Complaints about the sound at Glade 2008

[9preciousGems]

Right so I've just read about Nick Ladd's response to the sound complaints this year at glade

where?

[kimmy]

People complained about the music coming from our gazebo!! We even got our soundsystem confiscated untill sunday night.

[Obel]

Forgive me if this is written elsewhere on the site, but is there an actual address, email, contact number or whatever of someone who we can complain to about the noise level restriction? I figure there might as well be a thread or news post about it so we can have a good idea of where to moan to.

I mean, fuck it, what's the worst that could happen?



Well. Banning Glade.... But don't worry about that...

[Sperge]

Forgive me if this is written elsewhere on the site, but is there an actual address, email, contact number or whatever of someone who we can complain to about the noise level restriction? I figure there might as well be a thread or news post about it so we can have a good idea of where to moan to.

Just use the official site's email address: info@gladefestival.com

In the interests of balance, those who thought the sound was ok or had no issue with it should also write to the same address.

[Obel]

Forgive me if this is written elsewhere on the site, but is there an actual address, email, contact number or whatever of someone who we can complain to about the noise level restriction? I figure there might as well be a thread or news post about it so we can have a good idea of where to moan to.

Just use the official site's email address: info@gladefestival.com

In the interests of balance, those who thought the sound was ok or had no issue with it should also write to the same address.

Well, I was kind of referring more to the contact details of someone important in the local area so we could moan at them. But then again, who's gonna listen to a bunch of drugged up ravers?

[Sperge]

Right so I've just read about Nick Ladd's response to the sound complaints this year at glade

where?

Here: summarise-t5917.html#p86044

It was just a brief phone chat, not what I would call an 'official' response as yet.

[penexpers]

One thing I was glad of is that Overkill finally got the Function 1 system this year which I think improved things alot in that tent. But having said that it was very quiet and in some cases the mix of sound coming through was pretty horrible (plenty of bass, not enough high end) so maybe they should consider different sound engineers? I understand that the organisers hands are tied with regard to sound levels and I do believe they are genuinely doing their best given the circumstances. The risk though is that the artists themselves become disillusioned with Glade festival and don't bother playing it anymore.

[rocky]

Did Glastonbury sell out?

Yep. On the Friday (If I remember correctly), bronze control over radio to all units "all tickets have now sold, repeat all tickets have now sold".

[Beatmonkey]

Yea some of the sound engis were utter bollocks, some of them made quiet a good job of very difficult systems to mix on though.

[yohankiwi]

Just couple of points to add....if they can get the sound right on Liquid Stage where there was very little spill maybe Breaks/Overkill + Origin should stage in similar designed tents with damping properties so volume can be cranked to people's liking-I practically lived around the Liquid /Glade Stage all weekend...

Liquid stage on friday night was a tiny bit better than the other stages, but it was still FAR below adecuate raving volume IMO.

+1 to gleek, soudclash and liggins.

I really think glade has so much going for it as a festival. As some of the people in this thread mentioned, there's really no other electronic festival in europe that can match glade in terms of (the variety and the quality of the) line up, vibe and appearance (especially in the lights and visuals sides of things.) However, other festivals are creeping up, improving and getting bigger all over the place and if glade continues to suffer from these problems on sound issues and doesn't offer a REAL solution to them then IMO it won't be long until it loses its place on the throne of electronic music festivals...

Also, just as a summary, these were the points of the festival where i had notable issues with the sound levels. And this goes for all of the people I came to glade with (around 20) as we were all walking around together and all complaining about the sound levels at the time:
Friday night: Everywhere I went. The worst were: Pogo's set at Origin, Frequency 7 and Slam in Vapour, Bang-face at Overkill and Breaksday. Liquid was a little better, but still annoyingly quiet
Saturday: Jeff Mills in Vapour (although SPOT ON in overkill that night)

[joe_techno]

i must have been standing in exactly the right spot for Jeff Mills cus i had no problems. Unbeleivable set with pretty sweet sound set up, imo.

[kai]

Speaking as a Glade virgin who went for the Overkill, the Bangface night, the Vapor and some of the main stage acts I have to say that if anything spoilt my weekend it was the later on volumes in these tents.


Yes I will (probably) be back next yr as all in all had a fantastic weekend - but is rival festivals can put on line-ups like the Overkill and Vapor stages had and provide volume then no matter how nice the site is I know where my vote will go - the music has ro come first.


I think one thing that stnds out in this debate is that the people who were pissed off by this are the Overkill crowd and the techno crowd - at least 50% of the best acts provided for this crowd were on after midnight - hence the sound issues are considerably more of an issue for us.

Yes I enjoyed the days - some wicked acts like Dubfire, Pendulum (i know, i know) and Meat Katie etc really impressed me, but for the highlights of my weekend to be exploring genres I dont normally listen too rather than enjoying the acts I came for said a lot to me. Ok I did enjoy it on that level but most fans of techno, gabba etc would have been dissappointed and will likely vote with their feet and not come back - as a sizeable amount I spoke to were saying!!

I think a lot of these complaints would be allayed, if improving the sound after 12 is not an option, by having a proper Vapor stage for the techno crowd so at least some techno would get played over the course of the weekend at a decent volume rather than just the occasional daytime set through the festival such as Lukes Anger, Ans & Allanby or Billy Nasty provided.

At least the Overkill crowd got decent sound during the day. The techno crowd were very hard done by.

Also, for many the highlight of the Overkill weekend was the Bangface nights line-up - many people come purely for this and again the same thing applies to this crowd.

Fans of other genres are probably less concerned by this as they get the daytime tunes of their particular persuasion.

Perhaps a schedulng rethink would spread that happiness with sound levels to the Bangface and techno crowds too!

There again I can see the scheduling issue with the Bangface night - by its nature gabba and the rest of the Bangface vibe is best scheduled for night so maybe there isn't much that can be done on that front.

But there is no reason not to have a proper Vapor stage and try to do a bit more for those of a techno persuasion.


I'm kinda rambling now, and as I've said I did have a wicked weekend and loved the festival and its vibe - but while I may well be back next year I think I'll get increasingly pissed off year on year with the sound situation - and many people clearly already have.


Too me the festival is in serious danger of losing a large section of its crowd if something is not done and the organisers need to realise this!

Pains me to say it as Glade as a festival, with the ethos it has, is an excellent forward thinking 'aspect' to the UK dance scene and it would be very sad to see it slowly go down the pan through inaction on the part of the organisers over an issue that is clear for everyone to see!

[Sperge]

Also, just as a summary, these were the points of the festival where i had notable issues with the sound levels. And this goes for all of the people I came to glade with (around 20) as we were all walking around together and all complaining about the sound levels at the time:
Friday night: Everywhere I went. The worst were: Pogo's set at Origin, Frequency 7 and Slam in Vapour, Bang-face at Overkill and Breaksday. Liquid was a little better, but still annoyingly quiet
Saturday: Jeff Mills in Vapour (although SPOT ON in overkill that night)

Bang Face night and Jeff Mills' set in Vapor seem to be the ones mentioned most, and I was present at both and witnessed them for myself. It looks like there was a problem on Friday night in general, going by what you say there.

What I was told by either Ans or Rik (can't remember which at the moment) the following day is that the issue on Friday night was strong winds blowing the sound to a residential area. The Sancho Panza tent was blamed for this by some because of its open walls, which is why the walls were closed the following night. I was also told that noise-cancelling doesn't make much difference if the sound is being blown by strong winds.

Having spoken to others about the Jeff Mills set, there seems to have been an issue with the front left speaker stack (where I was). People have said it was better near other stacks.

So these are the specific questions I'll put to them on sound. I'll also try to get a clear and unequivocal statement about exactly what the decibel limits are at set times. So then everyone will know where they stand - and if they're not happy with the answer, they can vote with their feet in the knowledge that things aren't going to change to their liking next year.

[demetzy]

Sound in the overkill was poor on the friday all I could hear was bass and not the higher end stuff, it won;t stop me coming but breakcore should be LOUD

[machinist]

may i also give my two cents?

the sound levels this year invoked in me the desire for it to be very different next year. i trust that the glade folk will figure this baby.

[shakyjane]

Can I really stress that it wasnt just overkill and jeff mills that had problems. I was in the overkill on friday night and in the breaksday and the breaksday was worse during deekline & wizard.

[shakyjane]

and the winds are an explanation, but not an excuse - there is no excuse for the sound being barely audible - DONT HAVE A FESTIVAL THERE IF YOU CAN'T TURN THE SOUND UP!!

[shakyjane]

i trust that the glade folk will figure this baby.

well they didn't from last year to this, maybe on the saturday night they did tho

[Sir Bill McTory]

and the winds are an explanation, but not an excuse - there is no excuse for the sound being barely audible - DONT HAVE A FESTIVAL THERE IF YOU CAN'T TURN THE SOUND UP!!

No need to SHOUT, young lady, I'm not deaf you know!

[bobbyjoe]

i could hear myself fart in overkill