[Dixielandjazz] Loud Bass

[David W. Littlefield]

At 07:30 PM 9/12/2004 -0500, Thompson wrote:
> Jim and I were in Fritzel's in New Orleans one night the bass player (not
>Pat!) had his amp turned up so loud that it hurt our ears.  If any of you
>have been there, you know the venue is small and really no need for the
>music, especially the bass, to be that loud.  We attempted to tell the
>player and he would "play" with the controls, but never brought the sound
>down so that it didn't interfere with sound coming from the other players.  
>
>Do you think musicians loose their hearing and just don't realize how loud
>they are playing?
>Rebecca Thompson

That certainly happens, but there are other factors that are probably much
more important.

1. They're so focused on what they're doing they close the world out,
sometimes even the other musicians, often ignore the volume/sound, all too
frequently ignore the band's stylistic. Often their ears/heads get used to
the sound around them and they lose their focus on their own sound,
therefore keep turning it up, unconsciously. 

2. They're self-centered and think they know it all. This may include
contempt for other musicians, particularly those less skilled than they
are, and all too frequently the leader--and they get offended when even the
leader asks them to do something different from their usual. 

3. They have contempt for the opinions of non-musicians, especially
guests/clients who express concerns for some aspect of what's happening or
going to happen on the bandstand. The audience is so consistently ignorant
and capricious, and so often makes stupid and/or snide assumptions about
musicians, that over the years it gets progressively harder to take 'em
seriously. Someone other than the client or party coordinator may complain
that the band is too loud; with a small band, no member may be available to
go out into the audience to hear the sound or find the boss. 

--Sheik