Did anybody see U2 in Brisbane last night ?
I forked out almost 1200 Au bucks for me , my wife and a friend, but when the support act Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds started playing I was totally shocked about the sound quality ! It was loud , but totally mistuned , the brass section didn't come through , only the trombone , all detail was lost , anything on the video screen , drumsticks hitting the cymbals or anything else, was not present in the sound the bass was boomy and uncontrolled and A LOT of echo ! Seen Phil Collins a couple of months ago in the same Suncorp venue and the sound was perfect !
OK endured my ear torture for about 1.5 hours then U2 started . Great , Sound was a bit better , but still VERY BAD . The so important bass by Adam Clayton was only present in a mushy resonance . All I could hear was a bad tuned PA and lots of compression from the about 70 stacked line array units all over the stadium .
I walked out after an hour or so , very disappointed ! My ears couldn't cope anymore !
Please explain what happened here you PA guys .
Cheers ,
Rens
I forked out almost 1200 Au bucks for me , my wife and a friend, but when the support act Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds started playing I was totally shocked about the sound quality ! It was loud , but totally mistuned , the brass section didn't come through , only the trombone , all detail was lost , anything on the video screen , drumsticks hitting the cymbals or anything else, was not present in the sound the bass was boomy and uncontrolled and A LOT of echo ! Seen Phil Collins a couple of months ago in the same Suncorp venue and the sound was perfect !
OK endured my ear torture for about 1.5 hours then U2 started . Great , Sound was a bit better , but still VERY BAD . The so important bass by Adam Clayton was only present in a mushy resonance . All I could hear was a bad tuned PA and lots of compression from the about 70 stacked line array units all over the stadium .
I walked out after an hour or so , very disappointed ! My ears couldn't cope anymore !
Please explain what happened here you PA guys .
Cheers ,
Rens
That sounds like an unqualified sound engineer to me.
I know of a guy near me who is a sheet steel worker and all the mid range in his ears is gone. I set the sound up with a punchy chest thumping kick drum and bass with a good clear sound on symbols and overhead, vocals etc. He comes along and because he can't hear mid range, winds the mids right up and the limiters kick in, it gives the band a muddy awful sound.
Probably the same reason.
I would complain to the vendor and see what happens. If you say you are really disappointed without jumping up and down too much, you may get some sort of a refund.
One of those things I fear.
I know of a guy near me who is a sheet steel worker and all the mid range in his ears is gone. I set the sound up with a punchy chest thumping kick drum and bass with a good clear sound on symbols and overhead, vocals etc. He comes along and because he can't hear mid range, winds the mids right up and the limiters kick in, it gives the band a muddy awful sound.
Probably the same reason.
I would complain to the vendor and see what happens. If you say you are really disappointed without jumping up and down too much, you may get some sort of a refund.
One of those things I fear.
If it was LOUD, you might find quality hearing protection would make the sound much cleaner. Etymotics or ACS Pro17 are a great choice and will improve your experience dramatically. The ear overloads at high levels and the distortion becomes overwhelming. You might be surprised just how good some of these PAs can sound when you turn them down a bit. Looking after your hearing at the same time is an extremely valuable side benefit. I've not exposed my unprotected ears to any live amplified music in more than 20 years.
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"all detail lost" "about 70 stacked line array units all over the stadium"
Reads like a comb filtering fiasco.
YouTube
YouTube
YouTube
YouTube
And these 4 clips sound like it; the mids are unclear, unintelligible, hard to hear what they are singing even though you know the lyrics. Like you hear half of the sound from far away.
To bad humanity seems to lose it's ability to setup speakers; here on the other side of the world, it is sadly no better. Even more sad is that most people don't seem to care.
And if I mention to people responsible for the sound at local venues, clubs, festivals, etc that there is room for improvement, they are often offended and don't bother listening to me or give me a call to fix their sound free of charge.
It is seldom the quality of the speakers, but how they are used / set up which is the problem.
Ego problems seems to be a root cause for crappy sound.
In small PA the very common setup left and right tops on poles above 2 subs is almost always the worst setup possible (unless they are 20 meter or more apart, outdoors), but it looks good....... and everybody does it........ and nobody complains.
People don't care and sorry to write this, but most people probably don't even know what care is/ really means.
Reads like a comb filtering fiasco.
YouTube
YouTube
YouTube
YouTube
And these 4 clips sound like it; the mids are unclear, unintelligible, hard to hear what they are singing even though you know the lyrics. Like you hear half of the sound from far away.
To bad humanity seems to lose it's ability to setup speakers; here on the other side of the world, it is sadly no better. Even more sad is that most people don't seem to care.
And if I mention to people responsible for the sound at local venues, clubs, festivals, etc that there is room for improvement, they are often offended and don't bother listening to me or give me a call to fix their sound free of charge.
It is seldom the quality of the speakers, but how they are used / set up which is the problem.
Ego problems seems to be a root cause for crappy sound.
In small PA the very common setup left and right tops on poles above 2 subs is almost always the worst setup possible (unless they are 20 meter or more apart, outdoors), but it looks good....... and everybody does it........ and nobody complains.
People don't care and sorry to write this, but most people probably don't even know what care is/ really means.
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If the above u-tube videos are representative of the sound I can say that is far from the worst arena sound I have heard.
Rens were you seated in the same place when you saw Phil Collins?
This is "The Problem" with large scale line arrays as deployed in big arenas, because they use the constructive and destructive interference from all those drivers to deliver a consistent SPL to the vast majority of seats there are going to be listening positions where intelligibility is just terrible. Move a few inches or feet up or down or side to side.. depending how far away from an array the position is and you get a totally different experience.
Rens were you seated in the same place when you saw Phil Collins?
This is "The Problem" with large scale line arrays as deployed in big arenas, because they use the constructive and destructive interference from all those drivers to deliver a consistent SPL to the vast majority of seats there are going to be listening positions where intelligibility is just terrible. Move a few inches or feet up or down or side to side.. depending how far away from an array the position is and you get a totally different experience.
It was summer, but rainy and drizzly so they probably felt right at home.Guys, there are so many factors that go into live sound. Did they have enough time to get everything set up properly or did weather delay everything? Did the promoter properly fund the set up so there was enough labor to assist? Where exactly were you sitting?
I know of a few audio companies in Australia, but putting on a stadium show there (was this a stadium show?) uses a lot of the gear available and if there were other shows going on then it could have effected the quality of gear available. There are many audio engineers involved in the process of putting on one of the shows. It's possible that some seats in an arena or stadium will sound better than others. The audio team might have had limited time to get everything tuned for the show.
Referencing youtube clips is really not a good way to assess what was going on since your phone only addresses part of the frequency spectrum and only gives you an idea of one spot. Please remember that there are people working long days and busting their ***** to make the shows as good as they can. They are often given insufficient time and sometimes given insufficient tools in the process. Yes, sometimes it sounds terrible and that really sucks for the people who spend so much money on these shows.
I know of a few audio companies in Australia, but putting on a stadium show there (was this a stadium show?) uses a lot of the gear available and if there were other shows going on then it could have effected the quality of gear available. There are many audio engineers involved in the process of putting on one of the shows. It's possible that some seats in an arena or stadium will sound better than others. The audio team might have had limited time to get everything tuned for the show.
Referencing youtube clips is really not a good way to assess what was going on since your phone only addresses part of the frequency spectrum and only gives you an idea of one spot. Please remember that there are people working long days and busting their ***** to make the shows as good as they can. They are often given insufficient time and sometimes given insufficient tools in the process. Yes, sometimes it sounds terrible and that really sucks for the people who spend so much money on these shows.
Its a real skill getting PA to work properly.
Echo in big rooms
Playing out into vastness of an open space.
Ensuring everything is mic-ed up properly and nothing missed.
Making sure it isn't too loud at front while still being able to hear at the back.
In 1976 I went to see Status Quo at Glasgow Apollo.
Deafeningly loud, I couldnt hear for 3 days afterwards.
Since then laws have come in regarding venue sound levels.
Saw them again a few years back locally and the sound was excellent.
Best band sound I every heard was Andy Scott's The Sweet.
Echo in big rooms
Playing out into vastness of an open space.
Ensuring everything is mic-ed up properly and nothing missed.
Making sure it isn't too loud at front while still being able to hear at the back.
In 1976 I went to see Status Quo at Glasgow Apollo.
Deafeningly loud, I couldnt hear for 3 days afterwards.
Since then laws have come in regarding venue sound levels.
Saw them again a few years back locally and the sound was excellent.
Best band sound I every heard was Andy Scott's The Sweet.
Laws have changed since 1976, but more importantly technology has changed. Line array technology allows live sound engineers to deploy systems that can give you nearly the same volume if you are directly in front of the PA or a few hundred feet away. The technology has come a long way and it continues to get better. Many venues are still difficult to navigate due to the inherent acoustics but we have so many better options for people. And many engineers are finding ways to mix shows at quieter volumes without sacrificing the experience so that we don't have to suffer hearing damage to have a good time.
Not a fan by any stretch but I own one early U2 album and the thing I noticed immediately is that it has probably the worst drum sound ever committed to vinyl.
I could make damp cardboard boxes sound better.
Has Adam learned to play bass since the '90s?
They use a lot of echo to big up the sound.
There is only bass guitar and the Edge live so it needs an extra something.
Listen to U2 at Red Rock and its all echo.
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