Wall of noise

[rhapsodee]

I just came back from a club, the PA system sounded terrible when the live band was playing. The lows were actually pretty decent, but the highs and midrange sounded compressed to hell, maxed out to the stops. Was even worse with the DJ on the mix.

Is it a case of poor mixing/mastering, or was the volume knob turned up too high, and the system ran out of steam? Sounded like 200% THD to me.

I would say that this kind of sound is the norm, rather than the exception, in a lot of clubs where i come from.

I'm so frustrated that the general public thinks this 'wall-of-noise' sound is 'loud' and good, hence the clubs continue to prosper. If everyone left because of terrible sound quality, then they have to really do something about it.

Glad i got that out, was going to explode. Phew.

[AndrewT]

yes, I agree.
The majority of sound systems in discos are terrible.
Much of the problem seems to be trying to get too much SPL from too little hardware, particularly the treble horn and it's amplifier.
Is this a case of too little amp power or asking the treble driver to cover too wide a passband?
I believe that many use a 1inch throat compression driver down to somewhere between 500Hz and 1000Hz.

[Theo404]

PA Systems

An interesting read, to pick one point out he discusses the limit of linearity of air in the throats of horn loaded compression drivers...

[kevinkr]

Around here it isn't necessarily the sound quality that is the problem, but the excessively high volumes. There are a couple of clubs around here that just overwhelm you volume wise, and for the most part there is no or little distortion in evidence. (I'd guess the average room wide spl is >100dB with much higher peaks.)

It's not fun when it's too loud, but younger people seem to like it that way and don't realize the danger, or as likely don't care. IMO most DJs are wearing headphones which are probably not playing nearly as loudly as the PA or are relatively deaf, either way they don't seem to be aware of or just don't care how high the average spls are in their venues.

Spend a lot of time in these clubs and you probably won't be a good candidate for a hobby relating to audio in the future.

[rhapsodee]

I believe our hearing don't really mind LOUD if it was really clean, like 105dB crystal clear with no distortion, with another 10+dB headroom for the dynamics. In fact it would sound great.

It is the electronic compression applied with no headroom left, to get a louder average SPL that makes it so horrible.

I guess the distortion of compression horns when pushed beyond their limits doesn't help.

[kevinkr]

Originally Posted by rhapsodee

I believe our hearing don't really mind LOUD if it was really clean, like 105dB crystal clear with no distortion, with another 10+dB headroom for the dynamics. In fact it would sound great.

It is the electronic compression applied with no headroom left, to get a louder average SPL that makes it so horrible.

I guess the distortion of compression horns when pushed beyond their limits doesn't help.

Sorry, that is far too loud. I'll admit your brain may like it, but in less than one hour at your cited baseline spl you will start to do serious and permanent damage to your hearing, at 115dBspl daily exposure should be less than 15 minutes. Who spends such a little amount of time in a club? If you want to spend more than two hours there average Spl should not exceed 97dB or so to avoid hearing damage.. (Local ordinances frequently cite that level as the maximum acceptable average level in a club.)

See OSHA guidelines for acceptable daily exposure levels in the workplace - this is actually a good all around guide as well:
Occupational noise exposure. - 1910.95

I guess it is up to you, clubbing is fun, but you do so at the risk of your hearing. Incidentally I have been in clubs where the average Spl handily exceeded 120dBSpl - a few minutes at that level and "what was that sonny?" is in your immediate future.

[dave_gerecke]

I remember those days in my recent past. Don't miss them. As I recall more than one friend of mine who was a regular to places with the serious dB's would bring ear plugs with them. I started doing so myself. Seems like it was a good idea, I don't notice any damage or tinitus at this point. Hope I caught it early enough. One thing to remember here, if you are drinking while in a club with loud volumes, the alcohol tends to desensitize you to how loud it really seems, and somewhat to how distorted it is.

Peace,

Dave