QueenZone discussion #1429657
Queen Live Loudness?
| Mr.Mouth 26.04.2015 08:09 |
First of all sorry for my english. I read the book wich says that on Knebworth 86 were 14 000 watts in the air... Anyone know how many were at other venues and in that time wich band was louder? Special hello to all my QZ friends ;) |
| Oscar J 26.04.2015 08:25 |
14 000 watts? I'm surprised it wasn't way more. Anyway, watt isn't really a measure of loudness. My 1800 watt vacuum cleaner is surprisingly quiet. Decibels are more frequently used to measure loudness at rock concerts. |
| coops 26.04.2015 12:45 |
I saw Queen live several times during the 70's and 80's and some of the Paul Rogers shows. The loudest show, and probably the loudest concert I have ever attended, was at Wembley Arena in 1984 I think. Made by teeth rattle. The PR shows were really mild in comparison. Or perhaps my hearing is shite now. |
| musicland munich 26.04.2015 13:40 |
Well, how to say...Watts not automatically leads to loudness...there are more circumstances we have to keep an eye on. With 14.000 Watt your ears can be damaged forever if you are going to an indoor gig and you may have a bad seat or standing position. With 14.000 Watts on an outdoor event like Knebworth...the crowd won't be pleased with results of such an poor PA :) ( No wonder someone gets stabed) But after all I just might think you missed at least one "0" on the Watts number :) I have some technical inside about the Mannheim 86' Show somewhere, I will post them if I find them. Queen were using their biggest stage setup there as far as I know. |
| jondickens1 26.04.2015 14:01 |
I saw the Q+PR show in Birmingham on The Cosmos rocks tour. Very quiet. It was like listening to it at home on the tv. Really spoiled the atmosphere. Then saw the Q+AL show this year which was much much louder. Far better atmosphere as a result. Sadly I haven't been fortunate enough to see a proper Queen show with Freddie so I can't compare on that score. Did see the Tribute concert at Wembley tho in 92. Again the sound levels were low,especially for the Queen set. Could barely here Brian's guitar. Has anyone else had issues with sound levels at shows? |
| MercurialFreddie 26.04.2015 15:13 |
I did attend the Q+AL gig in Cracow and I stood very close to the speaker (Golden Circle area) and I was afraid that I'll lose my hearing for good. There were some parts during the show where I plugged my ear and only then, I heard instruments and vocals properly. |
| matt z 26.04.2015 21:45 |
Adam Lambert sings the songs of Queen with special guests Brian May abd Roger Taylor 2014. Inglewood California. The sound was mildly low. Floor seating by the stage. It was so mild as to be comfortable and the atmosphere was such that I could hear the screaming fans in the upper tiers far louder than people next to me. (Cause people who tend to get floor seats now are very lame and inanimate) Who knows. It was a bad night for me. But the sound was almost tinny compared to what I'd heard about them live |
| Vocal harmony 27.04.2015 05:48 |
The PA on the Magic Tour was supplied by Clair Brothers. It was comprised (mainly) of their S4 four way cabs. A slightly smaller version of which was used by U2 the year before and also Micheal Jackson and Madonna on later tours. The same PA was used at the Freddie Tribute, where unusually it was stacked four cabs wide and twenty cabs high each side, instead of the conventional (at the time) square block of cabs. In effect creating almost a kind of line array. The speaker handling on the magic tour was rated at 500,000 watts although the Crown power amps at max output were rated at about 300,000 watts. Quite possibly this accounted for the crystal clear sound produced at the shows as the speakers could never be driven to distortion. The Clair Brothers S4 system was regarded by most as the best sounding large scale PA at the time. The cabs were about 5 ft square each comprising two 18in Bass drivers four 10ins mid range four tweeters and a sub Bass port. The European shows were slightly louder than the UK stadium shows which were heavily governed for sound levels. |
| Mr.Mouth 27.04.2015 07:34 |
Interesting stuff you guys know :) I think there are more topics that can be interesting...lets welcome some new topics..Forum is emty :( |
| The King Of Rhye 27.04.2015 08:00 |
matt z wrote: Adam Lambert sings the songs of Queen with special guests Brian May abd Roger Taylor 2014. Inglewood California.Hahaha.....different way to term it, personally I'd still call it "Queen&Adam Lambert" but hey, whatever.......:D Kinda interesting topic here, actually.....I was at the 7-12-14 Auburn Hills show (back of the main floor) and I thought it was plenty loud enough.......maybe not the loudest concert I've ever been to! (that might be when I saw Rush in '94...same arena but I was way closer!) But then again, I go to a concert approximately once every few years, so I might not be the best judge of that... Also I think it might come down to the venue, at least somewhat, different acoustics and all that depending on where you are at...... |
| moonie 27.04.2015 09:05 |
coops wrote: I saw Queen live several times during the 70's and 80's and some of the Paul Rogers shows. The loudest show, and probably the loudest concert I have ever attended, was at Wembley Arena in 1984 I think. Made by teeth rattle. The PR shows were really mild in comparison. Or perhaps my hearing is shite now.I can concur with you on that one. I saw them at the NEC in '84 and that was a very loud gig indeed.. Sounded great on the floor though. The loudest gig I've ever been to was Iron Maiden at Bradford in '86.. I couldn't hear properly for a few days afterwards.. Gigs these days are nowhere near as loud.. These Line Arrays dont move the air like the good old S4's and Turbosound TMS-3 cabs used to.. |
| ANAGRAMER 27.04.2015 15:25 |
Queen live in Edinburgh June 1st and 2nd 1982 is, without doubt, the loudest noise I have ever heard in my entire life I am 50 and I'm certain my hearing loss stems from those two concerts! |
| Arnaldo "Ogre-" Silveira 28.04.2015 04:56 |
These are my recollections: QPR in Las Vegas, 2006: Too quiet; QPR in Buenos Aires, 2008: Very loud, to the point you could hear some bass distortion. the guitar was too high in the mix, and I do like guitar-heavy mixes. QPR in Rio, 2008: Very quiet. Almost no guitar in the mix for the first couple of songs. QAL in Boston, 2014: Somewhat low (upper seating, not too far, Brian's side of the stage) QAL New Jersey 2014: Good sound (lower seat, near the B stage). |
| hobbit in Rhye 09.05.2015 06:14 |
Been to Q+AL 2015: the loudness is okay I think, or maybe not enough, because I can hear my voice singing along very clearly, in a crappy tone. It has probably ruined the audio recording of anybody standing near me :D |
| thomasquinn 32989 09.05.2015 08:30 |
Too bad to see that so many people here go in for the "loud-is-good" crap. Loudness has totally ruined live music, a process that has been on-going since the late '60s. |
| musicland munich 09.05.2015 14:26 |
Thanks TQ...for bringing this topic up again. So here is what I promised in my first post In Mannheim 86' Queen's PA had 100 000 Watt...and here are some more stats - 15 Trucks( for 38 tons of equipment), 60 Roadies, 500 Policemen,70 Rescue Workers, 3 Paramedics...the power consumption for the whole festival would be enough to provide electricity( 24 h) for a small town with 60.000 citizens. |
| Oscar J 09.05.2015 15:24 |
Cool facts, thanks! |
| hobbit in Rhye 09.05.2015 17:13 |
Hey musicland munich it's me who brought this topic up again :D I've been waiting for your technical inside. Thanks for the impressive stats. That Mannheim festival sounds monstrous. You didn't attend that show? thomasquinn: I'm certainly not in the loud-is-good mindset. Too loud or too quiet are both unsatisfying. |
| musicland munich 09.05.2015 17:33 |
hobbit in Rhye wrote: Hey musicland munich it's me who brought this topic up again :D I've been waiting for your technical inside. Thanks for the impressive stats. That Mannheim festival sounds monstrous. You didn't attend that show? thomasquinn: I'm certainly not in the loud-is-good mindset. Too loud or too quiet are both unsatisfying.Ah sorry, I just have a look at the last reply and then I 've found my own posting. No I wasn't part of the audience at that festival. My first Queen related gig was "The Cross" in 91'. In 85/86'fandom just had it's start. At that point my attitude was " Hey not too bad, I'll go next time"...well we all know how that ends :( As for those informations I provide on QZ, I'am a collector of Queen/ Queen related articles and reports. Not all of them are 100 percent accurate, but they show some good basic insight and "Zeitgeist". So here is the attachment were my informations were taken from. |
| hobbit in Rhye 09.05.2015 17:49 |
König Freddie! From my football watching, I know what that means :D The stage and crowd look nice. I bet going to that open-air festival with some local beer and a pretzel baguette in your hands, watching Queen and enjoying the 100 000 Watt sound system is not too shabby. |
| sgs8789 09.05.2015 19:25 |
Saw Queen 5 times between 1978 and 1982 and they were very loud - always remember my ears ringing into the next day. Saw QPR Apr 1, 2006 in San Diego and was astounded at how low the volume was. Saw QAL Jul 9, 2014 in Houston and the volume was somewhere between the Queen shows I saw between '78 and '82 and the QPR show in 2006. |