[Dixielandjazz] Sound men...speaking of...

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

Bob --- I want to know who in hell the sound man was for Lincoln's 
Gettysburg address? What mikes was he using? What speakers, etc! The 
ceremony was outside, fer gawd's sake! And everyone heard it!......> 
Approximately 15,000 people are estimated to have attended the 
ceremony.......> What in hell happened to the art of audiences just 
listening?
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The simple answer is that they all didn't hear it.  That area is outside and 
not in an ampatheatre and it's unlikely that the sound  traveled more than 
about a hundred yards or so even in good conditions.  It has been noted by 
historians that Lincoln's voice was not commanding and a bit high and 
squeaky.  Lincoln was not noted as a bombastic outdoor speaker either.

Crowds would also move in much closer than we do today so a lot more people 
could be in a 50 or 75 yard radius circle than you might see today.  If you 
look at old photos you will see people crowded like sardines at events.

In pre amplified days there were repeaters in the audience.  They were 
people who repeated what a speaker said.  They would have been at about 
every 50 yards or so then a couple of relays would expand the circle a lot. 
Often this was not an official thing but happened impromptu.   Megaphones 
were also used but not on that day because megaphones focus the sound into 
one direction.

Today voices are not trained to be heard either in public speakers or in 
singers with some exceptions but at one time it was the standard.  Public 
speakers developed very strong voices and again Lincoln was not noted for 
this.  They were used to long winded bombastic speeches from orators.  In 
fact the previous speaker spoke for about two hours.  Lincoln's speech was 
noted because it was so short.

Today, church lasts for about an hour most places.  Then, they could go most 
of day.  If you got in your carriage and rode 10 miles to go to church you 
weren't about to turn right around and go back after only an hour.  They 
wanted their money's worth out of those preachers in those days.

Before amplification, buildings and amp were built like the inside of 
megaphones and were designed so that people could be heard at some distance. 
I played once in the Mormon Tabernacle and it's designed so that a person 
speaking in a normal voice can be heard by everyone there.  I believe it 
will seat 5000.  But whatever it's a big room and the ceiling is shaped like 
an inverted bathtub.  If you are at the lectern  you can almost whisper and 
be heard.

There is one more thing.  People before amplification didn't have to cope 
with as much ambient noise and people actually LISTENED.  They didn't hold 
conversations or have cell phone conversations or have a highway near them. 
Very few of us know what true silence is today.  A large crowd has a lot of 
ambient noise associated with it and people soak up a lot of sound.

St. Louis is noted for it's Muny Opera and has the largest outdoor theatre 
and stage  My brother used to take me when I was a kid and we would sit in 
the free or 50 cent seats at the back.  There were people who would sit and 
hold conversations all the way through the performance and sometimes even 
with amplification it was difficult to hear the stage.  The Muny is built to 
let the audience hear with or without amplification.  What I can't believe 
is that people will actually travel down there early to get a seat then sit 
there and talk through the performance.
Larry
StL