warwickhunt Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 My band (3 piece playing rock covers) played The Hard Rock Cafe in Newcastle last night. Set up requires bands to bring their own desk and plug into the house PA (massive Bose speakers slung from the ceiling), the pub manager controls overall volume from his device. Except he didn't! Despite us going out front to listen (the benefit of radio gear), he said he couldn't get us louder and there was nothing coming out of their system... and I genuinely mean ZERO! When he put the house background music on, we could hear it through their system, so it was working. We played 2 sets with only our vocal monitors (pointing at us) to carry the vocals a very odd experience. This in itself was disappointing but the oddest thing was that today (next day) the band got a Facebook message from a punter to say that they were suffering from mild hearing loss and tinnitus; WTF? We've no idea whether this will play out further but I do know that with 40 years gigging experience, there is categorically no way that we were loud. Added to which, nobody forced the guy to stay and the room was massive so he could easily have moved; he certainly didn't complain to us or the management at the time. We had friends at the gig and they were having normal conversations around the table without raising their voices. Chalk this one down to experience at the (not so) Hard Rock Cafe. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Sounds like a mare 😞 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernaut Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 At least you wouldn't have suffered from the dreaded line that I once received: "Can you turn it down, please? I'm trying to have a conversation here!" 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bay Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Sounds like some real chancer, how loud are most gigs? I was at The offspring on Wednesday and the guy next to me was messing with a db meter on his phone that was showing 115-125 db through the set. I had my passive earplugs in for some of the set but not all and was fine. I have ever been in a pub gig that has come anywhere close to that (or many many other gigs at medium- large venues). I would imagine you would get loads of complaints before you came close to that level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Thank heavens for insurance. We're insured separately rather than as a band - more expensive, but we felt the cover was better - so in that situation Johnny Tinnitus would have a fun time trying establish which one of us has caused his hearing loss! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted November 28, 2021 Share Posted November 28, 2021 Perhaps Tinitus man was being sarcastic? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 28, 2021 Author Share Posted November 28, 2021 It turns out the venue has level meters... which are logged. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_lefty Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Sounds like theyre either trying to be funny or a chancer. Either way I'd ignore it and see if you can get the comment deleted. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Browning Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 They weren't in the 'Spoons at Wrexham the other evening were they? Ceiling came down and two people tried to make a claim but CCTV clearly shows no injuries. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Pretty much OT but I was at Hammersmith Odeon in 1975 for a Status Quo gig. They had the entire balcony jumping up and down in unison (deliberately) at one point, and I can clearly recall the 18-year-old me thinking, "Who's going to jail if that lot comes down?". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 17 hours ago, Supernaut said: At least you wouldn't have suffered from the dreaded line that I once received: "Can you turn it down, please? I'm trying to have a conversation here!" You're not the only one. I feel your pain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueno Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Played a large birthday party in a hotel. Granny is sitting right at the front and doesn’t like all that loud “bump bump” music. We just pretended to keep turning it down until granny left the building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 1 hour ago, uk_lefty said: Sounds like theyre either trying to be funny or a chancer. Either way I'd ignore it and see if you can get the comment deleted. It was a private message but if we need to we can refer the gentleman to the corporation that is 'The Hard Rock Cafe' as we are sure they have a legal dept that can allay his fears that logged readings of negligible amounts can't/won't have caused him any serious harm. As it happens we do have public liability insurance but seeing as how we were using the venue's sound equipment and it is this that has 'allegedly' caused the damage, then I think they'd need to deal with it IF it came to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 And I'm sure HRC have their meters professionally calibrated every year to ensure they are accurate and admissible in court as evidence for the defence... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warwickhunt Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 40 minutes ago, Bassfinger said: And I'm sure HRC have their meters professionally calibrated every year to ensure they are accurate and admissible in court as evidence for the defence... TBH their flying sound system was impressive but at no point during the whole evening (band and background music) did the levels get to a point where 8-10 folks sitting around a table had to raise their voices. In fact at one point (while we were playing), I could hear the general topic of conversation around one table... the cost of affordable housing if you must know. It was actually quiet off-putting playing my ar5e off and folks talking was drowning us out! LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 I once had from a punter "can you turn down please? It's making me feel sick" (everyone else was ok) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudpup Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 1 hour ago, toneknob said: I once had from a punter "can you turn down please? It's making me feel sick" (everyone else was ok) I had that from our drummer a few years back at a gig. Venue had a hollow floored stage and apparently the rumble from my rig was making his insides move around unpleasantly. I spent the whole gig laughing at him looking like he was going to poop... 😂😂😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 11 minutes ago, Mudpup said: I had that from our drummer a few years back at a gig. Venue had a hollow floored stage and apparently the rumble from my rig was making his insides move around unpleasantly. I spent the whole gig laughing at him looking like he was going to poop... 😂😂😂 Ahhhh....the legendary 'Brown' note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Was thinking recently that in this day and age it might be worth having a calibrated sound level meter so as a band you have an independent means of proving db levels during a gig. This incident shows that time might have arrived. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueno Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 12 minutes ago, Boodang said: Was thinking recently that in this day and age it might be worth having a calibrated sound level meter so as a band you have an independent means of proving db levels during a gig. This incident shows that time might have arrived. Excellent… I can just imagine pointing a meter at the geetarist’s monster stack and telling him it’s too loud… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 Maybe the punter confused 'Hard Rock' with 'hard rock' and had no idea it would be playing music? They just thought the seating would be a bit uncomfortable? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boodang Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 12 minutes ago, Trueno said: Excellent… I can just imagine pointing a meter at the geetarist’s monster stack and telling him it’s too loud… A Marshall stack with only one speaker connected! Mind you, there's been a few guitarists where that's been a tempting option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toneknob Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 I've got a useful app on my phone called Sound Meter. it ranks noise levels as follows diesel truck hair dryer rock music threshold of pain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 6 hours ago, Happy Jack said: Pretty much OT but I was at Hammersmith Odeon in 1975 for a Status Quo gig. They had the entire balcony jumping up and down in unison (deliberately) at one point, and I can clearly recall the 18-year-old me thinking, "Who's going to jail if that lot comes down?". Oh yes, that wobbly balcony! Experienced that when 9 Below Zero played there in the very early 80s - scary, but an adrenaline buzz type scary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakester Posted November 29, 2021 Share Posted November 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Boodang said: Was thinking recently that in this day and age it might be worth having a calibrated sound level meter so as a band you have an independent means of proving db levels during a gig. This incident shows that time might have arrived. Nah - if it's properly too loud then the venue will shut you down as they owe a duty to their staff as employers to provide a safe working environment. A dB meter will only tell you the volume at a particular location, which can vary depending on the layout of the room, so wouldn't be particularly helpful unless you followed the bloke around. If said punter decided it was too loud and continued to stay then it's non volenti fit injuria i.e. by realising the risk of harm, but doing nothing to avoid it, you can't then bring a claim against another party. If anyone is concerned about the risk of claims for hearing damage then the best thing to do would be to put a box of those foam earplugs on the bar for people to help themselves to. That demonstrates that you have identified a potential risk and taken reasonable steps to mitigate it. If no-one takes any, well, that's their choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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