I'm in too deep

Early B.

I realize it's kinda crazy to compare a 2-channel system with a live performance, but it's tough not to do when you're in too deep.

I went to a jazz concert last night to see Rachelle Ferrell, one of my favorite artists. The concert was OK -- very lively and entertaining, but from a sonic perspective I had a hard time getting beyond the syrupy thick muddy bass. I think the bass player was using a separate speaker system than the main one, but whatever was going on, the one-note bass was horribly bloated. And the band often played louder than the voclas, so you couldn't always hear her voice clearly. I find this to be a problem at every concert I've been to.

Next time a concert comes to town, I'll save my money and just turn on my stereo system. At least I know I won't get bloated bass and de-emphasized vocals.

shack

I have been saying this for many years. Live music can be good, but more often than not I experienced the same issues. If the concert is in a true music venue such as a concert hall, good results can occur. Also any time you get in a performance outside of a concert hall and there are more than a couple hundred people chances are the concert will not be very good. Poor acoustics, poor amplification, poor sound mixing, etc, etc, etc...

And THE CROWD! A classic example...My wife and daughter went to see Jim Brickman last week in a small theater. It was a nice music venue. Right next to them was a mom and a 3± year old girl. The first half of the concert the little girl talked while the mom shushed her over and over. The after intermission the little girl had quit talking but the mom started in with "Oh! That song is from so and so Disney movie...you remember it honey?" and so forth. My wife got fed up and told the woman she didn't come to hear her and her daughter talk...she paid to hear the music. Of course she got huffy. It just about ruined the evening at a cost of $35 per ticket. Great seats, good venue, good sound....but the evening almost sucked. I'll take $70 and buy a bunch of music to listen to over and over in the comfort of my own home on a good rig.

reeltrouble1

Hehehehe, sorry bout that Shack. Suspect the reason the woman brought the tyke was just so she could expound upon the tunes from Disney to her and live vicariously through the child's eyes and ears. Its fun and cant say I have not done it, but a concert is a bit much, I am sure your lady gave the ole woman plenty to talk about today!!

Happy New Year Steve.

RT1

shack

reeltrouble1 wrote:

Happy New Year Steve.

RT1

Happy New Year to you Ted!

BlueMDPicker

Give it to me live, anytime. I get so zoned on the music that Mark could do the funky chicken on the table in his assless chaps and I wouldn't know it. I am also not a bit shy, in a smaller venue, about walking over to the sound board and telling them their mix is hosed.

Happy and safe new one to all!

reeltrouble1

BlueMDPicker wrote:

Give it to me live, anytime. I get so zoned on the music that Mark could do the funky chicken on the table in his assless chaps and I wouldn't know it. I am also not a bit shy, in a smaller venue, about walking over to the sound board and telling them their mix is hosed.

Happy and safe new one to all!

I bet if he broke wind he would get your attention!!! Now that is some timbre.

RT1

heiney9

I will say I really like the live experience (general statement) but I find myself attending fewer and fewer mainstream concerts. The hassle of obtaining good tix and the whole "rude" public gets very old quickly.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the few shows I've taped or the many I've aquired after the fact sound so much more balanced than the actual event. These are amatuer recordings with minimal/no mastering. It just doesn't seem like a recording should sound better than the actual concert.

The last concert I went to that was extremely enjoyable was JEWEL. She played all acoustic in the local restored 1920's vaudville theater. The City and private citizens spent 18 million in restoring/expanding the entire theater. It's the Crown Jewel of the city and is a fantastic venue (sonically and visually) for artists like Jewel, etc.

See here if interested:

http://www.lares-lexicon.com/installations/coronado.html

http://www.pbase.com/affablebeef/rockford

I used to have a host site with many pics I took, but can't find them.


I much more enjoy going to small clubs to hear Blues, Jazz, Rock on the local scene than attending big concerts. Something about the intimacy, etc.

H9

Polkitup2

I've never associated live music to good music quality. I've always thought that a studio album was always the best and anything else fell short. In fact in the early 80's the best concert I heard was a RUSH concert and was impressed that their "live" concert sounded very close to the actual album.

Dennis Gardner

Wow!! What a theater for such a small city!! It sounds like the audio processing tweaks may have worked to make an all around nice venue. Many of the old theaters had great ambience, but acoustically were nightmares.

Good on Rockford for making this happen!!

HiPerf360

I love listening to live music, in person or recorded for that matter.

We have a great place in tulsa called the Brady Theater, perfect size and great acoustics so i have been very spoiled in live music.

But one areana concert i saw that was great was the Eagles at the Ford center in OKC.

but all of these are with good seats in the center of the stage.

michael_w

Steve, you should have given them one of these....


(look a little familar perhaps? )

heiney9

Dennis Gardner wrote:

Wow!! What a theater for such a small city!! It sounds like the audio processing tweaks may have worked to make an all around nice venue. Many of the old theaters had great ambience, but acoustically were nightmares.

Good on Rockford for making this happen!!

Dennis, it really is a great feat for a city this size to have gotten behind such an endeavor. In fact it was remarkable that it was even built here at all in 1927. Original cost in 1927 was 1.7 million. This was nearing the end of the Vaudville theater and entering the era of "Talkies" and originally the theater didn't have accomodations for talkies.

For the restoration the city raised/paid 7 million (1 million coming from the Gov. of Illinois) and private citizens raised/paid the rest of the 11.5 million for a grand total of 18.5 million for the restoration/expansion of every inch of the theater inside and out. They went so far as to track down all of the missing original fixtures and furniture from 1927. Some of it as far away as Italy.

The Coronado theatre is one of my passions as I grew up using it for concerts/magic shows/stage shows and for a short time movies. It's a wonderful example of that type theater that is/was preserved properly and is now in the National Historic Register. Too many things all over the US are just bulldozed to make room for something new. Especially when there is nothing wrong with the old.

One last note.....if they were to demolish the Coronado, instead of restoring it, and put up a new performing arts venue in it's place it would've cost over 50 million. If they were to rebuild the Coronado from the ground up as it was (instead of restoring) it would have cost almost 80 million and many of the architectural themes probably couldn't be duplicated today.

Sorry for the long history lesson....I have a big soft spot for the Coronado. I'd expect to see something of this opulence in Chicago/New York/Boston/West coast, it's very exciting to have it here.

H9

shack

michael_w wrote:

Steve, you should have given them one of these....


(look a little familar perhaps? )

That picture is copyrighted. You will need to send my royalty check asap.

Dennis Gardner

edited for hijack content....................