Extremely High Amplification at Book of Mormon

[pmondrian]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 8:40am

I saw a great performance of Book of Mormon last night.  But it was marred by its sound amplification, which was so high that there was audible distortion of many of the song lyrics.  I don't remember seeing a Broadway that was amped that it hurt the show.  Was this a bad night for the show or is Book of Mormon consistently like this?   

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 9:01am

I've been having problems with over-amplified shows for years. It started with the Broadway production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and continued with shows that have pop/rock scores. Most recently it was WICKED, which I finally caught up with after all these years. The amplification was so loud that my ears actually hurt--and I couldn't understand any of the lyrics.

However, I have absolutely no.problem hearing the most delicate moments played by an orchestra

I had an audiologist check my hearing and she found me to have much better hearing than most men my age. It's the amplification that's the problem. not my ears.

[TarHeelAlan]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 1:06pm

I've been dealing with a mild case of tinnitus for years, and found that a set of high-fidelity earplugs works wonders at heavily-amplified theatre and concert performances. Unlike those cheap yellow foam plugs, these reduce the volume without attenuating the high end. The end result is not only hearing protection but also clearer vocals and speech. Less than $20, they're a great investment. (A custom molded version can be purchased from an audiologist but will run you around $200, last I checked.) 

They make two versions: the original Etymotic ER20 (which I've used) and a newer version the ER 20XS. Available at Amazon:

ER20 https://tinyurl.com/4zck897r. (These are available in several different colors) $14

ER20 XS. https://tinyurl.com/27wvwcf4   $18

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 1:36pm

Thanks for this info. I'll definitely look into this!

[Alexander Lamar]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 1:41pm

I felt the concert portions of Tina were detrimental to my hearing. I haven’t needed earplugs on Broadway otherwise but I used the ER20 linked above to see Beyoncé at Coachella in 2018 and highly recommend them. If you do find you like them, custom molded ones are worth the investment IMO. I use them at pop and rock shows all the time. 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 1:57pm

Matilda was the Waterloo for me. The disconnection of voice and actor was pronounced with ear splitting amplification only making things worse. But I saw Mormon late - 2016 - and thought it sounded like rock concert sound.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 2:40pm

I saw MORMAN several years ago and didn't have any problems with it. I recall during NEWSIES I turned to my granddaughter and asked if she had trouble understanding the lyrics and she could but I couldn't. I also had problems with WAR PAINT, some of MOULIN ROUGE and the aforementioned LITTLE SHOP. WICKED was the worst, though. I was actually in pain during "Defying Gravity".

[TarHeelAlan]

Posted: 4/13/22 at 4:41pm

Alexander Lamar said: "I felt the concert portions of Tina were detrimental to my hearing. I haven’t needed earplugs on Broadway otherwise but I used the ER20 linked above to see Beyoncé at Coachella in 2018 and highly recommend them. If you do find you like them, custom molded ones are worth the investment IMO. I use them at pop and rock shows all the time."

Agree with you on the custom plugs, that's what I "graduated" to after using the ER20's for a some time. But given the cost, someone would need to decide if they'll be attending enough higher-volume shows to justify the expense when a much less-expensive but effective alternative is available. For me, the answer was yes.