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At 2:05 PM -0800 3/8/98, Laurie Hatch wrote: >Invariably, xy's I've played with have been able to handle louder high >frequency volumes onstage than I, some by a considerable margin. (Maybe >that's >one reason why I'm into bass %^). This doesn't mean I don't like it >totally >intense and balls to the wall! Plus, overall I think my musical tastes >are >usually as out there as anybody's. So it may well be that, as you suggest >Sarajane, in some situations volume can have more to do with discomfort >than >musical content. Non-musicians may not necessarily be able to articulate >the >difference. Just so's you know.....As I understand the physiological issue, it's not volume or high frequencies that cause the discomfort in women. It's particular types of non-harmonic distortion in the audio system, which will tend to be worse at higher volume. I've seen several discussions of this in audio engineering journals, usually under the context of how to get a wider customer base for audio products. These inharmonic distortions add frequency components to the sound in a particular way that women tend to have a negative reaction to while men typically don't notice. It is very common with cheap home/audio stereos, cheap PA systems, cheap music gear, etc. It also happens in more expensive gear that isn't designed very well. As the volume is turned up on these systems, the distortions start to happen, and women will start to find it unpleasant for physiological reasons. On cleaner systems that don't generate these distortions, the discomfort doesn't happen. This is where the misconceptions that women don't like loud music comes from. Some guy with a shoddy $100 car stereo has it turned up to where he's got tons of crossover and IMD distortion coming out of his crappy speakers, and his girlfriend demands that he turn it down. If he hadn't been such a cheapskate and bought a decent stereo in the first place, she would stick around longer. (or at least wouldn't complain about the volume...) Men will also experience this type of discomfort, although it is less pronounced and takes longer. If you ever experienced "ear fatigue" while mixing or listening to a walkman or something, I think that's it. On a better quality audio system, you can last much longer. It's something to think about when choosing gear. You might save a few bucks and alienate half your potential audience in the process. And if you are stupid enough to think it's that the women just don't get your music, well, you are probably just stupid...... kim ______________________________________________________________________ Kim Flint | Looper's Delight kflint@annihilist.com | http://www.annihilist.com/loop/loop.html http://www.annihilist.com/ | Loopers-Delight-request@annihilist.com