Klarinet Archive - Posting 000380.txt from 2004/07

From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Amplification of music (somewhat OT)
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 21:54:28 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Hausmann [mailto:bhausmann1@-----.net]
> Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 9:20 PM
> One advantage is that they no longer have to keep
> telling the
> pit to play softer -- they just crank up the actors' mikes!
>
>
I know, and part of my complaint about the whole thing is that in
professional theaters these days (New York included) they're amplifying the
pit!! Then, the voices need to be even louder. They put the players back
underneath the stage for a reason, for heaven's sake! The part that really
puzzles me is that this isn't the doing of the performers, who can no longer
really tell what the audience is hearing because there's so much being done
at the sound board. I don't know if it's directors, sound engineers or
someone else generating this mania for volume, but there is one live theater
in Philadelphia that I simply won't go to unless the show is something I
absolutely can't resist. It's louder in there (or was the last time I saw a
show there) than any movie theater I've been to recently. The pit and the
stage seem to be competing for some sort of Decibel Prize - but it's
probably one guy (whose hearing may no longer be very acute) at the reins
holding on to all of this sound (noise). And my reaction, as it was last
time I heard our high school jazz band play (to come full circle in this
thread), is that I could *hear* so much more if the sound were just quieter.

If all I get to hear is amplified sound, however well-controlled or
tastelessly it's done, I start to wonder why I pay to go to live
performances - I can hear all electronic on a good stereo. I know - it's the
ambiance and the spontaneity of live performers interacting with each other
and the audience. But if I just close my eyes what I actually *hear* is
little different from a good recording played on good equipment - unless one
of the performers screws up. Then I can go home with a good story to tell my
friends.

Pining for the "good old days" and I'm not even old enough to remember
them...

Karl

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