On Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:43:32 -0700, Scott wrote
(in article ):
On Aug 30, 8:17pm, Audio Empire wrote:
On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 08:51:26 -0700, Scott wrote
(in article ):
On Aug 30, 5:37am, "Arny Krueger" wrote:
"Audio Empire" wrote in message
...
Here we are in complete agreement. Why go to hear "live musicians" when
all
you are listening to is a set of PA speakers. If I want to listen to
speakers, I'll stay home where my listening chain (amps, speakers) is far
better than those of even the most elaborate of public address systems. I
have attended so-called live concerts where I've turned around and left
because I saw a bevy of microphones on stage and stacks of speakers near
by.
And you're right, it's only a matter of time before the PA craze hits
symphony orchestras too. In fact is some locals, it probably already has.
Bah!
Good point. Someone took me to a concert of *name* artists. The alleged
concert was composed of live segements, karoke segments and video
segments.
In no case was the sound or video as good as my home stereo which is
itself
not elaborate.
Was this a classical concert? If not then this is nothing new. Rock
and pop concerts have suffered from bad sounding PAs since the
beginning of the genres. Fans don't go to these concerts to hear
better sound. They go to *see* the artists, who are often celebrities,
in the flesh perform what will hopefully be a unique live experience.
It's a lot different than the live classical music experience. Well,
not including concerts at The Hollywood Bowl or other such venues.
Well, I have yet to hear a "sound reinforcement augmented" Â*symphony
concert but I have seen classical chamber music concerts so augmented.
It's just not necessary. I've been to the Hollywood Bowl and heard
chamber music played on stage. The acoustics of the place made them
easily heard in the proverbial back row.
We must be talking about two entirely different Hollywood Bowls. The
one I know always uses sound reinforcement and is my sole exposure to
symphony orchestras that regularly play under such conditions. I think
chamber music at the bowl would hardly be heard in the front row
without sound reinforcement much less the "proverbial" back row. I
would guess the "proverbial" back row is no where near as far from the
stage as the "actual" back row at the bowl.
I think we're talking about the same Hollywood Bowl LOCATION, but
we're, indeed talking about two different Hollywood Bowl performance
shells and we're talking about talking about two different times. My
experience with the 'Bowl is from the mid-1960's. They weren't using
any sound reinforcement then. They are certainly using it now, and
may have been using it for a long time. I don't know. But almost 50
years ago, they weren't using it. I was just a 16-year old kid then
but my cousin with whom I spent the summer in LA was a big music lover
and we went to the 'Bowl at least 6 times that summer and NO sound
reinforcement was used in any of the concerts I attended. Perhaps I
should have made it clear that my experience with that venue is from
the 1960's. In my defense, here, however I must say that I haven't
been there since, and I was unaware when I wroth the above, that they
had significantly changed things in the ensuing years.
The Hollywood Bowl seats something like 18,000 people! I don't know
about the "proverbial" back row but the "actual" back row at the bowl
is probably close to 1,000 feet away from the stage. If not it sure
seems like it. The place is huge! this web page should give anyone an
idea of just how big the bowl really is.
http://www.answers.com/topic/hollywood-bowl
Oh yes, it is huge. And every time I went there it was SRO. But
realize that the 'Bowl was built back in 1929, when the idea of sound
reinforcement for musical events was deemed ludicrous (due to the
primitive state of amplification and loudspeaker technology then).
Also, if you look at the overhead satellite view of the 'Bowl,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Bowl
you'll notice that there are now FIVE tiers of seating that "fan out"
from the stage. Notice that the third through the fifth tier look
"different" from the first two. Now, It's been half a century since
I've been there, but it seems to me that there were only the two front
tiers of seating in those days but I recall that there was a big lawn
where the top three tiers seem to be today. People would bring picnic
baskets and blankets and spread-out on the lawn to listen to the
music. Also, the shell is totally different than it was back then.
And indeed, the article says that the shell was replaced in 2005 with
a bigger one. I can see scaffolding around the new shell that looks
like a structure for holding speakers. The original one from '29 was
smaller and apparently more acoustically efficient. With modern sound
reinforcement, I suspect that it was deemed that the new shell didn't
need to be that acoustically efficient any more. You can just turn-up
the volume 8^)