Loud bands

[rob1963]

Having worked with a band on Friday & again last night, something occurred to me...why are live bands twice as loud as discos?

When I came on afterwards, it sounded like I was playing background music in comparison - even though I was playing at my normal volume!

On Friday, someone even came up to me & said he could feel his ribs vibrating when the band were on, because they were MUCH too loud.

Any ideas?

[Danno13]

I think its due to live music having a bigger dynamic range than recorded music, so it appears to be much louder. Either that or you need some better speakers :D:D:D

[Tony Scott]

Drum kits are so loud on their own that the rest of the band have to be loud to be heard! If i know i'm on with a band I take out my full 5kW, that usualy blows them clean away!!!:D

[Penfold42]

Either that or you need some better speakers :D:D:D

Beat me to it...but they are louder, i think everyone in the band tries to out do each other.....drummer going for it so the bass player keeps up.

That's how i did it playing the drums.

[DMX Will]

Band members (without being too stereotypical) seem to have this want to be loud to give them more of a presence.

I've done both lighting and sound for various bands previously, however I've never ran the system at full wack.

[Tony Scott]

I've worked in venues where the venue operator will turn the sound limiter off for the band and then back on again for the dj...howz that right??

[DMX Will]

I've worked in venues where the venue operator will turn the sound limiter off for the band and then back on again for the dj...howz that right??

Makes you wonder why it's there :rolleyes:

[Tony Scott]

Makes you wonder why it's there :rolleyes:

Thinking about it, could be the BASS element of recorded Disco, House etc. Don't seem to get so much bass with alot of bands and it's bass which seems to annoys the neighbors more often than not...don't know really??:confused:

[DMX Will]

Thinking about it, could be the BASS element of recorded Disco, House etc. Don't seem to get so much bass with alot of bands and it's bass which seems to annoys the neighbors more often than not...don't know really??:confused:

Very true, your average band doesn't start kicking out dance tunes now does it.

[PropellerHeadCase]

Sound is recorded in a critical listening environment and compressed on to CD (dynamic range is squashed down to very little), live bands, especially vocalists, continually up their volume to make up for mis-perceived inequalities in volume. It shouldn't be as bad with a proper sound engineer who isn't on stage. Then there's that whole volume=talent scenario.

[Vibrant Sounds]

I played a wedding reception a couple of weeks ago with a band. The room that the entertainment was in was about 40ft by 20ft with the entrance doors in the middle of one of the short ends.. The band took up all of one end about 10ft by 20ft and at the other end they had a mixing desk and sound engineer taking up about another 5 ft to the left of the doors. I was also at the opposite end from the band to the right of the doors. There were chairs along each length.

So the available space for the guests was about 25ft long by 16ft wide.

Now the downside this band had the whole lot miked up, including the bloody drums. The sound was painfully loud and the rim shots from the snare drum were actually painful. All the sound was fed to a massive mixing desk and then fed back into a large Martin Audio PA. Pathetically large for the venue and painfully loud.

The singer/guitarist was actually quite good, but the band were a bit of a mix mash of musicians. I do not think they were a regular band, more like a group of backing musicians.

Funny thing is the Singer /Guitarist could have made considerably more money if he had arrived with a couple of Mackies for his PA a guitar amp and a selection of quality backing tracks, as they had hired in the PA and sound engineer, and he had travelled down from Stroud to Plymouth to set up the PA. They must have charged a fortune.

[CRAZY K]

I played a wedding reception a couple of weeks ago with a band. The room that the entertainment was in was about 40ft by 20ft with the entrance doors in the middle of one of the short ends.. The band took up all of one end about 10ft by 20ft and at the other end they had a mixing desk and sound engineer taking up about another 5 ft to the left of the doors. I was also at the opposite end from the band to the right of the doors. There were chairs along each length.

So the available space for the guests was about 25ft long by 16ft wide.

Now the downside this band had the whole lot miked up, including the bloody drums. The sound was painfully loud and the rim shots from the snare drum were actually painful. All the sound was fed to a massive mixing desk and then fed back into a large Martin Audio PA. Pathetically large for the venue and painfully loud.

The singer/guitarist was actually quite good, but the band were a bit of a mix mash of musicians. I do not think they were a regular band, more like a group of backing musicians.

Funny thing is the Singer /Guitarist could have made considerably more money if he had arrived with a couple of Mackies for his PA a guitar amp and a selection of quality backing tracks, as they had hired in the PA and sound engineer, and he had travelled down from Stroud to Plymouth to set up the PA. They must have charged a fortune.

Theres good and bad as with DJs.

For the worst offenders I think its down to an ego thing--I have to be heard above the others so turn it up a bit more.

Why do venues turn off the sound limiter---easy---ego---if the band get into a strop cos the powers gone off they may pack up and go home---and usually they will be the highlight of the evening so we cant have them upset-

I have worked with some sensible bands ( more Jazzy, Party Bands who realise people dont want their heads blown off ) and also have friends who play in smaller rock bands using reasonable volume levels.

I suppose also if theres a Disco around they feel its " competition" so they have to be louder--doh!

I was worried last week playing at Beccles because the FOH Manager said theres a sound limiter here because we have trouble with Bands!!!

Played at what I considered a decent Disco level---no complaints.

The bands playing there must be deafening :eek:

CRAZY K

[PropellerHeadCase]

Funny thing is if you play after a stupidly loud band you sound better playing at a sensible volume, assuming the punters aren't all deaf or suffering from temporary tinnitus.

[BeerFunk]

A band will seem unbearingly loud if they don't play in tune, I find. Or even if they arent playing to any particular tune, like all these gimmick 'death metal' bands :thumbs_down:

[Paul James Promotions]

It's not really a problem with the music not being as loud, but you need the enough volume to be able to do an encore and thank the band at the end of their set.

If we discover that we are working with a band, we will usually take the bigger PA with us.

[PropellerHeadCase]

A band will seem unbearingly loud if they don't play in tune, I find. Or even if they arent playing to any particular tune, like all these gimmick 'death metal' bands :thumbs_down:

That either says something about your opinon of Death Metal bands or the Death Metal bands you've seen. The technical proficiency, at speed, of many of the big Death Metal bands is astounding.

[sleah]

The technical proficiency, at speed, of many of the big Death Metal bands is astounding.

I'd go along with that. The nature of the sound they make, they need *really* good quality kit and sound engineer to match to make them sound good.
The metal guitar sound is based on distortion, which when heard through top quality PA is quite amazing (take Slash as an example of doing amazing things with a guitar).
However, push it through inferior kit adding it's own distortion and then mixed badly and it's like taking a demolition hammer to your skull.
Obviously the above applies to all/any instruments that are played to the 'extreme'.

[DMX Will]

It's not really a problem with the music not being as loud, but you need the enough volume to be able to do an encore and thank the band at the end of their set.

If we discover that we are working with a band, we will usually take the bigger PA with us.

Just add your other 10 subs Jamie? ;)