General Music Chat

You're playing one rhythm, but the audience seems to be clapping to some other metronome.
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If you're performing rock or metal, you probably won't notice.

For most songs it doesn't matter, but on fast songs w/ an intricate rhythm . . . can be disconcerting.
(Heh . . . dis - 'concert' ing.
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It's more noticeable w/ larger crowds. If you're sitting in the front or the back, you can usually hear it.
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Yeah, some folks just have bad rhythm, but that's not what I'm talking about.
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I think it just takes a fraction of a second longer for the music to reach the folks in back.
And then it takes another fraction of a second for the sound of their clap to reach my ears.
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By the time the performer hears it, it's no longer a crisp, solid rhythm, but more of a sloshing, dragged out sound.

I have an old 'big venue' rackmount eq from the 90's that actually accounts for this phenomenon. You can set it for the distance of the audio set that it is serving, and it will delay the signal so it reaches those speakers at the same time as the sound from the mains. I can't say I've heard it so much with my own ears, but my acoustic gigs probably aren't big enough for that.

That's cool.
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The speed of sound is roughly 1100 feet per second.
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A half of a second is about 550'
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1/4 sec = 275 feet
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1/10 sec = 110 feet
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An eyeblink takes about 1/10 second. Sound travels 110 feet in an eyeblink.
Huh.
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Let's see . . .
The average song is perhaps 120 beats per minute.
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That works out to the average song has about 2 beats per second.
Or 1 beat every 1/2 second.
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That means that the sound travels approximately 550 feet per beat.
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. . . wow.

Nice!

Since sound travels much faster through fat/muscle/bone than air, if you had people packed up against the stage, the farthest people in this group should technically be able to feel the beat before it reaches their ears.

Nice!

Since sound travels much faster through fat/muscle/bone than air, if you had people packed up against the stage, the farthest people in this group should technically be able to feel the beat before it reaches their ears.

Hey! Does that mean that fatheads hear the music sooner?

Riding the lightning between my amp and the stage monitors, I rarely hear anything but the loudest YEE-HAW coming from the crowd.
Playing every ( or most every ) weekend in clubs these days I guess I should count this as a blessing.
Odd stuff tends to distract me, and subsequently may well throw me off.
I don't even pay much attention to the dancers . . . same reason.

Riding the lightning between my amp and the stage monitors, I rarely hear anything but the loudest YEE-HAW coming from the crowd.
Playing every ( or most every ) weekend in clubs these days I guess I should count this as a blessing.
Odd stuff tends to distract me, and subsequently may well throw me off.
I don't even pay much attention to the dancers . . . same reason.

Yeah, I usually have my monitors super loud to help with timing being tight. But I do tend to get out into the audience using my wireless sometimes. Can't hear anyone there either. Being rock/metal, we have prepared for odd stuff and can continue through quite a bit of ridiculousness. I found that getting into the habit of looking at, and interacting with the audience helps me a lot with being able to focus since I feel like I am more in control of my performance and not just along for the ride.

While being hyper aware of what’s going on w the audience, I’ve always been able to keep my focus on where the time is supposed to be at. Off beat clapping, cellphone jibber-jabber, loud noise from the wine slushee machine.....meh. Just gotta keep your ear on the prize

While being hyper aware of what’s going on w the audience, I’ve always been able to keep my focus on where the time is supposed to be at. Off beat clapping, cellphone jibber-jabber, loud noise from the wine slushee machine.....meh. Just gotta keep your ear on the prize

Last show we did had zero monitors. (The club is apparently saving up for them) That was a little rough. Mains had the drums in them. I brought my two 1x12 rig because small club. They didn't mic our guitar amps but I was happy to find that my little stack was more than able to keep up with the other guitarist's 4x12. As usual, people (even other musicians) seemed entertained that we could play to exact tempo drums. I feel like the bar has really been lowered around here.

Yeah, a nicely balanced monitor makes all the difference in the world.

While being hyper aware of what’s going on w the audience, I’ve always been able to keep my focus on where the time is supposed to be at. Off beat clapping, cellphone jibber-jabber, loud noise from the wine slushee machine.....meh. Just gotta keep your ear on the prize

Wine slushee . . . yuck . . .

It's a hundred times worse with tambourines.