Klarinet Archive - Posting 000247.txt from 2005/03

From: "Lacy, Edwin" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] excessive amplification
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 17:05:05 -0500

<<<It may be arrogance, but every musician should also own a set of good
ear
plugs. The hearing you save will be your own...>>>

It seems to me that there is something wrong with this picture.....
Music so loud that musicians have to wear earplugs???!!! I know it
happens all the time and under many different kinds of circumstances.
I've played many shows and other gigs where there may be six to eight
brass instruments (all miked, naturally), amplified bass, guitar and
keyboard amplifiers, all being fed into a sound system that is so loud
that the audience can't possibly hear what is going on. The woodwind
players in such cases are facing an impossible situation.

I even have to wear earplugs at times when playing my symphony gig.
Conductors seem unable to realize that there can be a problem when
seating the bassoon so that there is a trumpet bell pointed at each ear
at a distance of about 18 inches.

Still, I have to say that the current craze of seemingly hundreds of
microphones on the stage, with enough amplification to require nearly
the entire output of Hoover Dam is an exercise in stupidity.

I once had the misfortune of attending a performance of the so-called
"rock opera," "Jesus Christ Superstar." First, I noticed two stacks of
speakers approximately 50 feet tall. Then, I observed the sound
technicians setting the microphone levels. Their method was to take a
sheet of ordinary printer paper and rub it gently over the microphone.
If this caused to speakers to rumble and roar, the sound level was OK;
if not, they turned the level up until they could get this kind of
response from every microphone. This was in an arena that seats about
12,500 people, and I sat as far from the speakers as was possible, and
had to take pieces of tissue and stuff them in my ears to try to save a
little of my hearing. And, there were people sitting only about 10 feet
from those massive speakers. I know they couldn't hear what they had
paid to hear, and they probably couldn't hear anything for days
afterward. I often liken this effect to putting a metal bucket over
your head and letting someone beat on it with a baseball bat.

Someone on this list has a tag line to the effect that "if you have to
mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud." I tend to agree
with that, but I'm even more flabbergasted that many people seem to feel
that it is necessary to amplify drums - and not only with one mike, but
possibly with a half dozen or more.

I think my basic question is, what is the purpose of amplifying music so
much that it sounds like listening to a recording, only at too high a
level. Why not just go home, put on a CD, and turn up your stereo
system to the point that it is painful and potentially damaging to your
hearing? I went into music in order to be able to play and hear music,
not to worship at the altar of amplification.

Thanks for letting me work off a little steam!

Ed Lacy
University of Evansville

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