LOUSY SOUND AT LIVE CONCERTS


I went to a concert at Bank America Pavillion in Boston last night. I saw Tedeschi and Trucks, and The Black Crows. A terrific concert; The Tedeschi and Trucks Band was especially terrific.

Unfortunately, these bands sound better in my living room than at this beautiful, outdoor venue.

Many venues have extremely poor acoustics and/or poor sound systems. The music is often terribly distorted, details and nuances of the instrumentals and voices are lost. The sound presents as a congealed distorted mess. The art of these incredibly talented musicians cannot be fully appreciated without clear sound. Listening to music in these crappy venues is like looking at masterpiece paintings in dimly lit museums with dirty glasses. The colors, details and brush strokes are indistinct. The artistic genius cannot be fully appreciated. The Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA., Fenway Park and The Boston Garden are just as bad as The Bank Of America Pavillion, if not worse.

I am frustrated with these venues that cannot provide great sound to accompany the great music. What is the sense of attending live concerts if the sound quality sucks. Does anyone else share my frustration?
matjet

Showing 5 responses by lenny_zwik

I saw the Tedeschi-Trucks band last year on their Revelator tour at the Moody Theatre where Austin City Limits is also taped. This venue is arguably one of the finest in the country and I can attest, having attended numerous concerts there that the sound can, and usually is, excellent to outstanding. That said, the sound for the TT Band was the loudest, most distorted, garbled, painful live concert experience I've ever had. I almost walked out 10 minutes in. There were 11 musicians on that stage including 3 backup singers and a 3 piece horn section, although you couldn't hear any of it. The point is, that it may be either the house engineer (doubtful in this case) or the band's engineer (most likely in this case) that can also have a significant impact on the sound at a live concert regardless of the hall or the house PA.
Just heard Steely Dan last week in Austin at Bass Concert hall, a rather vast 5000 set venue. Admittedly, we had outstanding seats (4th row just left of center), but the sound quality was some of the best I've heard in 40+ years of attending live performances. You could hear every nuance of every one of the 11 musicians on stage. I suspect I was hearing more of the stage than the PA, but I heard similar praise from others in attendance who I knew.
Hi Toasty,

Yes I do remember unfortunately and you're correct, vastly improved. I've also heard awful performances (sound wise) at the Moody Theatre which was entirely due to whoever was engineering. Tedeschi Truks band's first performance there case in point. I take it you're from Austin or live here currently?
So this week I'll have an interesting opportunity to hear Lyle Lovett in the same venue from two different seats but within two days so my audio memory should be fresh. This Tuesday I saw Lyle and his "acoustic" group at the Moody Theater from a front row center seat. Most of what I heard was direct from the stage but there was a series of vocal reinforcement speakers 4 of them aligned across the front of the stage. Tonight I'll hear the same concert from an 8th row center seat and let you all know my experience. By the way, the sound was superb, extremely well balanced and not at all perceived as loud.
In short, probably the best live sound I've ever heard. Much more integrated and with the Moody Theater's new PA speaker stack, incredibly transparent and dynamic without any fatiguing sense of being too loud. I've heard many comments stating that "my audio system at home sounds better". Well this was like that except that instead, that audio quality was live with the accompanying scale and dynamics of a live performance. Kudo's to Lyle Lovett's house engineer as well!!!