OFF: Dumpy & Co: short review

Doug Pearson ceres at SIRIUS.COM
Mon Apr 19 15:35:10 EDT 1999


On Fri, 16 Apr 1999 15:13:50 +0100, Carl Edlund Anderson
<cea20 at CUS.CAM.AC.UK> wrote:
>
>On fre 16 apr 1999 14.45 +0100 "Dave Berry" <daveb at HARLEQUIN.CO.UK> wrote:
>>
>> There's been a spate of scare stories about how modern
>> PAs are so good that people are putting their hearing at risk without even
>> realising it.
>
>The PAs may be good, but the mixes aren't.  If the high end
>is overemphasized because the soundman is mixing for his earplugs,

Actually, with GOOD (musician-type, $15-$20 for a cheap set, more like
$100+ for a custom-fit set) earplugs, you can hear the high end very
clearly (but not too loudly) - far better than without.  The problem with
soundmen is that years of exposure to loud music has killed their
high-frequency sensitivity (high frequency sounds permanently push hair
cells over more easily/rapidly than bass tones do); THAT is the reason why
most PA mixes, at live shows OR from DJ's, emphasize too much treble and
pain-inducing high frequencies.

Dave is definitely right about the modern PA's - they can reproduce painful
high frequencies far better than older ones, which would naturally roll off
the highs due to their poor frequency response.

>then it doesn't take a lot of brains to notice it getting painful!

The most painfully-loud band I've ever seen was Sonic Youth - they weren't
LOUDER than Motörhead, but they played so much high frequency feedback that
it was unbearable (the old knitting-needle-in-the-eardrum sensation)
without earplugs.

        -Doug
         ceres at sirius.com



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