I'm getting old I guess.... loud music sorta irritates me lol

[Happy Enchilada]

You’re not alone. I dread bar and bat mitzvahs because the inevitable hip hop DJ is brain bleed loud. It doesn’t seem to affect the kids but older adults spend a lot of time trying to find someplace to hide.

Hip hop? At a bar mitzvah? Whose music do they play - 2 Live Jew? The Jew Tang Clan?

 

[arlum]

I'm with you 100%. When I attend a concert I expect loud music and would feel a loss of the experience if it was any different. If I'm worried about my ears I'll pop in some plugs but, when it comes to crowd reaction and that whole in your face attitude coming from the stage, loud is mandatory. On the other hand ..... when I'm not attending a concert in a music venue meant for it I dislike overly loud music. Part of that has to do with what's being played. If I'm at a concert I payed good money to enjoy I'm there 100%. When I'm out in public areas I don't want to be subjected to the musical tastes of others. I think everyone has a right to listen to and enjoy whatever style of music they enjoy. I don't believe anyone has the right to subject others to their preferences. I prefer to reserve whatever hearing I've got left to the abuse of loud music I truly enjoy. Considering the headphone options available today across all price points no one should be cranking speakers in general public areas. At the least it's rude. Brothers and Sisters aren't just concerned about their own satisfaction.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

I sat in a doctor's office for quite awhile yesterday afternoon, while my wife was back there getting some testing done.

Whatever mix or loop they had going on there in the lobby was much too loud for my tastes.
Worse yet, they played mostly songs from the mid-1970's, songs that I had come to hate (back in the day) simply because they were over-played on the radio stations of the time.

I am reluctant to name any of them, for fear of offending anybody, but man it was terrible.

At some point, I came to realize that
a. nobody in the lobby was even listening, as they were all glued to their ironically-named 'smart phones'
and,
b. there was a Volume Knob on a control panel, right there on the wall next to the master light switch.

I would get up every few minutes and stretch, and wander around looking at the artwork on the walls.
Turned it down from 7 to 6.

Got up a couple minutes later, stretched, picked up a pamphlet for some Rx medicine, and turned it down from 6 to 5.

Eventually, the volume level was just right, and nobody yelled at me for monkeying with the volume control.
And, a bonus, I managed to straighten three or four artwork frames and certificate frames on the walls that had been crooked.
That sort of thing really drives me crazy.

Welcome to my world.
I'm gonna shut up now.

The people heads-down in their "smart" phones always amazes me - and it's not age-related, it affects toddlers through grandparents. There's a popular restaurant we go to that has a sizeable waiting list, so there's always people sitting around "playing phone" in the waiting area. The restaurant has a website where you can reserve a table and it tells you how long your wait will be, and then you check in when you arrive. But the people in the waiting area apparently don't know this, for all their phone addiction, so they sit and wait sometimes up to an hour on weekends, fiddling with their phones, blissfully wallowing in their ignorance like good little sheep.

 

[SRHmusic]

There's probably an OSHA standard that could be pointed out for some situations in offices?

The young DJs should have sound meters just like professional sound people do. They don't even realize that different parts of a room can have nodes that are really loud at low frequencies. I had to point out to a pair working a relative's wedding that people at corner tables were holding their ears, and that it was damagingly loud. They shrugged and said, "who are you?"

I sat in a doctor's office for quite awhile yesterday afternoon, ...

At some point, I came to realize that
a. nobody in the lobby was even listening, ...
and,
b. there was a Volume Knob on a control panel, right there on the wall next to the master light switch.

I would get up every few minutes and stretch, and wander around looking at the artwork on the walls.
Turned it down ...
Eventually, the volume level was just right, and nobody yelled at me for monkeying with the volume control.

That's great. My wife will do the same with TVs blaring in waiting areas. She asks the others waiting if they'd mind if she turned it down, and they all give a disinterested shake of the head.

 

[JL_LI]

Hip hop? At a bar mitzvah? Whose music do they play - 2 Live Jew? The Jew Tang Clan?

This is Long Island. The 13 year olds are wearing dresses they wouldn’t be allowed to wear to a prom. The music is hip hop. Hip hop isn’t rap but it’s derivative. It’s LOUD urban dance music, most of it remixed by the DJ who tries to keep the party moving. The party is actually the real entertainment. For me, the DJ is incidental. The kids, 12 to 14 year olds, all want to act older. Their parents want to be younger. Anyone over 60 wants to cover their ears. It’s always fun to see who’s still married. They’re with someone their own age. Divorced moms are there with guys a decade or more older wearing too much gold. Divorced dads who lost it all are trying to look invisible. Divorced dads who kept some of it are there with the closest thing they could find to the homecoming queen. Everyone talks behind the backs of everyone who wasn’t invited or didn’t come and they get on the phone the next day to talk behind the backs of everyone there to everyone else who was there. Mom and dad spent enough to send their kid to Cornell for a year and hope to get it back in gifts. You gotta see it to believe it. And then you still can’t believe it. And it’s no different across the river in New Jersey.

 

[ChicknPickn]

I saw King Crimson last summer. We had good seats, but had to go up to the top of the lawn because it was so loud.

Yes, that was our situation. We just couldn't bear to give up our close seats. But maybe should have.

 

[Synchro]

As much as music is intrinsic to my life, I don’t believe that music is appropriate in many situations. If I’m at the doctor’s office, I’m there for a serious reason, and I’m probably not in the listening mode.

For me, music is a participatory activity. If I’m not playing it, I’m more than likely at least taking in the chord changes, etc. Even pure listening for pleasure takes some attention, and if I’m waiting to see the results of my lab work, this is not necessarily a welcome distraction. Worse, IMO, are the televisions blaring away in many waiting rooms. I had to see a retina specialist once, and I promise you, anyone needing their services is having a good day. While the doctor was great, being shuttled into a crowded waiting room with TV news blaring away was not a welcome distraction when you are awaiting emergency laser surgery on your retina.

As regards loud music in public places, it’s not much of a problem, because I leave such situations quickly. Other than meeting an old friend at a food court for lunch, I can’t remember the last time I was in a mall. I was in a small business a few years back where the most profane Rap imaginable was blaring out, so I took my business elsewhere. I can tune out background music if it’s not too loud, but the loud stuff means that I, and my wallet, will be leaving.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

This is Long Island. The 13 year olds are wearing dresses they wouldn’t be allowed to wear to a prom. The music is hip hop. Hip hop isn’t rap but it’s derivative. It’s LOUD urban dance music, most of it remixed by the DJ who tries to keep the party moving. The party is actually the real entertainment. For me, the DJ is incidental. The kids, 12 and 14 year olds, all want to act older. Their parents want to be younger. Anyone over 60 wants to cover their ears. It’s always fun to see who’s still married. They’re with someone their own age. Divorced moms are there with guys a decade or more older wearing too much gold. Divorced dads who lost it all are trying to look invisible. Divorced dads who kept some of it are there with the closest thing they could find to the homecoming queen. Everyone talks behind the backs of everyone who wasn’t invited or didn’t come and they get on the phone the next day to talk behind the backs of everyone there to everyone else who was there. Mom and dad spent enough to send their kid to Cornell for a year and hope to get it back in gifts. You gotta see it to believe it. And then you still can’t believe it. And it’s no different across the river in New Jersey.

God, I love the West.

 

[JL_LI]

God, I love the West.

Maybe but what makes you think it’s so different in LA?

 

[Toto'sDad]

Hyperacusis is a hearing disorder that makes it hard to deal with everyday sounds. You might also hear it called sound or noise sensitivity. If you have it, certain sounds may seem unbearably loud even though people around you don't seem to notice them. Hyperacusis is rare

I'm going to tell everyone I suffer from Hyperacusis! I don't know if I do or not, but it pretty much covers how I feel about loud music!

 

[Toto'sDad]

This is Long Island. The 13 year olds are wearing dresses they wouldn’t be allowed to wear to a prom. The music is hip hop. Hip hop isn’t rap but it’s derivative. It’s LOUD urban dance music, most of it remixed by the DJ who tries to keep the party moving. The party is actually the real entertainment. For me, the DJ is incidental. The kids, 12 to 14 year olds, all want to act older. Their parents want to be younger. Anyone over 60 wants to cover their ears. It’s always fun to see who’s still married. They’re with someone their own age. Divorced moms are there with guys a decade or more older wearing too much gold. Divorced dads who lost it all are trying to look invisible. Divorced dads who kept some of it are there with the closest thing they could find to the homecoming queen. Everyone talks behind the backs of everyone who wasn’t invited or didn’t come and they get on the phone the next day to talk behind the backs of everyone there to everyone else who was there. Mom and dad spent enough to send their kid to Cornell for a year and hope to get it back in gifts. You gotta see it to believe it. And then you still can’t believe it. And it’s no different across the river in New Jersey.

Is this a plus or minus of being one of the elite in Long Island?

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

My tinnitus is the loudest thing in my head, always. I've learned to live with it (as far as I know, who really knows the impact). I don't care to go to loud places like noisy restaurants where people are competing with the music piped in. My observation is that everything gets compressed and the waiter taking orders 3 tables over is as loud as silverware clinking in the kitchen and my wife talking across the table. Auditory mush.

I accept it if there's a band playing, or sports bars, etc. But I don't seek out such places these days because, like an old yellow lab, I rather crawl behind the couch and lay down next to the heat register.

 

[JL_LI]

Is this a plus or minus of being one of the elite in Long Island?

I don’t think of myself as one of the elite. Long Island has its Gold Coast. I don’t live there. My wife are lowly degreed professionals. That common as nails here. It’s a cultural thing.

 

[Toto'sDad]

I don’t think of myself as one of the elite. Long Island has its Gold Coast. I don’t live there. My wife are lowly degreed professionals. That common as nails here. It’s a cultural thing.

We just have ordinary things going on around here.

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Maybe but what makes you think it’s so different in LA?

LA is NOT the West. It's a halfway house for the vacuous and vapid.

 

[Toto'sDad]

LA is NOT the West. It's a halfway house for the vacuous and vapid.

Well, everyone's gotta be somewhere.

 

[Chester P Squier]

To me, the distortion in a PA system is more bothersome than the volume. Distortion plus loud volume is not pleasant.

 

[fjblair]

I'm more annoyed when it isn't loud enough, but I know what you mean. I have some really good plugs I sometimes use at concerts.

 

[schmee]

Me too......... kinda. I realized at some point that a lot of it has to do with how the playing is. Loud is ok if everyone is not just playing too much at once.
For instance; JJ Cale tasty simple music would be less aggravating than a band that has the drummer and bassist overplaying .......... it become a bit like taking solos at once!

 

[kookaburra]

I think I’m okay with loud-ish music outside of a concert (concert is fine, no limit for me), like in a bar or something. Not yelling loud, but a little raised voice or close convo loud is fine. But I know some people who take it too far during situations like car rides and that to me feels as wrong as getting drunk in the middle of the day on Wednesday.

What really drives me up the wall is loud dialogue and sound effects in shows, ads, movies, etc. A lot of old folks (including my parents) losing hearing will blast the TV and it’s really grating to me. I can hear the TV of the old guy two doors down. Generally I keep content with dialogue to around the lowest volume that’s clear/comfortable. The theater can be kind of weird and annoying too - sure, a war movie is going to have loud effects, but is there really a need to hear a scene in a small space with quiet talking at 90db?

I’m with you except for the part about the middle of the day on Wednesday.