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I'm just curious if anyone else thought they had the sound at the Which Stage all messed up. I was up close for Lil' Wayne and it sounded good but if you got even a little farther back you could barely hear the music. There was even a "turn it up" chant for awhile during the strokes.
Historically the Which Stage has awful sound the majority of the time. There are some rare acts that seem to sound good (David Byrne, Flaming Lips, and others). But it gets the most complaints year after year, in my experience.
I only saw two sets there warren haynes and allison kraus. Allison was super hard hear, however; I'm not sure where someone was playing lil waynes show in my camp somehow, but it sounded like he was in my tent past pod 10. It was loud!! I heard his show loud and clear.
It didn't help that the On Tap Lounge had terrible sound bleed. Totally ruined the Iron & Wine set, in my opinion. I was bummed.
Ditto for Bela Flek. True that Which Stage has historically had the worst sound but IMO the On Tap Lounge was the major culprit in ruining so many performances. They had the canvas of the tent pinned up (for ventilation?) in the back which made things even worse. I can't believe that SP/ACE did nothing about the problem as it happened all weekend.
With my experence being a sound and lighting engineer, the sound itself wasn't all that bad but rather just not enough coverage for the amount of people that were at those shows. The main arrays on the which should have at least been doubled for that many people. Did anyone catch Opeth? They had there sound turned up so loud you couldn't even distinguish between instruments hardly. That was trulley terrible.
I am surprised that many people are saying that Mumford and Sons were not loud enough. From the Ferris Wheel entrance they were blasting! I was thinking they would be drawing blood from the people in front of the stage. From where I was the sound was muddled and all the songs to me sounded similar to 'Little Lion Man'. It sounded like they played that song 3 times in a row.
In reference to the On Tap Lounge, I think they should either move it to a different location, or have "acoustic" acts play there that won't compete volume-wise with the Which Stage.
I did notice that the Black Keys were wayyy turned down on the What Stage. But I could hear MMJ loud and clear all the way to Pod 11.
I agree on the On Tap Lounge being moved. That really interfered with Buffalo Springfield for me. It pissed me off royally. During The Strokes it was not just the Lounge but the Sonic Stage and This Tent giving me fits.
Explosions In The Sky were loud as hell! I almost wish I had gone to see them instead. They sounded pretty damned awesome in between Strokes songs.
The sound levels at Black Keys were a huge disappointment for me. They sound thin already from being just a two-piece band. When they added the bass and organ players you really couldn't hear them so they didn't make any difference sound wise. The Keys really could have used a boost.
Ahh yes, the Which Stage... the problem child of Bonnaroo. Buffalo Springfield's sound was unforgivable. It's not like they didn't realize the volume was too low, considering how much we were chanting. I only really noticed the sound from the On Tap Lounge when I was up towards the back of the Which Stage, but it was very noticeable then. Maybe a move up to near the Fuse Barn area, if possible?
And I actually thought The Black Keys sounded fine, but maybe I was just in a good spot. My only disappointment with them was that they ended their show 20+ minutes early. It's kinda weak to only play ~70% of your scheduled time no matter who you are, but especially when you're a top five act. I guess I can't complain too much though, since what I saw was pretty awesome.
The sound from around the VIP bleachers was faint at best for Allison Krause. Due to tinnitus I wear earplugs but found I didn't need them for Buffalo Springfield- and by all rights that's the one show I should have needed them most!
seems like you have to be in front of the sound booth to hear clearly at the which stage.
Hence the worsening of an already bad situation. Packing Which Stage back to the Brooers Tent with acts like BS, Mumford and Florence essentially says "You can watch but don't expect to hear. WTF do you think this is? A music fest?".
I was thrilled to see the screen and am grateful to SP/ACE for that. Now:
1) Move the On Tap Lounge (maybe swap it with the Comedy Tent?) 2) Move the food/beer vendors in front of Which to the OTL-vacated spot 3) Put in a second bank of speakers
The sound from around the VIP bleachers was faint at best for Allison Krause. Due to tinnitus I wear earplugs but found I didn't need them for Buffalo Springfield- and by all rights that's the one show I should have needed them most!
I had to leave the bleachers and go up front for Ray Lamontagne because I couldn't hear him at all after Florence + the Machine started.
Buffalo started off too quiet but eventually got better. I also noticed the problem during Allison Krause.
I know in the past sound reinforcement has been handled by multiple companies between tents and stages. Company "A" is hired for the What stage, Company "B" is hired for the Which stage and another for the tents. I have been in day parking where I could clearly hear the artist on the Which stage, only for the audio to sound like crap as I approached the stage. homerecording.about.com/od/interviewstipstricks/a/Bonnaroo_Fest.htm
To me, the other stages did not 'make up for it'. Buff was a huge reason we went and it wasn't even like we saw them live. I still had a great time all in all and I can be forgiving on a lot of crap but the sound HAS to be right. The atmosphere and everything is a very distant second to the importance of specific bands on the line-up card.
It's expensive. They make a lot of money. They need to get the sound right.
my friend who had a set at roo this year looks at me during primus and says ... "you see how i'm talking to you right now? i shoudlnt' be able to do that." had to agree. we moved over to the left side of the stage and it was better but not by much
At least re-name it the Helen Keller Stage, cause every year you can't see or hear Leno.
i dont' know why but this reminded me of the dude that was signing infront of the stage the whole mumford show... and i kept thinking.. who the eff can even see this dude?
