the difference in sound

This weekend my workplace hosted a Flogging Molly concert. we set up the rig in our basketball gym here on campus, it consisted of a 30x40 stage, motorized truss above for lighting and a complete D&B sound system. 6 b2 sub's, 12 c7 sub's, 12 c7's, d&b monitors and 1 front fill. (don't know which model) Yamaha analog boards for FOH and monitors. i am an electrician (lighting) by training but i noticed that my ears were very tired and hurt a lot more than i remember them hurting at other concerts.(though i was front line security standing in front of or beside the 3 B2's on stage left.) i had a com pack, so i had one ear plugged and one in a headphone. the next day 6 of us crew went to a Blue Man Group concert in milwalkie (a 6 hour drive) we sat center 16 rows back in the bradley center. they had a Yamaha analog (i think anyway,looked almost brand new, had a little lcd in the center) and HUGE line arrays flown on each side with subs under the stage and 4 or 5 front fills. the FOH mix position was about 20 rows back from us. after that concert, which we all agreed was just as loud, none of our ears hurt like the night before. i guess thats why good sound guys are worth it! anyone can make it loud and sound good now, but not just anyone can make it sound great and not be fatiguing. my house mate, a sound guy, agreed with all this too. i just wanted your feedback. what are your comments?

FLOGGING MOLLY would make my ears hurt no matter how loud or soft the music was.

Virtually everyone has experienced the sound fatigue you heard due to poor quality sound. Many people can't spot this insult to their ears except after a long exposure.

Like many audiophiles I've learned to get much better at this by careful listening. Years of listening critically to audiophile products have taught me to hear these issues pretty much immediately. There is a downside, it is amazing how many truly bad audio sytems exist in our society.

At the airport, surrounded by truly exotic and expensive electronic equipment you usually can't make out what they are saying over the PA system, why is this allowed?

When I go to concerts some are just plain awful for sound quality, its not like the tickets are cheap.

Many TV stations and movies have truly awful vocal quality, why?

Equipment exists that sounds far better, there is only a small relationship to cost, everyone should demand quality sound from any amplified system. Complain!

I agree. Unless I'm feeling like having a migraine, I can listen to my home stereo much louder than I want to listen to most car stereos. Probably the most readily apparent example of this.

I bought a car used, the original owner paid lots extra for a premium sound system by Bose, the sound quality of this system is worse than most stock radios in cars and they are bad enough.

People simply can not hear when they are being ripped off. The thing uses wizzer cones instead of tweeters, midrange units are 3" (wow) and this is premium? There is a mono sub woofer but it's sound exits only in the passenger footwell, the whole thing is a serious overpriced poor joke.

I've found a couple things that tend to make my ears hurt or ring after loud music, the first is distortion caused by the amps being over driven and the other you may not realize is reflections. I noticed I could listen to my main system at loud levels and never have a ring in my ears after turning it off, while in another room set up for working out I have a more inferior system and the walls were bare. After working out and having the stereo cranked I noticed some ringing in my ears. I have my main system in a room that is pretty balanced with curtains over the windows, a tapestry on the opposite wall, some furniture and my large LP collection on the back wall. In the workout room I hung a couple cloth throws up on the wall where I thought the most reflection was hitting and it pretty much eliminated my ears from ringing. You mentioned the first concert was in a Gym compared to the second being in a regular concert venue, that in itself could make a big difference. Aside from making your ears ring, reflections can do some serious degregation to sound quality.

I love Flogging Molly! Also, Matt Hensley was the best street skater ever!!

eisforelectronic]I love Flogging Molly!

I like to flog the molly once in a while too but I don't go bragging about it! :)