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120 dB onstage ! ! !

jaywa

jaywa

May 5, 2008
7,702
283
Iowa City, IA
#1
I was reading Mix magazine last night and they had an article about the AC/DC Black Ice tour and the sound tech said that at the place on the stage where Cliff Williams stands to sing the backup vox, the SPL is routinely 120 dB. I mean, good God how can anyone even handle that?

Guess I know now why he stands right back there by his amp whenever he's not singing.

The tech also said that every one of the Marshall stacks on the AC/DC stage is "live" (no props), and "all on 11". Their singer and drummer use IEM monitors, the rest of the guys are going off backline and wedges. I can't even imagine...
 
#7
The drone band Sunn o))) plays between 120-125 decibels. I've posted these before, but I love the tech riders they send to venues...

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#9
PBass101 said:
/\ So when a soundguy doesn't particularly feel like dealing with this ****, he just tells them that his stage isn't wide enough for their backline and he doesn't have to worry about it? :smug:
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Yep, and then the promoter fires the soundguy and gets someone in there who won't cause the cancellation of a big show, and then force him to have to pay the band for doing nothing, and force him to pay refunds to all the ticketholders, all because a soundman doesn't want to deal with their ****, as you say. On a show like that, the soundman is the most dispensible part of the show and the easiest to replace, so he's best to throw in some earplugs and forget about it. This ain't open mic night at the local originals bar.
 
#10
Hi.

I'd like to see the frequency plot of that said 120dB. In any case I call BS on that to be the case all the time, peaks are a different matter. The problem with huge PA systems and loud PA volumes in general is the need to fight the reflections and the leakage from the PA, so the monitors have to blast above that for the performers to perform. The slap echo from the back wall is hardest and most annoying. IOW loud stage volume is necessary, but above 110dB or so becomes annoying.

PBass101 said:
/\ So when a soundguy doesn't particularly feel like dealing with this ****, he just tells them that his stage isn't wide enough for their backline and he doesn't have to worry about it? :smug:
Click to expand...

Even with the smilie, the ignorance is amazing.

This doesn't happen often ;), but for once I agree with Jimmy.

PBass, I take that You have no idea what so ever what a soundperson does? He/she is NOT there to dictate terms or voice opinions about the performers, they are there to do their job. If the performer feels that the soundperson is incompetent, perhaps it's time to find a better one, oh wait a minute, we didn't find this one and didn't even pay a cent for his/her services.

Once in a different life I was a soundman, doing rock and hard rock. One time I was tricked to do the sound in a techno-rave. Accordion music is the only thing I hate more than that, but a task is a task and I protested, but did it anyway. I must've done something right as from that day on, when ever the said DJ/MC had a gig, he specifially demanded me to do the sound. He did know how much I hated the music, we talked about it, but we both agreed that if the audience is happy, what the hell. Watching half naked girls jumping in the strobe lights for hours was a definitive bonus :D.

Regards
sam
 
#11
BTW, considering Mal's and Angus' love of non-master volume amps, I could see it. But this conflicts with what I've heard in the past...that they use their pet amps iso'd and mic'ed under the stage cranked on 11, but the onstage amps are on but aren't all that cranked, and that Angus is in the top speakers on his side and Mal is in the bottoms, and vice versa, and they can control the volume of each other on their own side. I've heard Angus say a long time ago how he likes the audience to hear his guitar from his amps more than the PA, but I thought he was rock-starring it up. Still do, quite honestly. If this is true, how the hell does Cliff stay in the game with only two SVT 2 Pros and two 810's?

Yeah, I think this tech was "adding to the legend." Those guys would be stone deaf after 35 years of that. I think they're loud onstage but certainly they'd be deaf as Jeff Beck if they weren't sensible about it.
 
#15
JimmyM said:
Those guys would be stone deaf after 35 years of that.
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I think you've figured it out...

THATS why they need the amps at 120dB.



On the other hand, I'm pretty sure our drummer peaks well over 120dB. I've got plugs in ALL the time, which should knock 20dB off, but he can still be painfully loud at times. He must be hitting 130dB or more, but then I'm standing right next to him - a few feet away/offstage it drops to a far more sensible level.
 
#18
jaywa said:
I also recall reading something written by someone who had been onstage with Metallica during the Jason Newstead era, and his words to describe it were, "terrifyingly loud".
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I read an article where even the band themselves didnt' realize how loud it was. James Hetfield said that once, during a concert, one of his IEM ear pieces fell out. His reaction? "HOLY Living F***!!!!"
 
#20
I saw them on the For Those About to Rock tour, and I don't recall it being crazy loud, although I do remember them lowering full-sized cannons from the ceiling for the title track and when those things went off it literally pushed you back.
 

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