Complaints about the sound at Glade 2008

by **Sperge** » 19 Jul 2008, 13:30

I know several people have had issues with the sound at Glade 2008. As the previous thread got bogged down with interpersonal bickering, let's start again, this time sticking to the topic.

Some people had major issues with the sound, some say they didn't notice any problems. I certainly noticed how low the sound was in certain tents at certain times after midnight. I disagree with those who say it was "quieter than ever", it certainly seemed noticeably louder than last year in all the tents before midnight. But I accept that perception can be a strange thing and that the actual levels may have been lower. Can anyone come up with facts and figures about the levels? And I mean something a bit more convincing than a still of a sound desk meter?

After midnight was a different story, certain tents at certain times did definitely get quiet. Bang Face started off loud enough during Doubtful Guest's set, but was definitely quiet when I returned during Bong-Ra's set. Jeff Mills' set was also disappointingly quiet where I was near the front speaker stack, although some say it was OK on the other side.

There were problems with the wind blowing sound towards residential areas on Friday night that led to some complaints being made by the public, which is what led to the sound being turned down at times (but it did go up again, despite what the thread starter says). One particular issue was performers with MCs shouting into their microphones apparently, this triggered a couple of decibel meters. Ironically, so did the chants of "turn it up"... :whistle:

What were other people's experiences?

by **Chopper** » 19 Jul 2008, 14:31

I listened into NSB last night, and at the end of it all thats what someone said....it was far too quiet!

I didnt go this year for a number of reasons, 1 being the noise levels.

This gets worse year on year in my experience, although i cannot comment on this year, it does sound like its not as it should be!

Hope its not spoiled peoples weekends, I listened to the plumps last night, and they were superb! Not listened to all that I recorded yet, but I'll comment on the rest once I have

by **dam0** » 20 Jul 2008, 19:30

It was painfully quiet sometimes, but still a great event. Sancho wasn't so quiet :-)

by **Benwrongun** » 20 Jul 2008, 19:48

Looks like its been nice weather though.... Gutted im missing it...

by **Chopper** » 20 Jul 2008, 22:18

Just been listening back to some of the breaks tent, and you can hear the crowd chanting "turn it up" during The Beat Assassins.....not good

Anyone I hope to hear how it was, and if everyone enjoyed themselves.....really gutted at missing it this year when it came down to it......perhaps I'll get to do a festival next year once things calm down with family and work life!!

by **9preciousGems** » 20 Jul 2008, 23:02

where can we listen to the tents/SETS?

by **Chopper** » 20 Jul 2008, 23:46

it was broadcast live on nsb, and i recorded the live stream.

Look on nsb over the next week or so, they usually repeat the breaks tent on there.....dont know of anywhere that does any other stages though!

by **soundclash** » 21 Jul 2008, 00:28

Ok just got back and would like to add my opinion to this thread. I have been to all of the Glades and this was by FAR the quietest. When Jeff Mills was playing you could here the crowd chatting ffs. An artist of his magnitude at least deserves volume. He was outstanding none the less and the vapour artists are probably the only reason im even contemplating going back again nxt year. Also i was slightly bemued by the programing of the last few hours on Sunday. Everywhere on site bar Liquid was playing minimal,dubstep,ambient forms of music even Origin which is where i go for my final stomp each year was a monotomous drone for much of the last hour. No finale, no feeling of having your head bashed in just before you go home. Dont get me wrong Friday and Saturday musically where superb but sunday??? Will contiunue my semi rant later when ive had some much needed sleep.
Still love Glade but each year it seems to want to test my faith just that little bit more.

by **Tigmyth** » 21 Jul 2008, 11:25

We popped into the Breaksday tent on Friday night/Saturday morning, during Deekline & Wizard's set, and popped straight back out again as the volume levels did seem dreadfully quiet. Well, I say that - the music volume was quiet but the volume of the MC talking into the mic was a lot louder. I am thinking this was part of the problem as we then went into the Overkill tent and the sound in there seemed fine and there was no MC.
On Saturday night we caught a bit of Elite Force in Breaksday and the volume seemed ok (bearing in mind of course that concessions have to be made at that time in the morning), certainly not as quiet as the previous night and good sound quality. The same was true of Mood Deluxe in Liquid, sounded decent enough. As it was we ended up in Vapor watching Jeff Mills and the sound in there was, to my mind, spot on. Obviously it was quieter than during the day but in terms of quality I couldn't fault it.
Personally, I can understand that noise levels have to be dropped as it gets later - we do, after all, live in England, a country that seems positively averse to any of its populace having anything resembling a good time (just work, sleep and pay your taxes like a good population) - but despite all the concessions it was still a banging good party. I would much rather have a Glade that is a little quiet at 3am than no Glade at all - that is for sure.

by **fletcher** » 21 Jul 2008, 13:38

i didnt experience any tents that were too quiet.

banging time all round

by **zenpunk** » 21 Jul 2008, 14:04

Funnily enough I though the biggest improvement this year was the sound level and specially the clarity of all the stages. Even the delays problems on the Origin stage had greatly improved. I am sure at certain time volume at to be limited to deal with complaints but overall the sound was great. There will always be people moaning it could have been louder but they probably the ones with damaged ears...Anyway had a fantastic times

by **Beatmonkey** » 21 Jul 2008, 14:20

It was silly quiet at times, bong-ra and remarc you could hardly hear but the sound in overkill was back to an alrightish level for St Acid's closeing set.

Saturday daytime Ital Tek was at a decent volume in the liquid tent and it seemed alright in the overkill as well.

Walking through the breaksday I did notice it was quite often quieter then the rest.

Another thing worth remembering is that with those ambisonic row ahtever bollocks name they call it the sound can be at a vastly differnt volume just one step to the right or left, if you found the sweet spots you were genraly alright.

by **fletcher** » 21 Jul 2008, 14:30

Beatmonkey wrote:I

Saturday daytime Ital Tek was at a decent volume in the liquid tent and it seemed alright in the overkill as well.

Ital tek was spot on, great sounds.

the fact that im now sat back in my flat and i have a dull buzzing in my ears does indicate to me that there were not really any problems with the sound volume.

As you say, with the ambisonic rigs you just have to move around a bit and find a volume thats comfortable for you

by **9preciousGems** » 21 Jul 2008, 14:31

thanks. will check out nsb

as for the sound it wasnt quiet for me all weekend. unless i was too wasted to notice :wackyhat:

by **Smiffy1001** » 21 Jul 2008, 15:53

The sound seemed a little quiet on Friday but other than that i thought it was good :thup:

by **stephane** » 21 Jul 2008, 16:32

Sound level was more than adequate for me... (still unable to understand anyone not shouting in my ears....).
Still delay/synchro issues due to noise cancelling, particularly on Origin stage which are really troublesome if you are in the bad spot.
But so efficient that 5 meters away from Origin stage the only thing I had (unfortunately) to ear was the herbal high stall (could someone bring them a new and good CD for next year...)

by **magneticgrooves** » 21 Jul 2008, 16:49

I think the Liquid stage was the only one I liked the sound of, seemed really well balanced and real. The Glade stage sounded so unbalanced and bassy at times reducing what should have been some amazing acts to a bit of a dull thud.

by **photonmike** » 21 Jul 2008, 18:21

onsitecrew wrote:so yet again the organisers of glade have ignored the paying punters and made glade festival even quieter than before.

Maybe you missed the messages over the (crew) radios about local complaints - yes it was quiet at times, but if the council decide there's too much spill into the surrounding residential areas then they have the power to shut it down, full stop. It's a fine line.

by **Gand** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:03

i think it was appalling especially for the whole of Bang Face. Its breakcore...you need it loud to even move. the most disappointing thing was definitely Remarc's set when he was playing oldskool jungle which i love...i could hear the bassline but to even hear the top end and the amens everyone was crowding around the speakers at the back of the tents - JUST SO THEY COULD HEAR THE MUSIC. im glad that Shitmat came on for a surprise set and refused to play until they turned it up...just a shame that for the whole of Bang Face (which is what i went for) i couldnt fucking hear it. I also talked to Saint Acid after bang face had finished and he couldnt hear himself on the system...the DJ couldnt hear himself on the system..what a joke.

Less people will go next year than ever before unless Glade actually say that it will be alright.

Also why couldnt they pay off all the people living in that tiny village that complained? a couple of hundred quid would have shut them up for the weekend (serious suggestion)

apart from the sound the atmosphere was wicked and there wasnt a sign of trouble throughout the weekend which was raly nice to see.

~Gand

by **Gand** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:05

and i have to agree with whoever said there was nothing at the end of Origin....no one made a sound which was really weird actually dont know why that happened

~Gand

by **k3str3l** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:15

Gand wrote:i think it was appalling especially for the whole of Bang Face. Its breakcore...you need it loud to even move. the most disappointing thing was definitely Remarc's set when he was playing oldskool jungle which i love...i could hear the bassline but to even hear the top end and the amens everyone was crowding around the speakers at the back of the tents - JUST SO THEY COULD HEAR THE MUSIC. im glad that Shitmat came on for a surprise set and refused to play until they turned it up...just a shame that for the whole of Bang Face (which is what i went for) i couldnt fucking hear it. I also talked to Saint Acid after bang face had finished and he couldnt hear himself on the system...the DJ couldnt hear himself on the system..what a joke.

Less people will go next year than ever before unless Glade actually say that it will be alright.

I agree, i enjoyed bangface because of the wacky atmoshere that surrounds it, but the sound was piss poor, I will seriously be considering other options next summer

by **baldmosher** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:18

What Beatmonkey and Tigmyth said.

by **pd2h** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:49

baldmosher wrote:What Beatmonkey and Tigmyth said.

And for me to!!

However what is more annoying than low sound is people stood behind you shouting about the fact now that is down right rubbish and really put you on a downer if you don't like it vote with you feet and leave!!!

by **Renagade** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:53

Ok, firstly, it definitely was quiet all round, this might be fine for some people - but for many its evidently quite a big issue.

This was my first Glade, and I personally was a little bit dissapointed with the sound levels across all the stages. Although I wasn't around it much, I could definitely hear the delay with the Origin system. When you go out to a club its much easier to have high SPL's because of the way the sound can be reflected and amplified just by using the walls. There are ways to replicate this effect outdoors which would have been nice to see.

I can understand why they might need to turn the sound down at night (perhaps to daytime levels, but really can't understand why it was as quiet as it was during the daytime in general, unless there were liscence restrictions on spill then too. The quality of the soundsystems is pretty darn good, it seems a shame that they were being a little bit wasted. Even right next to some of the main stacks I could still fairly easily hold a conversation even at supposed peak volume. There were a couple of sweet spots where the bass became a little louder, but didn't really make up for overall volume.

Overkill on Friday was an odd one. Sound down so so low for Bong-ra's set it was a joke could hear people talking a couple of meters away...then they turned it back up again, then back down again :wacko:

Im also not quite sure how the impromptu junk-band on sunday that were parading around (before ending up in the Rabbit Hole) managed to distrub some people right down the end of the valley, seems an aweful long way for un-amplified sound to travel.

Saying all that, what pisses me off the most is the people that start to get mouthy or blaming the PA / Stage organizers, when there really is nothing they can do - its a legal liscence restriction, and not something they can suddenly ignore. It has to be prearranged before and stuck to in order to avoid pretty major fines.

by **soundclash** » 21 Jul 2008, 19:55

Makes me laugh when there are people saying that those who thought the sound levels were low had hearing difficulties lol.
Im a sound engineer and my hearing is spot on 100% and checked regulary, it was bloody quiet in comparison to other festivals and previous years of Glade. Even spoke to the guy from Audio Plus who were supplying the Function one rigs and he couldnt do a thing about it due to level restirctions. I felt for him as he was constantly getting stick and was doing the right thing as they do. The quality wasnt the issue it was the level.
Glade re-locate or bribe some one before you kill this fantastic festival through ignorance of the most important element to a MUSIC fetival and that is the sound!