seeing the fiery furnaces at town hall reminded me what a powerful force concert-hall reverb is. rock bands usually play in boxy little rooms that absorb sounds and don't bounce them back out, making it easier for the band to control/manipulate reverb via their own gear. concert halls otoh are built for choruses, orchestras, operas... all of which primarily rely on natural reverb in one form or another (with speech and solo singing requiring the quickest decay time). and there are things like curtains that are added to make the sound more "dry" for the listener if need be. but i don't think the majority of concert hall acoustics-expert dudes have any idea how to accommodate teh crazy spinal tap ampage, and the loser rock bands who play there certainly don't. what you get is a sound that's really distorted and muddy, and with so much reverb that every time you touch an armrest or something, it feels like you're getting an electric shock.
how to fix this? i grew up doing classical music, which is what got me interested in the subject -- but like i said, classical is a different ball of wax.
― astor riviera (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 16 October 2005 23:58 (nineteen years ago)