Y'day I walked out of a Nadasurabhi concert in utter disgust as Sriranjani Santhanagopalan's concert had terrible mike arrangements. Many in the audience remonstrated just after the concert started but hapless-looking organisers were pleading with the mike guy who couldn't fix the rasping distortion in the vocalist's mike and thereby lay in shambles a lovely Saveri 'Sankari Sankuru'.
Now how come we have such situations when everyone -organisers, musicians and audiences- knows the importance of good mike arrangements? I think this is basically a huge process failure and calls for some simple measures which can largely address this pain point:
1. There should be a sound check a couple of hours at least before the concert. There should be an objective assessment and the mike guy should stand to lose his income unless the sound check is cleared.
2. When mike problems arise during a concert, the organisers should stop the music, publicly apologise and request a break to fix the issue, and work on it and fix it. This should be assigned to a competent person among the organisers. After the concert, thanks are due to that person and the mike guy for a good mike arrangement.
3. The organisers should spend money and effort to understand what it takes to provide good mike arrangements.
4. After a concert, written feedback from musicians and members of the audience should be gathered on the quality of mike arrangements : clarity, tonality, loudness, balance.
5. Audience should be able to walk out of ticketed concerts with poor mike arrangements and get 100% refund.
6. After the mike/sound check, no musician (accompanist or main) should ask the mike man to twiddle and raise the respective volumes, especially mid-concert.
I just saw a T-Shirt slogan at Cotton World, protesting against noise pollution, "Raga Behra- not in Indian classical music". I would like to say that all of us techies with our IIT degrees and PhDs owe our musicians and ourselves better mike arrangements.
Mike mess
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srikant1987
- Posts: 2246
- Joined: 10 Jun 2007, 12:23
Re: Mike mess
I feel that many small halls have disproportionately large quantum of sound. The Indian Heritage Academy hall isn't that big, and could suffer from large amplifications. Naadasurabhi does a good thing in also placing a few chairs and a speaker outside of the hall, which can be used whenever not being able to watch the artistes becomes a worthy sacrifice for more bearable sound levels.
Screeches tend to be a one-off occurrence most of the time. I think the problem is often over-reaction to them by the artistes, organizers and listeners. Just pausing singing and playing for a few seconds and letting the screech die out usually gives much better results than a hurried, monkey-like twiddling with the sound settings, which makes everything unpredictable and messy.
Screeches tend to be a one-off occurrence most of the time. I think the problem is often over-reaction to them by the artistes, organizers and listeners. Just pausing singing and playing for a few seconds and letting the screech die out usually gives much better results than a hurried, monkey-like twiddling with the sound settings, which makes everything unpredictable and messy.
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Nick H
- Posts: 9472
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03
Re: Mike mess
People should avoid venues where this is common, especially if they charge money for entrance. If audiences vote with their feet, eventually, so will sponsors. Artists too (where the hard reality of getting concert dates at all, and of earning a living, permits) should also avoid such halls --- although they are the last to know what the sound they are creating actually sounds like to the audience.
A professional sound engineer knows exactly which knob to tweak (or microphone to move) to prevent feedback screeches, and how to set up the system to minimise the chances. A professional musician does not half-heartedly hum a few phrases for the sound check (if there is one), but sings full out, as they will do when warmed up --- otherwise, it is their fault if the settings are all wrong.
A professional sound engineer knows that things will change as the artists warm up and the acoustics of the hall alter as it fills (hopefully) with people. An amateur (paid or not) makes some rough settings during the varnam and then retires to the car park and his newspaper.
I agree with you both, and I too feel very strongly about this issue. I disagree only on details. Two hours, Rsachi? What are the poor artists supposed to do then, before the start? 15-30 minutes should be fine, but with the proviso that the settings for an empty hall will not be absolutely right for what everybody hopes will become a full one.
A group of three to four musicians, and a lineup that changes very little. It is hardly the biggest sonic challenge in the world.
However, it is a couple of years since I was truly horrified by the sound quality in a concert. I do think that things are improving, and continue to improve. Some halls have acoustics that are just so bad that nothing can save them. Let's just pretend those places don't exist; they are not worth even giving a chance. With the others, let people make their feelings known to the organisers, and, when all else fails, use those feet.
Even though I think things are improving, I still carry some cotton wool and, where necessary, use it as a final volume control. It is effective at preventing pain, but also robs the music of some of its frequencies, so it is a shame to have to use it.
Support Oli Chamber Concerts! Truly mic-less, completely acoustic music. These concerts are not being advertised to the general public, but they are being kind enough to post invitations on rasikas.org. It is different, and it is a challenge, both for artists and audience. A wonderful project.
A professional sound engineer knows exactly which knob to tweak (or microphone to move) to prevent feedback screeches, and how to set up the system to minimise the chances. A professional musician does not half-heartedly hum a few phrases for the sound check (if there is one), but sings full out, as they will do when warmed up --- otherwise, it is their fault if the settings are all wrong.
A professional sound engineer knows that things will change as the artists warm up and the acoustics of the hall alter as it fills (hopefully) with people. An amateur (paid or not) makes some rough settings during the varnam and then retires to the car park and his newspaper.
I agree with you both, and I too feel very strongly about this issue. I disagree only on details. Two hours, Rsachi? What are the poor artists supposed to do then, before the start? 15-30 minutes should be fine, but with the proviso that the settings for an empty hall will not be absolutely right for what everybody hopes will become a full one.
A group of three to four musicians, and a lineup that changes very little. It is hardly the biggest sonic challenge in the world.
However, it is a couple of years since I was truly horrified by the sound quality in a concert. I do think that things are improving, and continue to improve. Some halls have acoustics that are just so bad that nothing can save them. Let's just pretend those places don't exist; they are not worth even giving a chance. With the others, let people make their feelings known to the organisers, and, when all else fails, use those feet.
Even though I think things are improving, I still carry some cotton wool and, where necessary, use it as a final volume control. It is effective at preventing pain, but also robs the music of some of its frequencies, so it is a shame to have to use it.
Support Oli Chamber Concerts! Truly mic-less, completely acoustic music. These concerts are not being advertised to the general public, but they are being kind enough to post invitations on rasikas.org. It is different, and it is a challenge, both for artists and audience. A wonderful project.
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uday_shankar
- Posts: 1475
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:37
Re: Mike mess
Last december, during the peak of the season, I wrote the following article in the newspaper Hindu, sharing my anguish at sound levels and so on:
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2718145.ece
I received a handful of one line responses, broadly agreeing with the views expressed. However, I received the following thoughtful, well-informed and ultimately bleak response from a long time American Indian music rasika (meaning, somebody of non-Indian origin). The bold are not mine but part of the original email. The <angle brackets> are my insertions. I am withholding the name of the responder but will be glad to share it in private:
"....
I took to taking a dB meter to concerts, to try to knock some sense into the audience and performers. Nothing doing. They are all addicted to blasting our ears off. And, BTW, you are totally wrong about HCM <Hindustani Classical Music> - they are just as great offenders as Carnatic performers.
I think I have developed a great understanding of how people listen to music - their skills in one department are no guarantee that they can hear anything in another. Simply put, ICM <Indian Classical Music> performers have absolutely no consciousness of the horribly distorted sounds that come out of the speakers. Absolutely none. They are addicted to louder and louder sounds, perhaps because of the inherent wimpy level of their vocal production. And, as you say, so is the audience. It is this horribly distorted sound quality, a result of amplification, that is even more disturbing than the actual volume (which could be attenuated by earplugs, which I always carry with me).
...
I have discussed this subject with many performers...<They> will agree in principle and yet still feel that their 90+ dB sound is quite moderate.
...
No, there is absolutely no reason for any of your optimism. Things will just continue to get worse.
..."
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article2718145.ece
I received a handful of one line responses, broadly agreeing with the views expressed. However, I received the following thoughtful, well-informed and ultimately bleak response from a long time American Indian music rasika (meaning, somebody of non-Indian origin). The bold are not mine but part of the original email. The <angle brackets> are my insertions. I am withholding the name of the responder but will be glad to share it in private:
"....
I took to taking a dB meter to concerts, to try to knock some sense into the audience and performers. Nothing doing. They are all addicted to blasting our ears off. And, BTW, you are totally wrong about HCM <Hindustani Classical Music> - they are just as great offenders as Carnatic performers.
I think I have developed a great understanding of how people listen to music - their skills in one department are no guarantee that they can hear anything in another. Simply put, ICM <Indian Classical Music> performers have absolutely no consciousness of the horribly distorted sounds that come out of the speakers. Absolutely none. They are addicted to louder and louder sounds, perhaps because of the inherent wimpy level of their vocal production. And, as you say, so is the audience. It is this horribly distorted sound quality, a result of amplification, that is even more disturbing than the actual volume (which could be attenuated by earplugs, which I always carry with me).
...
I have discussed this subject with many performers...<They> will agree in principle and yet still feel that their 90+ dB sound is quite moderate.
...
No, there is absolutely no reason for any of your optimism. Things will just continue to get worse.
..."
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uday_shankar
- Posts: 1475
- Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 08:37
Re: Mike mess
Nick H wrote:Even though I think things are improving, I still carry some cotton wool
A very important part of any sensitive Chennai Carnatic concert goer's personal effects. Where there's no distortion, the earplugs can magically tranform the insane din into real music.uday_shankar wrote:actual volume (which could be attenuated by earplugs, which I always carry with me).