Complaints about the sound at Glade 2008

[yohankiwi]

Having spoken to others about the Jeff Mills set, there seems to have been an issue with the front left speaker stack (where I was). People have said it was better near other stacks.

That would make sense as that was the side of the tent i was standing on when i was watching his set...

[AmbientUpstart]

i came, i saw music, i loved it, no complaints......the sound was definately improved from last year, obviously the lack of mud had something to do with it. i do agree that at times certain tents were on the quiet side but at the end of the day i came to have it and to listen to amazing tunes and i most definately did that....................i'm pretty certain i did anyway

[revenantor]

One of the sound engineers from Overkill checking in....

I agree 100% with all of the comments that sound (on Overkill at least, I cannot comment on the other stages) was of a low volume.

The Friday night, bangface, was especially terrible.

We had dropped to a limit of 95dBA at FOH mix at about midnight, which is very low, but we tried our best to deal with it... at about 2am it got dropped to 90dBA at FOH mix. Now, at one point, we turned the PA system off. All that was audible was the monitor sound on stage, and the noise from the crowd... we were still reading 95dB.
In between 2 songs, when noise from all aspects of the PA, foldback included, were off, we were still reading 91dB... 1dB OVER what we were supposed to be keeping too. That is, the crowd alone were louder than our sound limits!

I have stage managers wanting it louder, sound control wanting it quieter - when there isn't actually any noise coming from the PA!

We managed to get it sorted a bit for the last hour or so of the Friday night (lots of frequency fiddling to try and make it sound louder than it actually was), but we ended up having a minimum level of 95dBA for the rest of the weekend, which made life a lot less stressful...

Sound control is a very important issue, and every measure possible needs to be taken to remove spill from festival sites. But when it gets to the point where the crowd alone are louder than your limits, a re-think is perhaps needed on festival location, or other ways to keep local residents happy.

In all fairness to the company in charge of sound control, they recognised fairly quickly that we were having problems with containing the level to their requirements whilst still letting "the show go on", and allowed us with a bit more headroom for the rest of the weekend.

[soundclash]

Looks like the volume in Mills was silly even on the opposite side to where i was standing. You can clearly hear the dull drone of conversations over the top of the music. Sorry to go on but you just shouldnt of been able to hear people twenty yards away.
Im hoping someone puts a vid of Claude Von Stroke up as he was even quieter. Great night mind you and loved every minute but yada yada yada yada.............
See you all next year in the same thread

[Ab$olut]

wow... hellfishes set was really low..

[Sperge]

Oh dear, that really isn't very loud, is it?

Thank you, revenantor, for some interesting facts and figures on the limits btw.

I will try and get some more detailed explanations from the organisers about what happened on Friday night in particular and how they're going to address this issue of volume limits for the future.

As I've mentioned before, they don't seem very convinced that sound was a major issue this year apart from the incidents that have already been mentioned several times here (including the Hellfish set). So I wouldn't hold out too much hope of it being good news for those that want 'free parties' levels of sound...

[fletcher]

just to let you all know, i was at a wedding in shropshire on saturday night, held in a marquee in the middle of knowhere. The soundystem was awesome the band / dj were banging out cheesy tunes well past midnight, and i was stood there thinking damn.. something is really wrong here... this is SO much louder than glade a week ago...

still, at the end of the day, i know where id rather be.,...

[kai]

I think the posts from revenator and fletcher kind of say it all really!!!


Trouble is whinging old cunts dont complain about 'happy' occasions like weddings but would love to shut down a festival - wankers!


Having said that how can you have a festival with volume restrictions which mean that the sound of the crowd with no muswic playing is enough to start the noise Nazi's complaining!

If that going to be the case then surely the festival has to be moved, unless the council can be convinced to stop being so draconian or residents can be paid off somehow!

[pd2h]

If that going to be the case then surely the festival has to be moved, unless the council can be convinced to stop being so draconian or residents can be paid off somehow!

on the residents being paid off if the closest few complainers were bungged a couple of hundred quid a piece to go on holiday for the weekend Im sure that would not kill the profits or would it??

[Sperge]

If that going to be the case then surely the festival has to be moved, unless the council can be convinced to stop being so draconian or residents can be paid off somehow!

on the residents being paid off if the closest few complainers were bungged a couple of hundred quid a piece to go on holiday for the weekend Im sure that would not kill the profits or would it??

Trouble is that West Berks is quite an upmarket area and I'm sure it will take rather more than "a couple of hundred quid" to buy off the biggest moaners. There is also the problem that if word gets out about free money being given out, many more people will suddenly find reasons to complain about the festival...

Also, people have been giving the example of Glastonbury to argue for this. But they seem to have forgotten that Glastonbury now shuts down all its main stages and tents by half past midnight and all you get after that is "silent disco" headphone jobs.

[ogriff]

Also, people have been giving the example of Glastonbury to argue for this. But they seem to have forgotten that Glastonbury now shuts down all its main stages and tents by half past midnight and all you get after that is "silent disco" headphone jobs.

Eh? I'm sure the dance village went on later than that in 2007, and the Glade stage and all the stuff up in Lost Vagueness (I know it's gone now, but it's been replaced and the Tilted Disco "house" went on all night) carried on WELL into the small hours.

[Sperge]

Also, people have been giving the example of Glastonbury to argue for this. But they seem to have forgotten that Glastonbury now shuts down all its main stages and tents by half past midnight and all you get after that is "silent disco" headphone jobs.

Eh? I'm sure the dance village went on later than that in 2007, and the Glade stage and all the stuff up in Lost Vagueness (I know it's gone now, but it's been replaced and the Tilted Disco "house" went on all night) carried on WELL into the small hours.

Oh, the Shangri-La and Trash City areas are still going strong at those times admittedly, but not the big stages with the big sound systems. The dance village does go on a bit longer than the main stages, but not much. It's definitely not an all-nighter thing - and there are more of those bloody headphone discos now, including at the Glade stage.

[Twist]

Friday - WELL quiet in Overkill, I was really trying to let go and dance but it just wasn't loud enough. I could easily hold a conversation in the middle of the tent.

/weektoolate

[shakyjane]

Its all a lot bigger than just glade really though isnt it - possibly instead of complaining to the council or the glade organisers - we should be complaining to the government? Or environmental health. Or whoever the fuck it is who makes up these stupid fucking rules.

I swear it pissed me off so much when I was driving from Scotland to Glade and back and seeing so many fuckin big arse lorries taking crap about that noone really needs! Then I have to put up with such awful restrictions on sound. I know they're a completely different thing, but everything is just so unfair. My personal opinion is that the councils really need to gets some bollocks and tell the residents to go screw themselves.

[xkejjer]

i hope that the glade organizers talk about this or at least send some mail about this problem.. explaining why was it low.. offering assurances about next year, and if there will be these similar sound problems.. Because apparently, if you take it generally, i.e. for a moment ignoring relatively nitpicking issues like more showers (more showers would be nice but i wouldn't classify it as a major problem) it is the only big problem for glade at this stage.

the sound after midnight, which is often peak time at events and festivals, especially dance festivals, was very low. i could hear people speaking from 2 feet away and not only that, understand what the conversation (often it was just a mash up he he) is about. that is not acceptable in such an event, especially a dance vent, in which the music must not just be heard, but FELT, destroying your bone marrow and invading your fucking soul.

so now, after what is it, 9 pages of sound complaints, it is a bit about time for an official explanation and assurance about next year. and i would like a real assurance, not technical talk about this, about that, about logicaudio and whatnot. just plain words and answers to a very simple question which is common amongst everyone, i believe.


why was the sound so low this year,

and

will it be this low next year?

[leah]

distant bass for one weekend a year is not a human rights violation

[Ab$olut]

My personal opinion is that the councils really need to gets some bollocks and tell the residents to go screw themselves.

indeed I bet people getting last min supplys and stuff for traveling back gave the local businesses a boost.I wonder how the locals in glastonbury would feel if the festival was moved and they wouldn't get thier payments!

[digger]

I am a local resident who just moved to the area (new development opposite Butt Inn). On Friday night you could hear the beat from about 4pm onwards but many comments have said volume was very low on Friday. We could not hear anything though for the rest of the festival which we could not understand. It might have had something to do with the wind direction I guess. I fear that the problem of sound levels will not go away and a new venue might be needed. I have been to Glasto the last 3 times and will be going to Glade next year wherever it is held. It is incredibly low key in terms of the impact on the local area and I agree that this is a wider issue about sound levels at festivals rather than a problem specific to Glade.

[Sperge]

I am a local resident who just moved to the area (new development opposite Butt Inn). On Friday night you could hear the beat from about 4pm onwards but many comments have said volume was very low on Friday. We could not hear anything though for the rest of the festival which we could not understand. It might have had something to do with the wind direction I guess. I fear that the problem of sound levels will not go away and a new venue might be needed. I have been to Glasto the last 3 times and will be going to Glade next year wherever it is held. It is incredibly low key in terms of the impact on the local area and I agree that this is a wider issue about sound levels at festivals rather than a problem specific to Glade.

Thanks for that view from the residents' side, digger, it's very useful. And welcome to the board!

The wind explanation sounds pretty likely as that's what most of the crew and organisers have been saying caused the problems on Friday night.

[shakyjane]