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So you wanna make the audience deaf too?

#41
Guys, let us be realistic. Most of rock drummers get deaf early, and they play unamplified instrument in a rehearsal room. Unless they use earplugs or -32 dB headphones playing to the metronome ;)

A fan of heavy metal knows that earplugs are needed.
Wasn't it Lemmy of Motorhead who said "Play loud!"?
There indeed are genres where loud music is appreciated. There so many quiet genres to choose from...
 
#42
AntekStalich said:
Guys, let us be realistic. Most of rock drummers get deaf early, and they play unamplified instrument in a rehearsal room. Unless they use earplugs or -32 dB headphones playing to the metronome ;)

A fan of heavy metal knows that earplugs are needed.
Wasn't it Lemmy of Motorhead who said "Play loud!"?
There indeed are genres where loud music is appreciated. There so many quiet genres to choose from...
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Well gee - if Lemmy said it, then who am I to argue sacrificing my health!
 
#44
Metal Matt said:
For what it's worth, there ARE some genres of music where immense volume is necessary. The purpose is to move way more air than a typical show. Doom metal bands usually play around 115-120db's and drone bands like Sunn play at 125. It's about creating a physical element to the music that isn't felt in other genres, or at least not felt so forcefully. And usually everyone at these shows is wearing earplugs. Those that don't, go home with 2 days of ringing ears. The way I see it, it's their choice. You see a wall of amps in a tiny bar it might be a good idea to get some earplugs from the club.

As far as the idea that loud always equals lousy sound, I call bs. I've seen plenty of bands, with thousands of pounds worth of backline that play off mostly stage volume that knew how to set their volumes and tones to each other so you could hear everyone, and so there isn't any sort of undesirable distortion going on. Never had trouble telling what a band was playing because of their volume except for the ones that didn't pay attention to the fact that getting a "clean" sound out of a pile of distortion and fuzz takes a little work. Unless you want mud... I think that's fine too.


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What absolute bollocks
 
#45
It is more difficult to mix a band quietly. It's easy to just crank everything. A good sound engineer can make everything audible at reasonable volumes. There are more hack sound people than there are good sound engineers, especially in your average bar or club. In my experience, the first sign of a good sound engineer is one who tells people to turn down on stage. That means they have volume in mind and plan on actually using the monitors.
 
#46
I'm with Metal Matt. Boris, Sunn O))), Lightning Bolt and similar bands just aren't even close to the same without massive dBs. The extremely excessive volume is intrinsic to the style. It's damaging, stupid, extremely atavistic and it's art.

KayXero said:
WOW are you thick. Its still stupid. earplugs at best only attenuate 30 dbs....and not even the best ones for music only do 22 to 25 of actual db reduction. Subtract that from your 125 db show and you are still over the safe threshold of 80 db and on your way to hearing damage.

Hell dude....ive been to over 100 db shows....A show at 105 db can move a bunch of air fine. Its not needed to go so far beyond that. For every few more decibals its like 20% louder. Read up about this stuff bro


EDIT: btw bone conduction and all that noise not escaping vibration through the ear canal due to the plugs just adds to the danger. But hell, if thats how loud you want it, then there will be a ton of def rockers in my generation. Its funny how our (people in their 20s) grandparents used to tell our parents their 70s and 80s music in the head phones would make them deaf.
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#47
boynamedsuse said:
You also mentioned not being able to hear the singer. I think that is a problem when the backline is too loud. Anyway, if I can't hear the singer, I generally leave before long.
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We get this with most of the 'pro' mixers/engineers/soundmen in our town. & it AIN'T the backline being too loud.

We've ALL been in this band, let alone the biz, for a long time so KNOW the limits & where our stage vol. should be(& usually is).
It's THE soundman/men who are cranking the FOH PA system WAY too loud for the room that is the prob.
It's not ONLY painful to the audience- most of whom are too fuelled up to notice too much :D , but IS a prob for us ONSTAGE as sometime's I can hear the FOH system WAY over the top of my rig- which is right behind me :rolleyes: :help:

DAMN SUBS are only 2m away from where I stand & sometime I have to turn my rig OFF to demonstrate just HOW loud it is ONSTAGE.
We've talked to the soundguy..... He's listened, it's marginally better, but the ONLY soundman that DOESN'T do this is SO booked up, we're lucky to get him once every cuppla months.
THIS SUX BIG TIME. :spit:
 
#48
Our band is purposely and intentionally loud. We wear earplugs on stage. We bring a box of earplugs to our shows to hand out if people need. We are backline only,...because, well,...all the PAs around here suck anyways. We don't have a singer because,...well all the PAs around here suck. We don't play large venues and don't really care if we ever do. If we did,...we'd crank the hell out of it anyway.

Like it or not, there is an audience for this type of music,....Of the bands mentioned on this page,...all are influences (LB especially) on our band. We don't expect everyone to get it,...or be comfortable with it and we certainly won't force it on anyone,...but we appreciate those that do. If it's too loud, you are too old. FWIW the only empty crowd we had was at 1am in an all ages venue.
 
#50
Loudest band I've ever experience was My Bloody Valentine. It sounded beautiful, but if I didn't have earplugs there's no doubt I would've gone deaf. The venue handed them out first thing after they took your tickets. It was pretty sweet. Second loudest show I saw didn't have any drums, it was just two dudes playing guitar with like 8 full stacks. So good.

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#52
doobeye said:
Loudest band I've ever experience was My Bloody Valentine. It sounded beautiful, but if I didn't have earplugs there's no doubt I would've gone deaf. The venue handed them out first thing after they took your tickets. It was pretty sweet. Second loudest show I saw didn't have any drums, it was just two dudes playing guitar with like 8 full stacks. So good.

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I LOVE YOU FOR SEEING MBV
 
#53
warwick.hoy said:
Our band is purposely and intentionally loud. We wear earplugs on stage. We bring a box of earplugs to our shows to hand out if people need. We are backline only,...because, well,...all the PAs around here suck anyways. We don't have a singer because,...well all the PAs around here suck. We don't play large venues and don't really care if we ever do. If we did,...we'd crank the hell out of it anyway.

Like it or not, there is an audience for this type of music,....Of the bands mentioned on this page,...all are influences (LB especially) on our band. We don't expect everyone to get it,...or be comfortable with it and we certainly won't force it on anyone,...but we appreciate those that do. If it's too loud, you are too old. FWIW the only empty crowd we had was at 1am in an all ages venue.
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Too old? Nope.

Me and my fans will be rocking with great hearing way into on later years while you and your fans may very well end up with lots of damage soon to come.

Read my post about plugs and db levels. Or just research how ear plugs can only protect you from damage to a certain point.

Learning about bone conduction and hearing damage would be smart too. Hell im 24 and just smart about this stuff and trying to make folks aware.

When you have annoying bouts of tinnitus and also hi frequency hearing loss, you will regret alot of things my friend.
 
#54
doobeye said:
Loudest band I've ever experience was My Bloody Valentine. It sounded beautiful, but if I didn't have earplugs there's no doubt I would've gone deaf. The venue handed them out first thing after they took your tickets. It was pretty sweet. Second loudest show I saw didn't have any drums, it was just two dudes playing guitar with like 8 full stacks. So good.

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Ive read several articles about how loud they are. People even leave their concerts despite ear plugs.....smart huh?

least they got paid =/

EDIT: from a blog with a comment on an MBV show

"Um, I wore earplugs and STILL had to cover my ears at the end-of-set wall of noise. It was an amazing physical experience, but it was unnecessary. I agree with the previous poster, it was just white noise in your ears. Turn it down so we can hear it, folks. I want to be impressed by your music, not your loudness."

another poor guy

"MBV shows are so loud they cause damage even if you have earplugs in. I saw them a month ago, and I deeply, deeply regret it. My ears hurt, ring, and have strange pressure. I was under the impression I would be safe with earplugs, but I guess the eardrum can't take the 20 minute + onslaught of noise that was one of their songs. Stay home and listen to your CDs instead... I sure wish I had. :("

Some even had ringing DESPITE earplugs. Thats my point
 
#56
Well you can keep bringing up the fact that "we'll go deaf someday" even though we wear earplugs, but either way I'm not going to live my life missing out on experiencing my favorite bands live because they play loud. At this point, when I see a band i like a lot playing at average volume, its just not as entertaining. I'd honestly rather lose a bit of hearing when I get older than be bored at every show, eardrums are overrated anyways.

Ps Noise rules, I was in awe the during the whole 12 minutes finale wall of sound they did. It's really not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. Low frequencies like bass and drums don't damage your ears. It's the high frequencies that do the real damage. Check out Merzbow, one of my favorite noise artists from Japan. His live shows are absolute insanity, in a good way. Anywhoo, if I do end up losing my hearing I could always, you know, turn up louder. Haha
 
#57
doobeye said:
Well you can keep bringing up the fact that "we'll go deaf someday" even though we wear earplugs, but either way I'm not going to live my life missing out on experiencing my favorite bands live because they play loud. At this point, when I see a band i like a lot playing at average volume, its just not as entertaining. I'd honestly rather lose a bit of hearing when I get older than be bored at every show, eardrums are overrated anyways.
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Yes of course if you don't want to play any instruments after the age of 40, that's indeed one path to be taken. Or don't mind using sub-titles in TV shows and just forget about watching movies in movie theaters. Or you don't care about hearing other people talk to you.
 
#59
doobeye said:
Well you can keep bringing up the fact that "we'll go deaf someday" even though we wear earplugs, but either way I'm not going to live my life missing out on experiencing my favorite bands live because they play loud. At this point, when I see a band i like a lot playing at average volume, its just not as entertaining. I'd honestly rather lose a bit of hearing when I get older than be bored at every show, eardrums are overrated anyways.

Ps Noise rules, I was in awe the during the whole 12 minutes finale wall of sound they did. It's really not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be. Low frequencies like bass and drums don't damage your ears. It's the high frequencies that do the real damage. Check out Merzbow, one of my favorite noise artists from Japan. His live shows are absolute insanity, in a good way. Anywhoo, if I do end up losing my hearing I could always, you know, turn up louder. Haha
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not big of a deal....are you flipping daft kid? how old are you? did you not read the comment I quoted of the distraught fan who wished HE NEVER WENT TO SEE My bloody Valentine because of that irresponsibly stupid wall of sound.

ITS PERMANENT FOR LIFE HEARING DAMAGE. People have committed suicide because the ear ringing got to loud for them.

Gosh dude. and turn it up louder? yeah make it worse huh, till you can hear nothing. I know someone who is profoundly deaf. Thats ultimate deafness, the last level of it. Its no fun for her but she manages ok since shes had bad hearing since she was little. Imagine though knowing what its like to have good hearing and losing it. Itd drive you insane.

And btw you are highly uninformed i you think low frequencies cant cause hearing damage.
 

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