Sunday, November 30, 2008

If its too loud, you're too old

Dear Mighty sound engineers,

I like loud. Really, I do. I'm a firm believer in cranking the volume WAAAAY up because music just sounds better when its louder. BUT, Friday night's Calibre/ DRS show was a little too much. Ok, A LOT too much. If people have to actively seek out earplugs because they can feel their hearing being damaged, it's time to turn it down a notch or two. The line for earplugs was actually longer than the line at the bar or the bathrooms. That shit ain't right.

Even with the earplugs in, the sheer frequency of the bass literally hurt my ears and gave me a headache. BL, too. Talking to Method One (Hi Jason!) outside, we realized that weren't alone. It was just too loud to tolerate. We were all really excited to see Calibre and DRS live and we were totally disappointed. We wanted to stay longer but eventually, the headaches and ear pain won out and we left long before the show had ended.

Its been a long time since I had been to Mighty before Friday night , so I don't know if ya'll crank the volume that high for every other performer, but I think it might be time to seriously re-evaluate how music actually sounds in your club. The highs were too high, and the lows were way too low and horribly blown out and distorted. Bringing in a DJ like Calibre should have been a slam dunk because his music is beautiful on its own, but when you've got hardcore fans like DJC wanting to leave because he couldn't stand the way everything sounded, you've got a problem there.

Mighty is notorious for poor acoustics, but given the large space, it shouldn't be that difficult to design a sound scheme that works. And if you can't figure it out, perhaps its time to start looking for a different line of work. Not gonna lie...Friday's show was easily the shittiest sounding show I've been to...possibly ever. I may be a little older than the club kids of today, but I'm still all about loud volumes...its just gotta be done in the right way. You all have a ways to go in reaching that right kind of loud.

On the other hand, I did manage to snap a few cool pics of the goings on:

One thing, though, Calibre honey...it might be time for a haircut. And a little sun. I'm just sayin'...

3 comments:

onthemountain said...

Yes, the acoustics in there are terrible. A line for earplugs? I didn't know they sold them? Hmm.

I'm forwarding your post to my friend who works for JK Sound and sets their stuff up often. Maybe that will help.

Dance on girlfriend.

onthemountain said...

I have some more info from the mouth of my friend:
Yes, the DJ has everything to do with it. He is playing recorded music that he has the control over. If the track is super hot (meaning recorded with the highs really loud) then you have piercing highs on the dance floor. You cant be there all the time. Tell the lady (you ms. dance thang) to signal the DJ next time, and tell him or her their ears are bleeding. xo"

like that would work. hmmm . .

The Enforcer said...

JZ, you're the shit, girl! Thanks so much for the info.

So funny that you're buddy suggested that I signal the DJ to turn the music down. AAAAHAHAHA! I laugh.