why are the headline acts always louder?

theque · Post by **theque** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:42 am

i am sure many of you are familiar with this phenomenon:

you go out to an event or a club, music is loud and all good, than the main act/ dj comes on and the music is now massively loud. can anybody explain to me why this is happening? it has always bugged me.

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon May 29, 2006 7:55 am

Because they are usually the best act, and people want to hear it?

Bring earplugs to shows if you value your hearing. I have a pair I carry around with me everywhere in case the volume gets too much... that way, you can still enjoy the show without your ears killing you the next day.

jasefos · Post by **jasefos** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:29 am

theque wrote:i am sure many of you are familiar with this phenomenon:

you go out to an event or a club, music is loud and all good, than the main act/ dj comes on and the music is now massively loud. can anybody explain to me why this is happening? it has always bugged me.

Sounds like business as usual to me ...
You had to ask ?
; )

Danny Futuro · Post by **Danny Futuro** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:40 am

clubs like Vanguard here in LA tend to kick up the sound as the night progresses. thats just how it is.

bensuthers · Post by **bensuthers** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:48 am

cos they can afford better sound guys.

i shit you not.

tokyojoe69 · Post by **tokyojoe69** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:40 am

Might also be that when a room is empty, there is a lot more accoustic, so they keep volume down untill it fills up a little. I went out yesterday and noticed this, the sound did progressively get louder, but once the room was full it had a distinctly different sound to when i walked in.

Cheers
Emil

jasefos · Post by **jasefos** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:42 am

tokyojoe69 wrote:Might also be that when a room is empty, there is a lot more accoustic, so they keep volume down untill it fills up a little. I went out yesterday and noticed this, the sound did progressively get louder, but once the room was full it had a distinctly different sound to when i walked in.

Cheers
Emil

Well this statement certainly makes sense (all conspiracies aside!).

dancing Ray · Post by **dancing Ray** » Mon May 29, 2006 9:56 am

I experienced this phenomen with bands. The suppport act is playing their asses off and making a real good show, but aren´t mixed loud enough. So what you see and what you hear doesn´t match.
Now the main act enters stage, volume´s pumped up and you go "whoaa, this rocks".

The first act is the "ass"-act to make the second look (sound) good.

olafmol · Post by **olafmol** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:01 am

often it's requested in the rider that the main act can play for several dB's louder than the other acts.

Olaf

eyeknow · Post by **eyeknow** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:19 am

It's been the same since back in the day ( and I mean wayyyyyy back) the headline act gets the best sound/mix..............

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Mon May 29, 2006 2:41 pm

Also, as ears get a bit fatigued and used to the volume, the volume has to be turned up to maintain the same level of excitement. And, as mentioned above, the more people in the room, the more sound it takes to booooom!!

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Mon May 29, 2006 8:43 pm

Its a common technique. My teacher at audio course let us know a few 'tricks' to get the excitement up. You should always have the supporting bands / background music at a relatively lower level because that way the main act sounds bigger. And even when the main act comes in, you should have headroom to make it sound even louder during the time it plays to maintain excitement. Ol' industry tricks. Just like why you should have the biggest silence gap on a cd in the first track. Because that way the person can put the cd on the player, and have time to go back to his comfortable sofa before the music starts. Or something like that

subterFUSE · Post by **subterFUSE** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:23 pm

The obvious reason is that the headliner DJs typically turn up the volume themselves, or turn up the gains on their records/CDs.

An opening DJ should not be playing super-loud. They are there to set the mood, not blow the roof off too early. The night should have a clear progression, so having an opener blast everyone away makes no sense.

paolo topaz · Post by **paolo topaz** » Mon May 29, 2006 10:38 pm

sound intensity is i2 over i1, i2 being the current level of volume with i1 being the previous level, your ears do get used to the volume so the sound engineer and the dj will increase the volume as the night goes on.

I had my ears tested last ear and having lost some mid in my left ear(monitor ear) I got the 10db custom fitted earplugs, they're great you can let people scream in your ear when they're talking to you and still enjoy the music, one review said it's like someone turning down the music a little bit with a dial on the back of your head!

Getting back to the topic, the ear doctor told me to take regular breaks from the sustained sound, so when i go outside for ten minutes and then come back the music seems so much louder, it;s down to sound intensity. I was hopeless at physics at school but I do remember that bit and it makes sense now.

Another good one is if you're watching a movie or listening to music and say you have the volume at 10/20, someone tells you to turn it down but instantly you crank it up to say16/20 just for a few seconds and pretend to just be having a laugh. The complaining person should be well pisses at this stage so bring it back to the original level of 10/20 and due to sound intensity it'll seem better to them! works well on birds!

Paolo

p.s.for the ear plug info check www.dontlosethemusic.com/org

subbasshead · Post by **subbasshead** » Tue May 30, 2006 3:01 am

The Times reports on last night's Ivor Novello Awards for composers/songwriters, in London.
It's a funny piece, centered around the speech made by 71-year old composer Sir Harrison
Birtwistle when he climbed the stage to accept his prize. Most of the program had been
dominated by pop music - especially this year's big winner, James Blunt's "Beautiful".

So says Birtwistle:

"Why is your music so effing loud? ... You must all be brain-dead.
Maybe you are. I didn’t know so many cliches existed until the last
half-hour. Have fun. Goodbye."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0, ... 56,00.html

why are the headline acts always louder?

why are the headline acts always louder?

Re: why are the headline acts always louder?