It is no secret that prolonged exposure to loud sound is highly damaging to our hearing. Listening to loud music is one of the common factors leading to degraded hearing ability and tinnitus, and is deeply unhealthy.
At the same time, such level of noise negatively impacts the quality of sound perception, which degrades the musical side of the musical performance.
In what seems to be the echoes of the so-called “loudness war”, bands still stick to the idea that “the louder you blast it - the better”. But it’s not true. There are many other ways to energize the crowd without causing them sound damage, and I’d love to see more of those, instead of them trying to be the loudest ever.
The counter argument is that you get to decide where you stand, close and damagingly loud, or safe and far away, or anywhere in between. Except for the last one I went to, in a tiny basement (max 15 people) blasting metal inches away from my face
Unless it’s a huge open venue, it’s normally loud everywhere, and there’s no escape, in my experience
I think there’ll be massive differences in volume depending on culture, location & genre.
Ranked loudest to quietest, from my most memorable gigs: Metal/emo, punk, rock, ska, soca, hip-hop, reggae, jazz, folk. Never been to a jazz venue and thought it was too loud!
I’m not much into gigs, but thing that weirded me the most is why electronic music is so loud?
I’m not talking EDM or something, just regular electronic songs. Why not have them quieter and better? We’re here for the finest of sounds, aren’t we?
Or even classical music can get just TOO loud sometimes. Often times, it is intended to overwhelm, but not deafen, for God’s sake!