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RUSh at Barclays Center Last Night - Problems

#22
Here's yet another interesting article on placement of sub woofers, dispersion patterns, etc.
Invalid Link Removed
Too bad what looks technically to be the best solution is a sight line eyesore...
Perhaps another reason there are so many bad reports about sound on this tour is due to the bottom line, which is funding- costs are way up, forcing many acts to take smaller rigs which don't allow proper coverage throughout.
I'm still surprised, in the past Rush has always been praised for the quality of sound at their concerts.
 
#24
D.A.R.K. said:
Here's yet another interesting article on placement of sub woofers, dispersion patterns, etc.
Invalid Link Removed
Too bad what looks technically to be the best solution is a sight line eyesore...
Perhaps another reason there are so many bad reports about sound on this tour is due to the bottom line, which is funding- costs are way up, forcing many acts to take smaller rigs which don't allow proper coverage throughout.
I'm still surprised, in the past Rush has always been praised for the quality of sound at their concerts.
Click to expand...

Interesting article.

lowsound
 
#26
lijazz said:
Saw Rush in Brooklyn, NY last night at the new Barclays Center. I had concerns about sound quality being that it is a large venue like many others. And unfortunately my concerns were well warranted. Granted, I was in the nosebleed seats, so that had something to do with it, but from what I have heard this morning on the internet, my complaint of the sound is shared by many others regardless of seating location. From what I COULD hear, the band sounded great, but the sound was so boomy and bottom heavy that I could not hear Geddy's bass AT ALL. The best way I can describe the overall sound quality is like listening to a concert in the parking lot outside an arena. All boom, no clarity.




I went to TD gardens and couldnt believe how crap it was mixed. Iflew 20,000 kms to see the guys and although they played at their best the sound issues were really bad. The problem was the bass drumm was booming and geddys bass wasnt in the mix. Easily fixable but their sound guys are obviously deaf or they were mixing with headphones. You cant charge that much for a ticket and have those levels of sound quality. It was that bad that it was hard to pick some songs as i tend to tune into the bass melodies in their music. Geddy needs to do the sound check from the mixing desk and have a listen himself . Id be getting rid of the sound guys for sure . They need younger guys who can hear the mix. The crowd absorbs alot of the reflecting sound in the venue and once the band starts they should be on the money within a few songs ... No exceptions. All in all coming from Australia to boston was expensive and a little bit dissapointing but at least the guys played well.
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#27
Huge RUSH fan here,
I've seen them probably a dozen times.
Only a couple shows had decent sound, most were muddled affairs regardless if an outdoor or indoor venue.

The best mix was the 1st time I saw them,
The 2112 Tour way back when at the "Palladium" in NYC along w/Cheap Trick & UFO.

I still remember the vocals were distinct & I could actually make out what Geddy was screaming way back then.. !
 
#30
ChuckTrucks said:
You guys should complain on the bands facebook, at the venue, and with the ticket provider.

At the very least let them know you are upset and why.
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You wrote what I was thinking. A link to this thread should be brought to their attention. I'm trying to find out how to. This is what I found so far: Invalid Link Removed
Let's see what we can do with it...
 
#31
Fwiw, I've heard many a sound guy comment about our venue here...and ones in general.....that venues originally, or purposefully designed as a sports arena/complex will next to never sound right because they're not designed to.
Sports complexes are designed for the sound of the crowd to be focused down to the floor to hype up the players.
Sorta the opposite of an ampetheater.
Which is why 9 out of 10 shows at sports arenas leave something to be desired sound wise.
 
#33
kikstand454 said:
Fwiw, I've heard many a sound guy comment about our venue here...and ones in general.....that venues originally, or purposefully designed as a sports arena/complex will next to never sound right because they're not designed to.
Sports complexes are designed for the sound of the crowd to be focused down to the floor to hype up the players.
Sorta the opposite of an ampetheater.
Which is why 9 out of 10 shows at sports arenas leave something to be desired sound wise.
Click to expand...

this is very interesting, I didn't know that :hmm:

So in theory, then, you'd have to have something to suspend over the floor to break that up for a musical performance. Some sort of diffusor or ??
 
#34
I was at the Brooklyn show too. Terrible sound, terrible setlist, and terrible seating - in the nosebleeds, I felt I was watching other people watch a Rush show. The Barclays center is tight, but tall, and steep....very vertigo inducing and cramped.

As for Alex's jig - Heh, Scott Appleton is a hell of a tech, so I doubt he's fired, but it was silly and unprofessional for him to start packing gear before the last note.
 
#36
Without reading all the replies, large indoor area's make for large standing waves. If you're sitting/standing in one, the whole show can be horrible. Not much you can do about it if you can't move somewhere else. There's also very little the sound engineers can do about it. It is what it is.
 
#38
dmusic148 said:
With sound tech as it is now, there's really no excuse.
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Well, this is something to think about....
A lot of shows sound like mp3's to me- all treble and sub.
line arrays and digital desks, I work on them for a living and it is often times very difficult to get a warm mid range response.
I find issue more with the consoles more than the arrays, but there are more than a few models of array out there that are seriously lacking.
Also, I remember going to shows as a kid and there were always delay fills used at stadiums, in order to make sure of coverage in the nose bleeds. Sections of stadiums would be closed off if production couldn't cover it. I don't see that any more.
We talk about the importance of mid with the bass on this site a lot- to me so many rigs are tuned for all top and bottom. it's just like taking the mids on a bass amp and turning them all the way down. Why can this happen? Why are rigs smaller? Little to no tour support. No up front funding. Why? People steal as opposed to buy music- the bottom has fallen out of the market.
 
#39
jeffbass said:
I have seen Rush many times over the last few tours. Indoor venues always sound bad. I'm hoping for more amphitheater shows on future tours.
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For thier "Vapor Trails" tour I saw Rush at an outdoor venue. There's seats in the pavillion section where the stage is, I was on the lawn up the hill and the sound was fabulous!! I could hear every nuance of everything and Geddy's bass tone blew me away. Cheers to thier soundman that night! One of the best sounding concerts ever!

Saw them for thier "Time Machine" tour inside an arena and the sound was...okay. A little boomey and a little blurry at times but not a disaster. I could hear Geddy's bass fairly well but it sounded more "clanky" than anything else.

I remember going to concerts in the 70's and the 80's at various venues (5,000 to 18,000 seats) and was never disapointed with the sound regardless of where I sat. The two best sounding concert's I've ever heard was in the mid-70's for Jethro Tull's "Passion Play" tour and for ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" tour. Amazing clarity and depth to the sound. The thing is, PA systems and all involved were actually pretty basic back then and it seemed like there wasn't a lot in between the mic's and the speakers to muck things up. Can't help but wonder if there's just too much going on in the signal chain these days to the point of it all being too complicated which results in bad sound.
 
#40
I saw them on Test for Echo at the Gorge in George, Washington. its an outdoor arena and the sound was great. I saw them on the Vapor Trails tour at the Rose Garden in Portland (indoor) and sound was bad, We were right near the mixing booth and you could tell by the looks on their faces and frantic walkie talkie communication that the engineers knew it sounded bad and were trying everything they could to fix it.

One guy appeared to be literally pulling his hair out.


...side note:

Geddy also made a little mistake during one song and immediately banged his head with his hand as if to express "ugh, i'm an idiot." That was golden in my book. He really is human like the rest of us!

I guess when you're Rush, there ain't no playing on as if it didn't happen. Half your audience are musicians who know exactly what every note is supposed to sound like.
 

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