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120 dB onstage ! ! !

#22
BruceWane said:
I saw AC/DC on the "Back in Black" tour...... It was crazy loud, and then they cranked it even louder when they came out for the first encore. I couldn't take it any more - walked out. That's the only concert - out of a few hundred - I ever bailed out on due to excessive loudness.
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I saw them on the Fly On The Wall tour, in a 7,000 seat hockey arena, and it was one of the best sounding shows I had ever heard. Loud, but clean and clear and mixed very well. This, in an arena known for an incredibly ugly echo. I also saw them on the Black Ice tour, in a 25,000 seat arena. It was the same. Wonderful sound. Whoever is handling the FOH (now) is just brilliant. :) And what a great rock and roll show!
 
#24
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 worked a Metallica show as a stage hand back in the early 80's, and of the 27 Marshall cabs and 9 Marshall Majors on stage, 24 of the cabs and all the heads were dummies. In each of the 3X3 cab arrays, only the center cab was real and each was powered by a smaller Marshall head behind the stacks.
 
#28
In the mid-90's, i wound up on Slayer's stage for about 10 seconds (long story) but i remember being stunned that the stage volume seemed as loud as out front. Out front was so loud you didnt have to breathe... the sound moved the air in and out of your lungs for you.
 
#29
JimmyM said:
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.
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:D

I can imagine the lawyers lining up rubbing their hands together!! It never ceases to amaze me the folks that forget that there is a reason why it's called the music "business"...... :D


I remember DISTINCTLY the first time I saw Deep Purple.....My ears rang for a week.....
 
#30
45acp said:
In the mid-90's, i wound up on Slayer's stage for about 10 seconds (long story) but i remember being stunned that the stage volume seemed as loud as out front. Out front was so loud you didnt have to breathe... the sound moved the air in and out of your lungs for you.
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Long story...bah! Admit it...you hopped up onstage and tried to touch one of them and got thrown out and arrested.

:D
 
#34
Loudness is really overrated, both on and off stage. 80% of the concerts I've been to have been far over my pain limit (which is FAR below 120), which means I'm not always able to get it to a comfortable level even with earplugs. At high levels you basically can't hear what the musicians are playing anyway, so I don't really like seeing bands live anymore. Painfully loud + just a wall of indefinable noise = no fun and no musical joy. The worst I ever saw was actually Prince back in 2011; during 95% of the show I had literally no idea whatsoever which songs he was playing. Let's just say that I wanted my money back.
 
#35
Dellers said:
Loudness is really overrated, both on and off stage. 80% of the concerts I've been to have been far over my pain limit (which is FAR below 120), which means I'm not always able to get it to a comfortable level even with earplugs. At high levels you basically can't hear what the musicians are playing anyway, so I don't really like seeing bands live anymore. Painfully loud + just a wall of indefinable noise = no fun and no musical joy. The worst I ever saw was actually Prince back in 2011; during 95% of the show I had literally no idea whatsoever which songs he was playing. Let's just say that I wanted my money back.
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I agree with this 100%. I've always felt concerts have terrible sound and I usually go to see the band considering the noise sucks. Of course it also depends on the venue. I find smaller venues are WAY better than stadiums.
 
#37
45acp said:
Well... in my defense i wasnt the only one who did it. :D Didnt get thrown out nor arrested but i did get thrown down- in what i would imagine to be the amount of force you would use to throw down an elephant or a large truck. :p
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BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Don't know what makes folks in the audience want to be the show, but a good bodyslam will make you forget about it real quick!
 
#38
nightwulf said:
Back in the 90's when I was working as a stagehand during a Metallica show, I happened to walk about 3 feet away from the subs during sound check...The fluid in my eyes started vibrating...I thought to myself: "this can't be GOOD..."
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I went to a Metallica concert a few years back. Sure glad I brought ear plugs. Didn't hear one thing for the whole concert, it was like a two hour long train wreck. Once in a while you'd hear some vocal high up there, but nothing like a word. Nasty.
 
#39
we joke about insane volume but you only need to look at the warning labels that blanket a typical stepladder to realize that real hearing damage liability lawsuits are gonna hit concert sound companies, venues and bands sooner than later, and it's gonna be ugly.
 
#40
T-Bird said:
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.

sam
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Okay..... you're right that this is what soundguys are "supposed" to do. BUT, I think I speak for all TBers when I say that we've all had the soundguy that thinks the way he wants it to sound is always better. I always have to listen to the soundguy be a total ass and no matter how you tell him you want it to sound.... he'll keep it the way he wants it.

CAN I GET AN AMEN?!!? :what:
 

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