Audio Flynn Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 Glad I did not drive 2.5 hours each way and get a hotel to see Hall and Oates. Better to buy fine wine and cheese and watch reruns of Darryl Halls House! Diz you need to drive out and check out 30 Monroe in Grand Rapids Michigan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 On 5/21/2018 at 8:06 AM, DizRotus said: Is there any hope for good sound in such spaces? I’m interested in what others have to say, especially Michael, @colterphoto1. IMO, there was too much bass. It was extremely difficult to understand the vocals. My wife said the “bass muddied the vocals.” You could feel the punch of low bass. But there was too much “van at an intersection bass.” Back in 2006, I was photographing a Wedding, with the bride and bridesmaids getting ready at the Townsend Hotel, in Birmingham, which you must know. As I went back to my car, I ran into Dr. Dichiera, head of the Michigan Opera Theater. It had been over 10 years since I photographed the Detroit Opera House on Grand Opening Day, as a 2nd photographer for him. He did vaguely remember me and I said: "I'm coming back to your house to hear Jeff Beck on Tuesday." He replied: 'He's my favorite guitar player." Pretty cool coincidences, but it gets better. At the reception that night, the band's bass player, who I'd met before, was unaware of the concert that Tuesday, but assured me he would attend. I was up in the balcony, and he was on the main floor. Now, mind you this is the OPERA HOUSE!! Beautifully restored and I was there photographing who's who in Michigan (mayor, governor, Auto company presidents, you name it) along with the Opera All Stars who gave incredible performances with the orchestra and choir, the highlight being Luciano Pavarotti!! Needless to say, my expectations were high for Jeff Beck and his band, with the incredible Beth Hart as his guest vocalist. The BASS was overwhelming in the balcony so I called my bass player buddy the next day to get his take on the show. He sat by the sound guys on the main floor and HE complained about too much bass, ironically. It almost killed it for me, as cymbals were not clear and drowned out everything. A lady I was dating took me to hear Maroon 5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills about 5 years ago (where I had photographed Piston/Palace owner Bill Davidson's 75th Birthday Party in 1997). It was an amazingly huge stage with LED lights and projection TV, but Adam Levine looked like Ant Man on stage, in front of about 200 blondes in the first 20 rows, LOL. The sound simply SUCKED in that Cavernous Environment and I decided right there I would never go back to a large venue. DTE, Freedom Hill, and Meadowbrook are passable open air venues, however. Robin Trower at Royal Music Theater was the best sound so far, but the 50 or so people hanging at the frikkin' BAR behind us were talking the whole time of the show, so it made it suck. Even Andiamo's, where I photographed many Weddings, had Mark Farner of Grand Funk playing to a small crowd, where the house PA registered an insane 113 db SPL about 25 feet from where he stood. All the guitar notes were screaming like a single note and I could not hear anything from the sonic bombast and overload. I'm going to see Jeff Beck at Pine Knob (sorry DTE Energy blah blah) at the end of July. It will be my FINAL concert. Instead I will buy as many Blue Rays as I can and just listen at home. I want to keep my hearing as well as my money for as long as I can. Between parking fees, $100 plus dollar tickets, and $10 drinks, I will be done with this high dollars for crappy sound. However, having seen Tom Jones at the Opera House about a month ago, gave me new hope, but we always take a chance on the sound quality don't we?? I got in free, so it was worth it, but I would not pay $125 for those balcony seats again. So my conclusion is that SOUND GUYS SUCK, in general, and they just mix TOO DAMN LOUD. I know I sound like an old fart when I say this, but I assure you, I'm a young fart who had Khorns at 23, and I did DJ work after high school. I always had great sound. It's not difficult, especially today, but they have Apes running those boards. Yes, I have a DB meter app on my iPhone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 On 6/4/2018 at 4:23 PM, Audio Flynn said: Pine Knob always sounded better than any Detroit arena. Worst concert sound with the best performance was Tull 1980 (?) at The Olympia in Detroit before they demolished it. Saw many bands in the 70's there. Tull, Grand Funk, Elton John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted June 8, 2018 Share Posted June 8, 2018 17 hours ago, ClaudeJ1 said: Saw many bands in the 70's there. Tull, Grand Funk, Elton John. Clapton, Doobies, Rondsdtat, Still and Young, Crosby and Nash, rocking James Taylor. I forget allot. Just remembering the first time I saw B B King was at Pine Knob when I was too young to appreciate the privilege! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
parlophone1 Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Old roman arenas are designed for good acoustics. Not far away from Udine (ITA) is the Pula (Croatia) old roman arena. Many bands were and are performing there with great success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBCODD Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 On 6/7/2018 at 5:50 PM, ClaudeJ1 said: So my conclusion is that SOUND GUYS SUCK, in general, and they just mix TOO DAMN LOUD. I know I sound like an old fart when I say this, but I ***ure you, I'm a young fart who had Khorns at 23, and I did DJ work after high school. I always had great sound. It's not difficult, especially today, but they have Apes running those boards. I saw Ana Popovic at the Musical Instrument Museum last night and I couldn't agree with more. The MIM hall has about 340 seats and should have had great sound, but it was much too loud, so the sound was very muddled. This was very unfortunate, as she is a prime guitarist and played with a good set of backing musicians. I did find that a set of foam earplugs (free from the MIM staff) made everything sound much clearer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClaudeJ1 Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 " I always had great sound. It's not difficult, especially today, but they have Apes running those boards.""..........earlier comment by me. My sincere apologies to any Apes I may have offended with my negative comment about the vacuous nature of today's sound guys, who play it all too loud, even in smaller venues with great acoustics. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babadono Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Yep. My advice, don't forget your earplugs to any live venue you are going to attend. You can always not use them if by magic the sound is actually good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emile Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Last concert with "good" sound I attended was Pavarotti in Tampa in the late 90's. But ... probably not a good comparison with a "rock" concert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.