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LOUSY SOUND AT LIVE CONCERTS

I went to a concert at Bank America Pavillion in Boston last night. I saw Tedeschi and Trucks, and The Black Crows. A terrific concert; The Tedeschi and Trucks Band was especially terrific.

Unfortunately, these bands sound better in my living room than at this beautiful, outdoor venue.

Many venues have extremely poor acoustics and/or poor sound systems. The music is often terribly distorted, details and nuances of the instrumentals and voices are lost. The sound presents as a congealed distorted mess. The art of these incredibly talented musicians cannot be fully appreciated without clear sound. Listening to music in these crappy venues is like looking at masterpiece paintings in dimly lit museums with dirty glasses. The colors, details and brush strokes are indistinct. The artistic genius cannot be fully appreciated. The Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA., Fenway Park and The Boston Garden are just as bad as The Bank Of America Pavillion, if not worse.

I am frustrated with these venues that cannot provide great sound to accompany the great music. What is the sense of attending live concerts if the sound quality sucks. Does anyone else share my frustration?
matjet
tostadosunidos's avatar
tostadosunidos
1,197 posts
 
A lot of sound men blew out their ears years ago.
That, and they first work on getting the drums as loud as possible and then do the same with the bass. There's no room left to stack the mid-to-high-range instruments at the top, resulting in a distorted, cacophonous mess.
rrog
1,958 posts
 
"Cacophonous" I always enjoy learning new words.
pdspecl
254 posts
 
I've probably been to about 30 > 40 concerts in my life. Some shows were a complete disappointment sound quality wise, others were pretty good given it was a large venue with lots of people.

I saw Robert Cray in a small venue in CT about 3 years ago. The venue held about 500 people. He was incredible. The sound quality was good but it was insanely loud. I use musician ear plugs to reduce loudness but get most of the music quality. Even with the ear plugs it was way too loud.
I emailed the venue manager to offer this concern.

As I get older I want preserve what hearing I have left.
I do not appreciate when it's insanely loud. How can you enjoy music when your ears are ringing and overloaded.

I have found that sitting further back (lawn seats) at out door venues typically is not as loud. So, I look for these shows
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
Foster_9...I was going to mention Pink Floyd Concerts. They have excellent sound in large arenas. Plus they position speakers around the arena for surround sound.

As far as other bands' sound, I agree with the rest of you and I'll only go to a small theater for a concert.
notec
407 posts
 
You've obviously never been to Pickathon
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