How loud is *96db* (max volume stipulated in venue hire agreement)
- Thread starter chico enrico
- Start date
chico enrico
No hair shows you care.
Sadly they'd gone all acoustic by the time I got round to seeing them. I'd love to have seen that tour, though. I think there's only really My Bloody Valentine have approached it recently for physically affecting you with volume.
I love feeling the bass punch me in the guts.
I saw MBV at the Roundhouse last year. that was fucking loud. but NOTHING compared to the Swans. Before they came on I had put my jacket inside one of the speaker stacks and once they started playing i literally could not get close enough to retrieve it to get my cigarettes. the only thing i can compare it to was that showground attraction where you stand against the wall of a rotating drum and then try to get into the middle but the centrifugal force prevents you doing so. It was THAT physical.
HoYo
New Member
just received the following as part of hire agreement from a club venue:
Your DJs are not allowed to play music sound over 96db till closing.
how loud IS that?
venue is fairly average size club but i'm just anxious this may be a pissy volume which would obviously ruin the night.
Anyone any ideas?
Hello chico enrico! Just wondered how you got on with the venue in the end? I've just had the same condition enforced by my venue and the band is now refusing to play in case the limiter cuts out and ruins their equipment. PLEASE HELP! Thanks!!
ska invita
back on the other side
i dont think the limiter will ruin their equipment - in my experience it turns the power off - no reason why it should ruin anything.
usually the venue is aware of the limit and sets the master desk at a level so it wont trip
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
put the venue in touch with an actual sound engineer who can install something like a formula sound AVC2 sound limiter. when it goes over a certain level it will drop the gain until you turn it down thus preventing the power cutting out.
alternatively bring some long extension cables and plug in all the sound equipment elsewhere
alternatively bring some long extension cables and plug in all the sound equipment elsewhere
96db is not very much. I think people might be able to hear themselves talk over it.
However, in my experience, there's no way that I'd expect a promoter/DJs to pay a blind bit of attention to such a clause in a contract. Fat chance! So I wonder if it's there for the promoter to read or just to look as if they are taking things at all seriously.
However, in my experience, there's no way that I'd expect a promoter/DJs to pay a blind bit of attention to such a clause in a contract. Fat chance! So I wonder if it's there for the promoter to read or just to look as if they are taking things at all seriously.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
The foo fighters are the loudest band in the world? I bet they still somehow managed to sound totally middle of the road.
ddraig
kicking against the pricks...
put the venue in touch with an actual sound engineer who can install something like a formula sound AVC2 sound limiter. when it goes over a certain level it will drop the gain until you turn it down thus preventing the power cutting out.
alternatively bring some long extension cables and plug in all the sound equipment elsewhere
and a sock
pesh
Well-Known Member
i got thrown out of a wedding reception once for taping one of my socks over the mic on the limiter / clockwork orange.
i'd have probably got away with it if i hadn't gone and retrieved it and put it back on while the venue manager was shouting at the utterly bemused DJ. fortunately there was only about half an hour to go by that point and i'd done all the drinking i needed to.
i'd have probably got away with it if i hadn't gone and retrieved it and put it back on while the venue manager was shouting at the utterly bemused DJ. fortunately there was only about half an hour to go by that point and i'd done all the drinking i needed to.
Silva
This went well.
I saw MBV at the Roundhouse last year. that was fucking loud. but NOTHING compared to the Swans. Before they came on I had put my jacket inside one of the speaker stacks and once they started playing i literally could not get close enough to retrieve it to get my cigarettes. the only thing i can compare it to was that showground attraction where you stand against the wall of a rotating drum and then try to get into the middle but the centrifugal force prevents you doing so. It was THAT physical.
I've seen them on the front row a few weeks ago at a festival and while it wasn't as intense as I'd expect (I guess my ear plugs fitted in really well), during You Made Me Realise at a point I was with my arms stretched out and could actually *feel* the sound, and the metal stage barrier was throbbing (and no, I wasn't on acid).
Can't even imagine what it would be in a closed room with a designed PA system.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I have never gone to a club or gig without wearing earplugs - even then I've lost some sensitivity over the years.
It shocks me that people who love music can care so little about their hearing - but then a lot of the punters were also doing other stuff that did them permanent harm.
It shocks me that people who love music can care so little about their hearing - but then a lot of the punters were also doing other stuff that did them permanent harm.
treefrog
Saddle up
I lived down the road from that venue at the time. FUCK it was loud, could hear it like they were playing in my back garden!
Which is good as it saved me a few bob, unfortunately I had to listen to the Foo Fighters.
Silva
This went well.
Loud music done right really isn't about ears-ringing volume - it's more on the effects on the body than on the ears. I recall reading on how loud gigs (particularly bands who play really loud for more than shock-your-parents value like Swans and MBV) are the aural equivalent of waterboarding - with good ear plugs, your body really isn't at any danger, but the changes in air pressure caused by the sound can be so immense the brain interprets the whole thing as a threat. That and the dynamics of the sound, for instance, what I liked about James Blake live was the difference between the generally soft melodies and the gut-punching low-end.
And MBV actually warn people to wear ear plugs, and here on Primavera it was the first time I saw plug dispensers at a music venue.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
The Orb were obscenely loud when I went to see them the one time.
And their strobes were positively nuclear.
Total overkill for a converted church in Bristol.
At the time I felt they were daring punters to demonstrate their stupidity - and some did.
I felt nauseous and retreated to the back of the hall.
And their strobes were positively nuclear.
Total overkill for a converted church in Bristol.
At the time I felt they were daring punters to demonstrate their stupidity - and some did.
I felt nauseous and retreated to the back of the hall.
stuff_it
Too skool for cool
just received the following as part of hire agreement from a club venue:
Your DJs are not allowed to play music sound over 96db till closing.
how loud IS that?
venue is fairly average size club but i'm just anxious this may be a pissy volume which would obviously ruin the night.
Anyone any ideas?
So you can turn it up if there's a lock in?
Bassism
Follow the yellow brick road
So you can turn it up if there's a lock in?
theres a code on the limiter
The sound company will set it for the safety of their own equiptment. So the djs don't blow everything. Sound companies like loud music tho 
Remember earlier xta and mc2 thats what is used as a safety net xx
Bassism
Follow the yellow brick road
So you can turn it up if there's a lock in?
unless the environmental health are stood there with a db meter nothing will be done. Its only things like large public events or where its massively over the legal level when they will come to you, or lots of complaints. Then they just ask u to turn it down
ice-is-forming
Good kids caught down in the never never
a medium size 346 Husquavana chain saw hth
Bassism
Follow the yellow brick road
So you can turn it up if there's a lock in?
they mean for public safety, what they do to their own ears is up to them.
ice-is-forming
Good kids caught down in the never never
And the loudest gig ever was the prodigy, some of the first few rows were admitted to hospital with bass sickness/disorientation.
in aus 1986 acdc did the same with the cannons and apparently the effect rode 20 rows back!
Bassism
Follow the yellow brick road
I've been sick at a sound check once with some new Turbosound we bought but i was pregnant and the bass just went through me. I was upstairs in the office, files falling on my head. I just ran downstairs, puked on the floor in front of them all and said you fucking idiots
If I understand you mean by "done right" done on a decent quality sound system by someone who knows what they are doing? That's fine for MBV and Swans but surely not everyone has the money for good equipment and a decent sound guy. I can imagine some shite wannabe Swans band somewhere actually making people deaf if they tried it then. But I'm not really sure if that's what you meant.
Silva
This went well.
No, you're right. Of course not everybody can have a huge crew like MBV, probably all well versed in the fields of getting venues shut down (a lot of 90s electronic music shirts and hoodies on their crew), or have stacks of Marshall amplifiers lying around, but part of being a musician is knowing where their limit is, icludingvolume limits. I've heard horror stories of Manowar tribute bands who did nothing but noise and clipping because they were pushing their shitty equipment and the venues' well past their breaking point.
I hate the obsession with volume, from mastering to live music. It's the same old story: when there is no quiet, there can be no loud.
