patrick s day. On there break asked if they would like us to setup the system  a bit better they said sure asked us what we knew about it told them we were both audio files  and it was a life time hobbie we got the speakers close to equal distance  from the wall leveled them somewhat close one was at leat 2 feet lower than the other did a few basic things they started to play the first song and stopped mid song and thanked us. After the show they offer us a job!!! Lol had fun that night. 

Sound men start with the drums, getting a great-but-too-loud sound from the kit.  Then they do the same with the bass.  After that there's nowhere for the higher pitched instruments and vocals to exist.  And it all sounds like crap.

My wife and I were once at a Los Lobos outdoors show and the sound was so bad we decided to go home.  As we were walking away we hit a point where the sound was decent enough so we sat there and stayed for the rest of the concert.  So it can be a relative thing.

The most painfully loud band I ever heard was the 13th Floor Elevators at the Safari Club in Baytown, Texas ca. 1968.  This was long before big PA systems so I'm not sure how they managed to do it.  Small room, I guess.