[bsder]

> Just as guitarists have cut back on amp power and now focus on tone

As much as I would like to think that this is true, all the concerts I went to prior to Covid had WAAAAAY too much freakin' bass. These were bands with vocal and guitar gods and the bass was cranked up to like 9000 such that you could barely make out the vocals and guitars if the bass was playing.

The best audio at a concert I had was the one where the house amplification system died, and band had to play with their on-stage amplification and nothing else. The sound from the band was amazing--the vocals were clear, the guitar parts were articulated, and the bass and drums were reasonable.

Funny how the bass levels are something reasonable when the bass player has to stand in front of the bass amplifier.

To be fair, I'm being a touch uncharitable. Most of the fault lies with the person running the sound mixing board. It seems most sound mixers are so used to dance, pop and rap that they can't conceive of the idea that something other than bass and drums exists in music. It also doesn't help that modern solid-state amplifiers can drive amazingly low frequencies and really high amplitudes that the old tube amplifiers with transformers simply couldn't deal with.

[t0mas88]

This is one of the reasons I always wear ear protection when going to live concerts. With the right kind of earplugs you can have very clear sound and in a way hear the vocals and guitars better than without. It also comes with the added benefit of no ringing ears in the morning.

I started doing it after the doctor at my annual medical check mentioned I had frequency loss at 24 years old that he would associate with a 40 year old. Should probably have worn ear protection earlier... But wearing them consistently helped a lot because the measurements were mostly "normal" now 10 years later.

[dsego]

I do this too and it makes the concerts less boomy and I can actually hear the vocals. The only issue is that it distorts the perception of my own voice so I have remember to speak louder to others or when ordering drinks. I also put in ear plugs when using loud tools or appliances, eg when mowing or cutting with a chainsaw.

[korethr]

In my experience, it depends on the band and the venue. Indoor venues are a lot harder to get the bass resonance right. I don't think I've ever had bad sound (for whatever style of music was being performed) at an outdoor venue. One band I saw at both an indoor and outdoor venue. At the indoor venue, the sound was a constant woom-woom of bass resonance from the kick drum, with the snare poking through. At the outdoor venue, I was able to hear all the instruments well balanced with one another.

[vbsteven]

Don't forget the impact a good sound person has. My best experiences have usually been small indoor shows with a passionate local sound guy that knows the venues well.

[vanviegen]

I think the bass and drums in live performances are intentionally exaggerated to make people feel more 'part of the music', by having their bodies vibrate to it.

[bartread]

Many years ago I went to a Fun Lovin' Criminals gig that was completely ruined by the idiot sound guys: way too much bass and way too much drums (bass drum in particular). Given that Huey's main vocal style is low-pitched chilled out rapping it meant that you could barely hear anything he was singing. I was really pissed off. Easily one of the worst gigs I've ever attended, and this is including pub and small club bands, but it wasn't the band's fault at all: they were absolutely tight.

[Applejinx]

Interestingly, that used to be the rule rather than the exception… at the time when rock bands grew in importance to dominate the music scene and built an industry to sell their products to listeners.

Back when people went completely nuts for rock music, the PAs were generally so inadequate that they were just for vocals, and monitoring wasn't really a thing. Most gigs of the era ran off each instrument generating its own stage volume, hence the Marshall stacks and such.

The Grateful Dead famously scaled this concept up to insane heights with the Wall Of Sound system, where each instrument and voice had its own speaker stacks even at stadium levels. It really worked exceptionally well, but was cumbersome and didn't last that long.

This can be done in electronic genres, as well: it just isn't, for the most part. I daresay there have been sound installations that did it.

[YeGoblynQueenne]

>> As much as I would like to think that this is true, all the concerts I went to prior to Covid had WAAAAAY too much freakin' bass. These were bands with vocal and guitar gods and the bass was cranked up to like 9000 such that you could barely make out the vocals and guitars if the bass was playing.

That's not a band. That's a bunch of people playing at the same time.

[nicoburns]

> Most of the fault lies with the person running the sound mixing board

One of my favourite bands to see live actually take their own sound guy on tour with them. They sound incredible.

[Geezus_42]

I don't know for sure but I think Between the Buried and Me either does this or does their own mix. When I saw them live they sounded amazing, the other three bands sounded like shit.

[spoonjim]

Well it’s also about who goes to concerts. Unless you have the audience etiquette of a symphony orchestra, you’re going to be able to hear the actual music much better on the recording. So people who want the bass and the dancing and the sweaty libido go to the concerts and the people who are most interested in the actual waveform listen at home (except for unamplified acoustic music).