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WORST SOUND AT A GIG EVER !


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Keep cool Guys!!

Giving the audience a good sound isn't easy. As it has been said, you must take into account that the rehearsals have been made without the audience...So everything has to be changed just at the beginnin of the show. I haven't seen any LINE ARRAY on any pics...was there a line array on each side of the scene? Could someone tell, that would be interesting...

The solution to the problem would then be easy to find...if the bass loudspeakers weren't hung up,as the rest of the line array, the sound of the bass benefits from the floor interaction and is actually multiplied per 2...depending on the distance between the sub bass boxes...

If the band used CLAIR BROTHERS' S4, I then understand why certain people may get upset with the sound. On the last show of POLICE at the STADE DE FRANCE, the band used those loudspeakers and a lot of people, including specialised journalist from SONO MAGASINE aggreed to say that the sound wasn't at his best...Not enough clarity, too much Bass...These Loudspeaker are well known to deliver a full range response with Very God bass sound...2*38 cm bass loudspeakers....GOD DAMN IT! 50 years OLd, anyway...HUH!!!! :yay:

CLAIR BROTHERS S4

Then, you folks must keep in mind that the perception of sound depends on each one of you. It is not a probleù of your ears being checked but rather how you percieve the frequency responde. You must keep in mind that our ears function the opposite way of a loudspeaker, then it has the same linearity response problems...!! When you get old you percieve the high frequence in a less good quality than when you are younger...you also must take into account the fact that your ears get into protection after 15-20mins of LOUD sound...then you loose a lot of high frequency response...

In a lot of Live Performances, giving the audience a linear sound is almost impossible, and the amount of equipment or the price it costs isn't the main problem. The way the arena reacts is also to be taken into account...!!

To end, some of you may have been bored with feedbacks all along the show. Have you noticed that led zeppelin, as well as the who for instance, did not use EARPHONES monitors but rather used loudspeakers on stage? Don't know the word in english, in french you call those loudspeakers RETOURS...

Anyway, so you guys in the audience had two sounds which were mixing up and then coming down to your ears...The one from the loudspeakers used for the arena and the one which was devoted to the musicians and to robert plant...That is a good answer to the EXTRA BASS sound that some of you may have heard during this evening...

Because when you use EARPHONES monitors, you don't have such problems...Each musician, each singer has its own mix according to his own wills...and, on the other hand, the audience don't get borred with too much loud Sound pressure...thus the sound gains in quality....

Anyway I personnaly like such a DEEP SOUND...but not when it's DEFINTELY too Loud...

Hope you understood what i just said... :whistling:

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By the way check out my web site: www.glennpovey.com for info on me, including samples of my guitar works.

Now, you fucked it by including a mention for your own music and website. Everything you wrote before has been undermined by this clumsy plug… Incidentally, I was parallel to the stage up in the tier on Page's side and it sounded great.

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A bit off topic- but someone educate me. IF the sound was bad at the venue- would that effect their likelihood of releasing this in some way. Basically if the show is professionally recorded- does it matter what the venue sound is like?

The show would have been recorded by the FOH (front of house) team, meaning that the tapes will be comprised of the feeds from each individual microphone, instrument etc. Any unpleasant or unwanted characteristics of the venue would be minimal and can almost always be sorted out in post-production. There are many fine recordings of bands in less-than-ideal venues.

It's more and more common for FOH mixes to be pressed straight to CD as a tour memento; The Who, Crowded House and others have had excellent results with this experiment. Given JP's careful and thorough attention to every sonic detail on recent and historical releases, if LZ decide to release a recorded version of the AE tribute show, I can't imagine that the results will be anything less than spectacular

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I Agree Evster2012 ! ! The You Tube Videos have sounded good !

That was the Beauty of when Zeppelin performed in the 70's.... They were the only act.... and so the Soundcheck held....

So, ONE guy (sincerely) thinks there was too much Bass.....

We must read all of the reviews, and weigh his evaluation in it all...

I didnt find it too bassy....i was at the barrier too :D

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Um, you are the one who called people idiots, children and suggested they had no balls because they simply disagreed with you. I can smell your troll stench clear on the west coast of California.

Loser.

No, I do wash regularly, no smell here, must be eminating from your own backside.

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Jesus.... After such a monumental occasion I can't imagine myself complaining about anything. I have seen and heard several audio/video clips of the show, and TSRTS sounded a touch bottom heavy which could be due to a dozen variables. But other than that it appeared to be a brilliant performance.

It's a shame that audiophiles focus on the most silly details that they lose sight of the big picture. When you consider that there could have been 1000 ways that this gig could have crashed and burned and didn't, it seems so insignificant to gripe about anything the morning after.

Today is a day for all Zep fans to rejoice at their triumphant return, rather than piss and moan that it didn't sound like a CD on their home system.

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No, I do wash regularly, no smell here, must be eminating from your own backside.

It's emanating dumbass.

Funny thing is, my posts were not offensive. You were the namecaller, not I.

I said nothing offensive to you, but rather made the obvious observation that you're a troll. Have fun with that. :wave:

I should add that I won't be responding to you anymore. You're clearly a moron trying to bait me into a fight. Well, I'm not swallowing that bait. I'll leave the swallowing to you.

Have a nice day. :wave:

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Hey Thor! Nice to see you too! Now that all the speculation is behind us, we can get back to celebrating Zeppelin and enjoying the forums, eh?

Have one on me! :beer:

You said it brother! Let's keep our fingers crossed on that one! :beer:
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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOUND THOUGH, it was appauling, sub bass-bass-more bass, and an extra touch of bass, was it the venue, does it always sound like that?

I understand completely. You're just being honest about the house sound, which can make or break a show. I feel for you. Fans with good ears, sensitive to the nuances of sound and tone are often victims of this. BAD sound production into the house is the curse of most bands. The bands put their hearts into every note, but the fu**king deaf soundmen destroy it for the audience! Of course, the band has absolutely no idea what is going on in the house with sound, as it's a completely different world of sound onstage.

I feel for you and the pain of many bands who've been victimized by DEAF SOUNDMEN AND ENGINEERS!!! I curse you deaf soundmen of the world! And, I hold in highest esteem the handful of good soundmen out there.

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I'm not hearing the evidence of bad sound, even in the very low quality cell phone clips circulating. If anything I'm amazed those clips sound as good as they do, surely what is usually a bad way to capture sound would be worse if the sound really was that bad. If I was there the last thing I'd be doing now is trying to find ways to not enjoy what I witnessed or nitpick the mix, relax and bask in the glow.

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I Agree Evster2012 ! ! The You Tube Videos have sounded good !

That was the Beauty of when Zeppelin performed in the 70's.... They were the only act.... and so the Soundcheck held....

So, ONE guy (sincerely) thinks there was too much Bass.....

We must read all of the reviews, and weigh his evaluation in it all...

I AGREE WITH YOU! Some people interperate things very differently.. My best friend is obcessed with Metallica for instance and swore they were amazaing live .. Well i saw them in new jersey at giants stadium and they sucked major .... A venue can impact a show for sure.. But also can personal taste..... Anyhow I was not at the Zep show but im hoping it was not as bad as the poster stated!!

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(the last 2 posts in this thread were my friend posting under my name, and although i agree with what he is saying, he went about it the wrong way, and came across in a very childish manor).

Maybe it was different higher up in the rafters, maybe the sound didnt travel right, but from where i was standing it was allll good.

What i dont understand is when you see an act such as zeppelin erform as well as they all did last night some peope have to find little things to moan about...

was the electric atmosphere not enough for you?

was the awesome performance not good enough for you?

was the 90% of the time awesome sound not good enough?

Why do you feel the need to find problems and try and bring zeppelin down?

Hey-Up,

Im sure it was your "Friend", & not you talking!!!.

Just be Thankful you were there. Many of us,

would have liked to have been there, & we didnt

get the Chance.

Just think of the Great memories, & enjoy the

"Bragging Rights" over people like me, who

didnt make it. All the best,

Hang-man.

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It's a bad venue for sound, that's for sure.

But you're the only person who has consistently complained about sound today, so that leads me to think it's you not the sound. Every fan review has said the same thing - sound problems until song 4, then sorted. It sounds like you let the sound inhibit your enjoyment of the show which, for someone who couldn't get a ticket, is disappointing. You were a lucky bastard to be at that gig, stop moaning about something not one other person is moaning about!

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I'd be interested to hear thoughts on the sound there. I don't think you can say "don't be negative about the band" - otherwise it wouldn't be very informative.

At least with this "negative post" everyone who didn't go can feel that standing 30 foot in front of stage last night wasn't the best place in the known universe!

Anyhow, I was about 40 yards back, in front of right speakers. What I did notice was that the speakers were hung up above the audience and maybe 10/20ft from the stage. So if you were too far forward, I figured you wouldn't hear much treble or defined sound. Bass is omnipresent - we dont pick up direction and it would be powerful whatever.

So rather than move forward (to avoid the countless people that took up amateur photography with a passion, even erasing holiday pictures to free more memory), I stayed put. Not mention that despite being a rock gig, if you tried to move forward or whatever, you would certainly get a look that could kill, if not the odd elbow shove. So, I remained behind a guy and his phone.

Concert - absolutely incredible. Best gig I've ever been to, apart from seeing the Black Crowes when I was on acid. Excellent soloing form Page and a great dynamic band - instantly the best rock band on the planet. I didn't expect it to be that good.

Sound: this may interest you. It was a harsh, almost trebly sound, because those speakers were loud. The guitars sounded metallic, steelly. They also have a lot of effects.

Sure, the bass was there - loud sub or whatever. If I would criticise the sound, it would be more for this hard quality than anything else. Personally, I loved it.

So I don't know - maybe it's a hard venue to do. You can't necessarily blast sound from everywhere so they choose to have these speakers hung up. I did move a bit forward for the encore and the sound was good there. About thirty metres away. But that's still a long sand-iron...

Let's hope they tour next year. It certainly felt like they would!

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No problem with my ears pal, were you drunk!

I will say whatever I want, I am not a yes man. I know what zeppelin can/should sound like, the last thing I want to do is say anything negative about my No.1 influencual band.

You have to take into consideration that many of these fans are kids/teens. They might have went, but they probably thought this was the 'greatest concert ever' because of one thing.. they're Led Zeppelin.

They would probably still think it's the greatest show even if it was the worst.. but I can't give my opinion, as I didn't see it.

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I was at the gig last night, and whilst by no means a kid I am not old enough to have see Zep first time around.

From where I was sat, way up in the Gods at the back end of the venue, the sound was good for the majority of the set and it did seem glaringly obvoious when mistakes were being made with the sound. Flashes of feedback etc.

I would agree with comments made earlier that the dynamic of a room changes when you put a lot of people into it. I also think that it is true that the sound in the O2 as a general rule is not that good.

However I would say that on the whole that it was one of the best sounds that I have ever heard at a gig, especially at a venue of the size of last nights events. I think that had they been playing the aircraft hanger that is Earls Court, the old London Arena or Wembley Arena(remember the sound for Page and Plant in 98?) they would not have had a sound anywhere near as fantastic as they did last night.

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I was at the gig last night, and whilst by no means a kid I am not old enough to have see Zep first time around.

From where I was sat, way up in the Gods at the back end of the venue, the sound was good for the majority of the set and it did seem glaringly obvoious when mistakes were being made with the sound. Flashes of feedback etc.

I would agree with comments made earlier that the dynamic of a room changes when you put a lot of people into it. I also think that it is true that the sound in the O2 as a general rule is not that good.

However I would say that on the whole that it was one of the best sounds that I have ever heard at a gig, especially at a venue of the size of last nights events. I think that had they been playing the aircraft hanger that is Earls Court, the old London Arena or Wembley Arena(remember the sound for Page and Plant in 98?) they would not have had a sound anywhere near as fantastic as they did last night.

I agree with this.

I've seen many many bands in my time and this was certainly not the worst sound I've heard at a gig. It was also not the best sound I've heard at a gig but that was definately the best live band I've seen and I've seen a very lot.

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The best footage from last night was on BBC news with clip of Black Dog, thats the best we got and will have for some time, sounded decent but that's off the soundboard not the main speakers, i can side with glenn, i've been to some crummy sounding concerts fer sure and i was never blown away by the sound compared to my home surround system.....never!, even seeing Roger Waters and his surround sound was prob the best i've heard.

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I was at the gig last night (great by the way) and I have to say that the sound wasn't great. It wasn't awful but for most of the night I struggled to hear both bass and guitat clearly.

Drums & Vocals were much louder that everything else from where I was (Right up top in the seats).

Still a fantastic gig that kinda reminded me of them back on the clarksdale tour....only better.

Truly glad I was able to see this!!

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This sub-bass effect that you're talking of is precisely what the problem is with the O2. I was at several of the Prince gigs during the summer and the bass then was just the same mess of wooliness and non-definition. It kind of 'wasn't there' at the same time as ghosting from every direction at once in an appalling underwater muffle.

I don't know how the audience was organised last night but at the Prince shows there was a huge empty gap left around the stage and the effect of this was to make the underside of the stage function as a big sub-bass woofer. My favoured solution experiment then would have been to allow standing right up to the stage to 'hem in' the bass with body count but I'm not sure at all if it would help.

The bottom line is that the O2 was not even vaguely intended as an auditorium. There was NO consideration to sonics. It's more or less a big tent. It's a real shame because the place as it is now is otherwise quite magical as a concert arena but sadly I doubt anything can be done about the sound in the lower registers. The bass just leaks everywhere and heads for Westminster Bridge through the exits.

A lot of room there for technicians to experiment but expensive as I think you'd have to be working from scratch on a novel bespoke solution. Another theory I have is that if the bass were to be EQ'd right up into mid and then reinforced with some subs placed around the arena, you might get an improvement. I hasten to add that I'm no sonic technician.

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I went to the show at the o2 last night (10th dec 2007).

I was about 30/40 feet from the stage (standing).

First of all, great to see Plant/Jones/Page as Zeppelin again, Jason B certainly gave the band a driving energy and new feel somehow. They all gave great perfomances, you could clearly see the exitement and feel the energy that each member projected, particulaly Page, he looked lean, on the ball and ready for action. Plant seemed a little aprehensive at first, but by the middle/end of the show he relaxed more and was clearly enjoying it. Jones was his classic self, intently listening and watching everything going on around him, holding it all together, locked in sync with Jason, who gave a solid, professional performance.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SOUND THOUGH, it was appauling, sub bass-bass-more bass, and an extra touch of bass, was it the venue, does it always sound like that?

Even if it is the sound of the venue, the sound tech guys/gals should have got it sorted. It ruined the experience for me, I have never heard anything like it, the worst sound at a gig ever, terrible.

After 5 songs, I thought maybe it was where I was standing, so I moved to the back of the arena, slightly better, but still way too much bass, escpecially the sub bass. When 'Dazed and Confused' started I could not distinguish one bass note to the next, (you should be able to hear a semitone by semitone fall in pitch). Although I did recognise that the band had tuned down (to 'D' I think) it should not have genated that much extra bass.

I am convinced that the band had a completely different sound on stage, because I would have not been able to play with a sound like that, it was torture!

It did make me laugh though, standing near the sound desk, there were the sound 'techs' (how dare the call themselves that) with their headphones on, nodding their heads, ARE THEY DEAF ? (TAKE YOUR HEADPHONES OFF AND LISTEN TO SOUND OF THE ARENA).

Where did they learn their trade? Do they listen to rock music, Have they heard of Led Zeppelin?

That sort of mix would have been OK for a Rap event. I did try to stop and speak to one of the sound guys, but he nonchalontly kept going.

I even tried to enulate the same sound in my car on the way home and could not get enough bass, with full bass boost on and all the bass settings on 10!

By the way check out my web site: www.glennpovey.com for info on me, including samples of my guitar works.

It's typical for all rock concerts these days that the bass and bassdrum are way up in the mix, and it doesen't sound good. For some reason, that they only understand themselves, the sound engineers want it that way. It's a pity that people who are supposed to make great sound doesen't know anything about good sound.

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