(Not) Louder Than Bombs: Reading sound levels
by Cate Blanche, pictures by Holly Erskine [Edit this content]
▾ 35 comments 17:30 August 27th, 2008
Organisers of this year's Reading Festival have blamed the good old British weather after hordes of fans complained about the low sound levels for many of the Main Stage acts performing this year.
After rumours onsite suggested that Friday's headliners Rage Against The Machine, had conspired to keep the volume of the other acts down to a whimper, festival organiser Melvin Benn has stepped up to set the record straight: "The council set exactly the same level that they always set, but due to the weather this year, the sound stayed low."
Festival-goers also complained after Saturday's performance from The Killers was greeted by crowds chanting "Turn it up!" in between songs, following Bloc Party's set which had also been besieged by sound problems.
Benn states:
"The sound levels on site are almost entirely dictated by the levels offsite... As a result the sound hit those decibel readings much, much earlier than normal, resulting in the sound being recorded at much louder volumes offsite than normal. So we were obligated by the council to turn our levels down."
Benn has promised to rectify the problem for next year's Festival, adding:
"The sound level was less than ideal on the Friday night and my sound engineer and I have a meeting scheduled in with the council to present how we will overcome this so we don’t face the same issues with sound next year."
DiScuss: Was it just us or did they turn it up on Sunday? What's the quietest gig/festival you've ever been to?
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...awesome sound on the Friday for Metallica but absolutely turd for pretty much the rest of the weekend.
Ruined any enjoyment I would have had for Dizzee and made 3 of us give up during the Killers and walk down to the Manics instead (best decision we could have made).
Bullshit
The sound for Taking Back Sunday was the worst I've ever heard, the beginning of BMTH was literally just drums and vocals, and for Fucked Up! the soundman was clearly deaf, first of all the drums cut out, then the vocals, then the drums and the bass, then it was great for about 3 minutes and then the vocals cut out again. It was a complete joke.
^some of this
metallica was loud enough. rage really wasnt. manics were great, and tented. justice were silly quiet too
It seemed to be where you stood
as the second sets of speakers seemed to be loud enough and it was also ok if you were far enough back and in the middle. But if you were down the front, where most of the biggest fans of a band would be, the sound was pretty crap. You could hear normal conversations during the raconteurs.
Maybe moving a few speakers to the centre in front of the stage may help.
They should just take the attitude they had in Werchter and turn it up proper loud!
I saw Tenacious D
who weren't all that, but particularly weren't helped by the barely audible sound, and that was the second to last main stage band of the weekend. Then Metallica started and the difference was so radical it hit you in the face. Absolutely crystal clear and belting out from the off...
they have their own soundman
who's probably been doin it for fucking years.
At Leeds
The second set of speakers didn't seem to be switched on until the main bands came on later.
I thought the rumour was
that Metallica had made them keep the volume down for everyone else, not Rage.
this ^
except i didnt watch BMTH because they suck balls.
TBS was so bad though
it wouldnt work if it was rage
their sound levels were too low anyway
i think it all depended on
where you were standing.
the wind was blowing to the left most of the weekend and so if you were on the right it was fine and if you were on the left then it was fairly shite.
Despite being a shit band
Their performance was one of the best of the weekend I reckon. Plus some of their new stuff has some real 'potential' as they say. Worth watching anyway.
yeah! i heard that too
supposedly (according to the rumour i heard) they have in their contract that they won't play festivals unless their sound is so much better than the other bands. i think where you were standing was irrelevant as the sound was so damn good for metallica you could tell an immediate difference.
yeah man
metallica were fupping awesomly loud. killers sound seemed piss poor but it may just be because i was so close to the front.
I usually try and get the chuff out of Reading over the festival weekend
as I live so damn close (to the south, or right of main stage as you look at). Normally you can hear everything going on the campsite on Thursday night, but this year I didn't hear a peep all weekend (I stuck around this year). So the wind blowing north was definitely stronger for the duration
Oh but
I did notice a marked increase in volume for Metallica compared to Tenacious D actually in the arena
I would have gone for
'Surviving The Quiet', really that would've had everything.
i think i just went for a poo
im pretty sure ill never be able to like them
i didn't find justice quiet at all
but maybe that was just proximity to the stage.
The poor sound was obvious on the main stage though unless you were near the front.
justice were loud and great at Reading
well at the back of the tent near a delay stack...
yeah, with the exception of the saturday night, the campsite seemed fairly peaceful
so much so that i went to sleep around 1 on the first two nights
QOTSA
Were far too quiet.. It's a shame such a great line up was ruined by the sound.
friday and saturday
were both deathly quiet at reading main stage. Really ruined Bloc Party for me.
It was quiet in the NME tent for the last shadow puppets but after the crowd continually chanted "turn it up" they actually did. Then the band performed their set opener again. Nice.
It seemed like
when Metallica were on it was louder right at the back near the donut stall than it was right down the front for Rage, QOTSA, Bloc Party, etc.
Manics also seemed louder and clearer vocals than The Cribs.
You couldn't hear any of Pendulum from outside the tent over the crowd. They needed a bigger stage.
Hopefully they'll sort it out.
This is another reason I go to Glastonbury.
Sound quality is always perfect. Only exception was that thunder storm in 2005 that knocked out some stages.
Festivals aren't very good...
if you can't hear the music. It was the worst sound of the half dozen times I have been to Reading and there were massive discrepancies between bands, even on the same day (e.g. We Are Scientists & Editors were OK but Raconteurs & Bloc Party were barely audible).
OMG!!!
We were the ones who started the TURN IT UP chant cos it sounded like it was coming outa mobile phone
I should never ever type while talking on the phone
I sound like a moron...
it was
quite possibly the poorest sound i've experienced out of all the reading festivals ive been too. Metallica was shit hot tho!!
i worked at reading
and i can tell you that nearly every band was playing at around 100db, and metallica tipped at 102db, the only difference was the wind during the day increasing the levels off site which meant it had to be turned down to meet the EHO and councils license, so that the festival could go ahead next year, and "Big Mick" is a fucking good sound engieer
your fault
for going to see dizzee
this is a
dumb dumb post
Yup
Werchter was a wall of sound
Sheer awesomeness
Justice
were rubbishly quiet. It was a great set but I was just thinking throughout the whole thing how much louder it should have been. I started out at the barrier, moved toward the middle where it was so much more fun.
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