Sean G, post: 433101, member: 49362 wrote: About 15 years ago, our local rehearsal studio had rooms that were around 8 x 8 feet...
the carpet on the walls for soundproofing was about a foot thick, and it had a dingy aircon that was never cleaned....that putrid dusty smell you get.
Imagine, 2 x marshall amps with A cabs, An Ampeg bass amp with 8 x 10 cab like a fridge, a 24 track desk, a 9 piece drum kit, 4 mic stands and a bass player that had the worst smelling feet I have ever smelt in my entire life....even with shoes on.
You'd speed it up just to get through the sets...everything at 130 BPM+ like a thrash metal band just to get outside to gasp some fresh air...all the while its 38 degrees celcius (100 degrees fahrenheit) outside.
And to top it off it was about $45 bucks an hour.....

Talk about suffering for your ART :rolleyes:

There's a brew pub down the road from me that has live music, usually small bands or acoustic groups. Critical distance is about two meters.

bouldersound, post: 433109, member: 38959 wrote: Critical distance is about two meters.

Thats mad...from that distance you could almost reach out and do their sound for them...

It seems that as I get older, the more sensitive to "bad" sound I've become. For whatever reason, in the last few years, I've grown increasingly hyper-sensitive to frequencies that reside at and around 1k.

These days, I avoid "loud" whenever possible, and as much as possible. Small clubs are the worst, because there's usually no place to go in a smaller space where that concentrated loud volume can be avoided.
I've also found that, in most of these rooms I've been in, that the bands are usually playing far too loud...
Most of the time, I find that the stage volume alone is un-Godly hot to start with; and it always seems like these bands are bringing in far too much gun, PA-wise, for the rooms that they're performing in.

Somewhere along the way, LOUD began to equal "good"... which was a lot more tolerable back in the days of the big nightclubs/venues, where the sound could be dispersed more, less concentrated, and where there always seemed to be a place where you could go to give your ears a break.

My hearing is my job. I have to protect it as much as I can... and avoiding situations where extreme decibel levels are present is the primary way I do that.

DonnyThompson, post: 433123, member: 46114 wrote: These days, I avoid "loud" whenever possible, and as much as possible. Small clubs are the worst, because there's usually no place to go in a smaller space where that concentrated loud volume can be avoided.

I'm hearing ya there...
at the end of my street there was a venue called the Sando, it was basically a pub and the second story that was a live music venue.
Basically a big brick room with a stage and no treatment whatsoever.
All the top Aussie acts would play there, touring overseas acts would play support gigs there, even up and comers got to cut their teeth there.
I can't count how many bands Iv'e seen there or the level of hearing loss I suffered in that room over the years. Hot and sweatty and way too loud sums it up.
When the live music scene was really at its peak here in the day it was one of the best local venues for live music, but some used to really crank up the PA & amps to unbelievibly incredible levels.
It was like standing in a 50 foot x 50 foot square brick speaker box pumping out a few thousand watts.:eek:
Just before it went bust I got to see these guys there, one of the best shows Iv'e seen there in a long time.
Just a cover band playing Zappa, 11 on stage in total, everyone knew their parts and their place and their levels. And the room sounded great for once.

Now I think its a cake shop:unsure:

I do a weekend here a month.. It's more boxy sounding in real life haha. It's like a band box shell all hard surfaces. About 10 feet deep 20 feet wide and 7 ft high.

The worst rooms that I played in was :

1. A conference room in my city, 55' x 45' x 25' with the walls made of bricks. It had the worst delay and bass build-up.
2. An arena where the Producer insisted to set the stage facing the longer side. Delays were nightmare !!
   I wear earplugs anywhere noise/music exceed 80db. Even in restorants when discussions get loud ! ;)