Wembley sound quality

mook

Please have a look at the poll on this link. I just got back from the show and i cant help but think that the sound quality at the Wembley show was very bad. I was extremely excited about this show, but I found myself wishing at times that they would finish the set with slow accoustic songs or just stop alltogether. Ed was quite pissed off about it at several occations.

Please click the link below to vote on my poll. I'd like to know what you made of the show.

http://mookiepics.blogspot.com/2006/11/pearl-jam-in-praha.html

Please don't be too negative on this post. I think the setlist was brilliant, but there was times when it would not have made a difference whether Mike was even there or not. I could not hear him in some songs.

chino

I have nothing bad to say about the sound quality at all, I can't remember any time that I couldn't hear Mike.

Have you got any examples of when Ed was pissed off at the sound quality? Without them it's a kinda baseless comment.

Byrnzie

mook wrote:

Please have a look at the poll on this link. I just got back from the show and i cant help but think that the sound quality at the Wembley show was very bad. I was extremely excited about this show, but I found myself wishing at times that they would finish the set with slow accoustic songs or just stop alltogether. Ed was quite pissed off about it at several occations.

Please click the link below to vote on my poll. I'd like to know what you made of the show.

http://mookiepics.blogspot.com/2006/11/pearl-jam-in-praha.html

Please don't be too negative on this post. I think the setlist was brilliant, but there was times when it would not have made a difference whether Mike was even there or not. I could not hear him in some songs.

Thank you for making me feel slightly better about missing the show.

Edit: Although someone else has posted that they've been to 36 shows and Wembley was top 3. :(

edwho

Floor standing up-front you will miss the full sound because the main P.A. speakers are hanging above you.

Mike’s stage amps seem to get smaller and fewer every tour.

pdh1978

I was stood just right of centre, about 1/4 of the way back, and I couldn't hear Mike's guitar either. Severed Hand sounded really empty without it :(

And the only time Eddie seemed disappointed was when he asked the tech to do something for his acoustic guitar before No More...

jrd

Great show. Shit sound.
Standing about 1/2 way to 3/4 of the way back, directly in front of Mike most of the time. Sound was very muddled, i found it hard to pick out either Stone or Mike alot of the time.

bertan

i was standing right in the middle about 9th 10th row for the first half of the show and everything was ok. then i moved to the back and left, and it started getting shitty. insturments wasn't clearly heard at some points, i have a loud ringing in my ears which didn't happen at all in athens (first row).

the problems didn't bother me that much, but i couldn't hear anything jeff played in indifference and that was a real disappointment. did anyone else had that problem?

btw, just checked your blog, i am the guy with dreads who was next to you in the que

FinsburyParkCarrots

chino wrote:

I have nothing bad to say about the sound quality at all, I can't remember any time that I couldn't hear Mike.

Have you got any examples of when Ed was pissed off at the sound quality? Without them it's a kinda baseless comment.

Sounded fine. I was actually pleased there wasn't too much top solo.

olddirtydoggy

Its very easy to get back from a gig and get carried away with the hysteria of it all.
As has already been said from the point of view of hearing something new, 10/10 but the sound was quite bad with a lot of echo and boom bouncing off the high roof and back wall.
I thought the performance was average for the guys, by no means as strong as the performance from last years Reading fest, anyone who says different mightbe in denial.
Please don't flail me for any negatives, the show was the tits!.....but not as good as other performances I've attended.

Beck..

I think the sound wasnt that good at the back,got a bad fuzz that drowned eds voice out abit,but was still worth goin,amazing!

FinsburyParkCarrots

olddirtydoggy wrote:

Its very easy to get back from a gig and get carried away with the hysteria of it all.
As has already been said from the point of view of hearing something new, 10/10 but the sound was quite bad with a lot of echo and boom bouncing off the high roof and back wall.
I thought the performance was average for the guys, by no means as strong as the performance from last years Reading fest, anyone who says different mightbe in denial.
Please don't flail me for any negatives, the show was the tits!.....but not as good as other performances I've attended.

I'm giving Ed nine thumbs up.

mook

bertan wrote:

i was standing right in the middle about 9th 10th row for the first half of the show and everything was ok. then i moved to the back and left, and it started getting shitty. insturments wasn't clearly heard at some points, i have a loud ringing in my ears which didn't happen at all in athens (first row).

the problems didn't bother me that much, but i couldn't hear anything jeff played in indifference and that was a real disappointment. did anyone else had that problem?

btw, just checked your blog, i am the guy with dreads who was next to you in the que

Hi

I was thinking that you would be quite happy when they started playing indefference

mook

chino wrote:

I have nothing bad to say about the sound quality at all, I can't remember any time that I couldn't hear Mike.

Have you got any examples of when Ed was pissed off at the sound quality? Without them it's a kinda baseless comment.

Around the second song or so, Ed looked slightyly upset, I took as him posssibly being in a bad mood. At stages he look to his left, at the tech guys and made gestures, and when they swapped mics for the first or second time, he shouted to the the guy from Cornwall somethings like "Can you hear that ringing sound?", the new mic picked that up very clearly. he had this look of dissaproval on his face when he picked up the cordless mic to go out to the corners of the stage. earlier his mic cord got stuck, and Stone had to untangle it for him.

There were stages when his voice sounded so drowned out by distortion and that incredibly high pitched sound that overshadowed the room at times, that i just stood there in disbelief. one of the things i enjoyed at Reading was the best concert audio I had ever heard, and now this. It was my fourth time at Wembley, and all the other act's sound was good or perfect.

I was about 3/4 from the front, on Stone's side. Even the crowd noise, had this high pitch over it, so maybe it was out of the band's control.

I'm very worried as I have this loud ringing in my ears that wont go away and I have never had it before.

Sorry for the rambling guys, I love PJ just as much as all of you, but I just need to get this out of my system.

mook

olddirtydoggy wrote:

Its very easy to get back from a gig and get carried away with the hysteria of it all.
As has already been said from the point of view of hearing something new, 10/10 but the sound was quite bad with a lot of echo and boom bouncing off the high roof and back wall.
I thought the performance was average for the guys, by no means as strong as the performance from last years Reading fest, anyone who says different mightbe in denial.
Please don't flail me for any negatives, the show was the tits!.....but not as good as other performances I've attended.

i agree. i think the setlist ruled, but i didnt quite believe Ed when he said they are enjoying themselves. I am 6'8" tall and i reckon i was less than 15 meters from Ed, and I defenately saw him not beeing as happy as I have seen him in so many videos over the years. he was a little drunk when they started, and there was a few hints at his displeasure with the sound.

this was my 3rd show. first one was Reading. audio could not have been better, ever.

second one was Prague, and people sad then that the band, and many of the fans were not happy with the sound there.

i now find myself trying to cling on to the memory of the first two shows.

mook

smile75 wrote:

I think the sound wasnt that good at the back,got a bad fuzz that drowned eds voice out abit,but was still worth goin,amazing!

i agree, it was well worth going. next time i'll be uneasy untill they start playing. i might be too obsessed with sound by the time i see them again.

i think those little soft earplugs will help.

Byrnzie

mook wrote:

Around the second song or so, Ed looked slightyly upset, I took as him posssibly being in a bad mood. At stages he look to his left, at the tech guys and made gestures, and when they swapped mics for the first or second time, he shouted to the the guy from Cornwall somethings like "Can you hear that ringing sound?", the new mic picked that up very clearly. he had this look of dissaproval on his face when he picked up the cordless mic to go out to the corners of the stage. earlier his mic cord got stuck, and Stone had to untangle it for him.

There were stages when his voice sounded so drowned out by distortion and that incredibly high pitched sound that overshadowed the room at times, that i just stood there in disbelief. one of the things i enjoyed at Reading was the best concert audio I had ever heard, and now this. It was my fourth time at Wembley, and all the other act's sound was good or perfect.

I was about 3/4 from the front, on Stone's side. Even the crowd noise, had this high pitch over it, so maybe it was out of the band's control.

I'm very worried as I have this loud ringing in my ears that wont go away and I have never had it before.

Sorry for the rambling guys, I love PJ just as much as all of you, but I just need to get this out of my system.

I've seen about 10 bands play at Wembley and apart from the Cult - which was just loud as fuck, and when I was standing at the side not far from the stack of amps - the sound has been shit every single time. I'll say it again. A friend of mine just helped design the new Wembley complex, and he told me that there's a swimming pool under the arena which they can't touch because of the fact that it's been designated as a listed building. So basically, you were standing above a swimming pool last night - which will do very strange things to the acoustics.

mook

bertan wrote:

i was standing right in the middle about 9th 10th row for the first half of the show and everything was ok. then i moved to the back and left, and it started getting shitty. insturments wasn't clearly heard at some points, i have a loud ringing in my ears which didn't happen at all in athens (first row).

the problems didn't bother me that much, but i couldn't hear anything jeff played in indifference and that was a real disappointment. did anyone else had that problem?

btw, just checked your blog, i am the guy with dreads who was next to you in the que

Did you get your merchandise after the shwow? I got the white t-shirt and the Wembley tour poster. very happy about that

mook

Byrnzie wrote:

I've seen about 10 bands play at Wembley and apart from the Cult - which was just loud as fuck, and when I was standing at the side not far from the stack of amps - the sound has been shit every single time. I'll say it again. A friend of mine just helped design the new Wembley complex, and he told me that there's a swimming pool under the arena which they can't touch because of the fact that it's been designated as a listed building. So basically, you were standing above a swimming pool last night - which will do very strange things to the acoustics.

very interesting. thanks for helping me to get over the dissapointment. if they ever play Wmebley again, i'll either stand as far back as I can or get seated tickets along the side somewhere.

spiral out

I was in n12, i thought the gig was brilliant, my fav pearl jam gig so far.

I was at reading and i saw them the last three times they played at wembley.

The sound probably wasn't great but every gig i go to someone complains about the sound so, i just don't pay attention to it any more. It certainly didn't ruin the gig for me.

I think being to close to the front though means your not going to hear it as well because the speakers are not pointed at you.

mook

spiral out wrote:

I was in n12, i thought the gig was brilliant, my fav pearl jam gig so far.

I was at reading and i saw them the last three times they played at wembley.

The sound probably wasn't great but every gig i go to someone complains about the sound so, i just don't pay attention to it any more. It certainly didn't ruin the gig for me.

I think being to close to the front though means your not going to hear it as well because the speakers are not pointed at you.

yeah, think you are right. I learned my lesson. I love this band too much to stay sour over something like this, but for as long as i still have this ringing in my ears, i'll stay in this mood. i can't even hear my PC's fan.

spiral out

mook wrote:

yeah, think you are right. I learned my lesson. I love this band too much to stay sour over something like this, but for as long as i still have this ringing in my ears, i'll stay in this mood. i can't even hear my PC's fan.

I can't stand near the front anymore as my ear drum really doesn't like being to close to those way to loud speakers. Back for me always, just to save my hearing so i can still listen to music when i hit 90.

chino

I was seated, and by the sounds of it the sound was very different in the standing area. I could pick out all the instruments fine, the only time it was bad was during indifference as Jeff's bass was too quiet - but I could still hear it, just.

I think you're reading too much into what you saw though... You often see bands gesturing at the tech people, and you could speculate forever on what they may have been doing.

An outdoor festival is a whole different kettle of fish, you don't have room acoustics to contend with at all.

I've had a high pitched ringing in my ears after more concerts than I can remember. It's just the volume.

wishchris

Not a problem really for me sound wise-I was to the right of stage about 2 metres right of stone 4 people back.

I could not always here mike's guitar clearly during the solos but I 've always found that being at the front close to one of the sides that happens-it becuase the stage amp at which side your on drowns out a portion of the PA at the side of the stage. As far as I'm concerned the PA should always run in mono so you can hear everything together as opposed to the PA being a representation of the stereo sound on stage.

I couldn't really here Jeff's bass in indifference either.

The band wouldn't know how the sound sounded in the whole arena anyway though-they only hear the sound from the monitors/ear peices-the whole sound could get cut in the arena and the band would just keep playing unawares-they may have had a bad monitor mix.

I didn't think any of the band looked pissed off at all myself-I don't think Ed is going to get overly pissed off that his microphone cord got snagged when he went for a wander-thats a bit prima donnarish for him don't you think.

Overall a great night-ace setlist with loads of rarities (for me) and stuff I've never heard live before (I wanted you are though, and don't gimme no lip would have been cool.

vedder_soup

i was 3 ppl back right in front of mike and the sound was pretty good. very very bassy easly on, maybe it was through the whole show, just cant remember.
i think being so close to the stage, and the speakers helped alot for me.

mook

I'm feeling better after each comment. I'll never go for the front at an indoor venue ever again.

I'm sure the official bootleg will change my memory of the show. I was convinced for a while that I'll see something like "no audio available for London due to technical problems" on the download site, but I guess it was just me getting upset with the sound I heard from that particular spot.

It was kind of strange to me that the opening band sounded absolutely great from where I was.

sqweno

I was front row seated behind the standing and right next to the mix desk. I thought the sound was pretty poor a lot of the time. I hate stadiums full stop really as they just suck up atmosphere and are hard to mix I think. If I'd been able to get tickets for the Astoria last year I don't think I would have bothered with Wembley, tho I did have a great time last night. But you get spoiled going to the initimate gigs in small venues. Stadiums just aren't as much fun. IMHO.
The second song when they really opened up the sound was a complete shambles. Just a jumble. The desk got hold of it by the third song and tightened it up, but lost it again in other places throughout. Stone's guitar seemed much louder than Mike's throughout the whole thing, really, and Eddie's vocals were frequently lost. With a lot of the newer songs they played (not so much the last album which I've played loads recently) which I don't know as well as the older stuff, it took me a while to work out what they were playing because I just couldn't hear what Ed was singing.
I thought they did seem to be having a good time tho. I assumed the poor sound was just because I was halfway back in the Arena, so in a way relieved to hear it was all over. But the seats we had were fan bloody tastic for the view. Really was right over the heads of the standing clear front on to the stage. Absolutely brilliant. Best view I've ever had in Wembley and I do usually prefer standing, but being a bit short, often end up just craning my neck all the time to try to see the stage, so this was ace. Leaning forward a bit on the rail brought you closer to the standing guys and a bit more of the atmos. I was standing next to a bunch of fans (girl and guy with bandannas and a guy with a trilby, was it?) and we danced about. It was ace. Couldn't quite believe all the guys in standing were 10C tho. The ones at the back just didn't seem the type. I don't know. Maybe there isn't a type. There was a bloke, 50ish near me, spent most of the time sitting down. Didn't really see him react at all. How was he in there? (Perhaps he was a Dad accompanying a younger 10Cber.)

nuffingman

This is the 5th Wembley concert I've been to in the last 5 years (floor level, sides, back). The sound has been good for all the others but they weren't that loud. Think that was the problem with last night. If it's too loud it will distort.

Still brilliant though!

kristmace

I was about halfway back in the standing area, right in the centre, and I thought the sound was pretty good. They were very loud (almost too loud), and that made it difficult to pick out some of the more intricate guitar work in the heavier songs (eg. solos).

I think we're a bit spoiled with top quality bootlegs - professional mixed, post performance and then mastered to CD quality. It never sounds as good when you're actually there.

alidale

Sorry to hear that the sound was so shit for some, I know how that can spoil a gig (see Madrid 10 days ago...opening with Porch was excellent except that is could have been a band of school boys playing bon jovi on tea cups as the sound was excruciatingly awful, definately shit where I was standing); Wembley is know for it, I think it depends somewhat on where you are. If you are near the back theres is LOT of concrete for all sounds (inc. crowd) to bounce off. I was in block S6, near the stage on Mike´s side. There was the odd occasion when it was a bit off but soon got sorted and generally I was well pleased, with everything. I had a brilliant gig, one of my best ever, of any band. I too have a ringing in my ears which hasnt happened for a loooooooong time; they did give loads of welly!! How fucking superb was finishing with SOLAT, Why Go, Save You and Porch????? Doesnt get a lot better than that!!

excowboy

I was a few rows back on Mike's side, under the hanging speakers, and in front of the stacks next to Mike. I found the sound to be incredibly loud, so much so that it was distorting. Maybe that was just my ears, but it just seemed over-loud and over-driven, and not in a good way. Perhaps being a bit further back would have been ideal.

mook

Hi guys.

You might have read my post on the sound issues at the Wembley show. If so, please go and have a look at my blog. I posted a few photos and a few things from the show that I scanned. There is a few messages to people I met there and a request for photos of the show (my camera was confiscated).

http://mookiepics.blogspot.com/

Thanks