Wow, Knoxville's BigEars Festival is a relatively new music festival (lineup.bigearsfestival.com) that completely escaped my notice and I definitely plan to attend in March 2017. I'm a big fan of the Guelph Jazz Festival but have often wished that they would include new classical music as well and that seems to be exactly what the BigEars Festival is doing and good for them. The 2016 lineup was just my cup of tea and I'm sorry that I missed it. So, what's the problem?
The noise of this year's highlight concert by Sunn))O was measured at 150db. 150db! Man, they must have had their amplifiers turned up to 12! (The previous dubious noise 'record' was held by the band Manowar who achieved an ear-splitting SPL of 139 dB.) And the SunnO))) audience didn't leave! My god, is this some sort of s/m top-knotted hipness? Are their top knots knotted so tightly that they've cut-off blood flow to their brains? Sure, I've been to many loud concerts in my day and my hearing has (probably) suffered accordingly (thank you so much Jimmy Paige and Pete 'Mr. Tinnitus' Townsend, thank you so very, very much!) ... but in this case SunnO)))'s 150 db was 10db louder than a jet engine at 100' away! Crikey!
Sorry kids, submitting yourself to this sort of assault is just stoopid and shame on Sunn))O for punishing the audience in this way and shame on the concert promoters for not pulling the plug. This isn't just 'a get off my lawn' sort-of rant. This was dangerous.
I still plan to attend BgEars 2017 and I have absolutely no problem in being so un-hip as to leave a concert that's too loud and I have no problem confronting festival organizers when it is too loud. Politics begins at home and in this case, your first home is your own body. You want a whole lotta love? Won't get fooled again, you say? Start by loving your ears.
For those not top-knotted, Rolling astone described the concert as "their music, always oppressively loud and pulsating in stomach-deadening waves, consumes the entire body — seats vibrated, and you with them. An usher stormed off seeking cover" and the BigEars festival site described the sound as "being that of a 747 and “Satan’s helicopter” recorded in Agharta, the mythical city hidden away in the center of the Earth. Sounds like fun." And then this from Nashville, "simultaneously terrifying and deafening audiences with Gregorian chanting over brown-note-heavy gut-rumbling guitar drones ringing out at a punishing volume ... an inhumanly loud hum burst through the PA speakers, freaking out the theater's elderly ushers, who immediately jammed their fingers in their ears, almost as if involuntarily, in a futile attempt to protect their ears. The vibration alone made our seats feel like Sharper Image message chairs. "
Here's your daily sounds like fun pounding by SunnO))):
https://youtu.be/vtnG6EHh1N4Fun noise facts to know and share:
Environmental Noise
Weakest sound heard 0dB
Whisper Quiet Library at 6' 30dB
Normal conversation at 3' 60-65dB
Telephone dial tone 80dB
City Traffic (inside car) 85dB
Train whistle at 500', Truck Traffic 90dB
Jackhammer at 50' 95dB
Subway train at 200' 95dB
Level at which sustained exposure may result in hearing loss 90 - 95dB
Hand Drill 98dB
Power mower at 3' 107dB
Snowmobile, Motorcycle 100dB
Power saw at 3' 110dB
Sandblasting, Loud Rock Concert 115dB
Pain begins 125dB
Pneumatic riveter at 4' 125dB
Even short term exposure can cause permanent damage - Loudest recommended exposure WITHhearing protection 140dB
Jet engine at 100' 140dB
12 Gauge Shotgun Blast 165dB
Death of hearing tissue 180dB
Loudest sound possible 194dB
