Talk:Loudest band

nominated for deletion: see Articles for deletion/Loudest band in the world

There seems to be something missing from these "decibel readings." A decibel isn't a unit of volume - it is a comparison of two figures (related to power, not necessarily volume at all). If you turn the voume up 6 decibels you have doubled it (no matter what it was before). Without a base figure to compare to, "136.5 decibels" (or whatever) means absolutely nothing - it doesn't relate to absolute volume at all and in fact could be any loudness (even sub-audibly soft).

These measures only tell how much they turned it up from line level. Without knowing what the base level is (which will vary from system to system) these figures tell absolutely nothing about how loud the band actually was....why one would really care is another question entirely...

Curien1000 08:08, 8 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Right, Bel and thus decibel (dB) is a hint-word for a unit-less value which is the logarithm of a relation of two values (which can have units). These two values can be input and output of a level-changing device (e. g. an amplifier) in which case 6dB can mean a doubling or halving of a value.  (But also 12dB can mean doubling of a value, see the link below for details.)
 * They also can be the relation between the norm pressure of the air and the maximal pressure of the air at the peak of each wave of sound. Thus, a decibel measure, being in fact a relative value, can be perceived as an absolute value, namely the sound pressure level.
 * In real life experiments this value often gets lower with square of the distance, so this distance to the source of the sound is important if you are interested in the loudness of the source (which is what this article is about&mdash;of course, Manowar from ten kilometers away isn't as loud as, say, my private stereo).
 * Especially if the source of the sound is large (e. g. towers of loudspeakers) the sound pressure level can be quite constant for a larger range around the source. So to measure this in the area of the crowd attending the concert could be okay.
 * --Alfe 16:09, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

Urban Legends vs Guiness World Records
Assuming we want to invoke Guiness as the end-all, be-all of standards regarding record keeping and breaking: In fact, there is to date [9-11-2014] zero records officially recorded by Guiness of "Loudest Band". There is one record placed for "Loudest Audience at Concert - Indoors", but none for bands. The anecdotal information in this article needs some reference point: such as decibels, A-weighted (or C-weighted, doesnt matter: just something); this is THE only standard that governmental bodies and audio engineers use to measure loudness in venues and outdoors, both for legal and safety purposes. Bands-of-neon (talk) 22:20, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

Why it matters..
To a rock fan, loudness matters. Not the loudness of a band ten miles away, but the loudness in the hall or in the arena. Why it matters is of importance mostly to the fans of the music or the band. If anyone has seen a metal concert live, they'd understand. Furthermore, if anyone has seen Manowar live, there'd be no argument. Manowar kills. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Saxegotha (talk • contribs) 06:18, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Urban Legend Notes In the late 1990's, Manowar played the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, OH and supposely they were so loud that ceiling tiles fell during the performance. I never heard that reported about any other band, although because Manowar tries so hard to cement their title as the loudest band, it would not shock me to find out that this never actually occurred. The Who's record at 32 meters from the stage is insane.Fine Arts (talk) 17:46, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Rawkus
Australian metal band broke 135db in 1993 at the Grosvenor Hotel in Western Australia. (Grosvenor was a fairly large venue, but that would have been ear splitting!). Refs Here. I'd have to find a more robust reference for it to fit the main article alas, but I'm sure someone out there has the goods Duckmonster (talk) 13:00, 12 September 2022 (UTC)


 * Proudly supported by ICONIC WEST AUSSIES -UNDER THE SUN 49.192.165.147 (talk) 12:11, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Motorhead
"...(although most people claim it's Motorhead)..."

Clearly weasel words.

BTW, Motorhead IS very loud.

Fractious Jell (talk) 17:42, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Need for update
After the 'Magic Circle Festival' Manowar released this: ..."So during the sound check at the second annual "Magic Circle Festival" event in Bad Arolsen, Germany, MANOWAR achieved levels in excess of 139dB through Westfalen Sound Schallwand's powerful Meyer Sound system, bassist and front man Joey DeMaio declared unequivocally, "Westfalen Sound Kicks Ass!""... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bvadal (talk • contribs) 16:32, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Dire Straits
This site (in danish) claims that Dire Straits reached 134 dB in 1992 at Gentofte Stadium, Denmark. The source is the website of the Danish school of Journalism, so you'd hope it's reliable. But they don't state the original source. Anyway, if the article should be "accurate", the year 1992 should be inserted with the mentioning of DS.--Nwinther (talk) 22:41, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Metallica
Isthere some specific claim of Metallica about this? Meaning, some specific concert were they reached, or claim to have reached, some specific level of sound. If it's just a generic claim, then it should be removed MBelgrano (talk) 02:53, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

This article claims (in norwegian) that Norwegian authorities measured a concert earlier this year to 145 dB. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/ostlandssendingen/1.8247160 37.191.210.252 (talk) 11:29, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

My Bloody Valentine
Their reunion shows in 2008 reached a recorded 130db, sourced at their wikipedia article for "you made me realise" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.100.192.142 (talk) 22:58, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Listing loudest bands
Listing "loudest" bands just doesn't give any meaningful information. For example, Elton John could go and buy some very powerful amplifier and sound system, then turn it up to eleven and perform Candle in the Wind at 145 dB. Would that make Elton John as the "loudest performer in the world"? Manowar, AC/DC or others are not loud bands per se, they just have had powerful sound systems and their sound engineers decided to amplify their music more than they usually do. That has nothing to do with the band or their musical performance. JJohannes (talk) 01:18, 1 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Agreed. If we're discussing electronically amplified performances, it makes more sense to say "loudest performance" or "loudest sound system" than it does to say "loudest band". 50.104.64.110 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment added 23:41, 29 April 2012 (UTC).


 * I agree, but I still think it would be beneficial to have some sort of a general list of bands who are well-known for exceptionally loud performances (with relevant sources listed of course). As it stands at the moment, having a list of decibel records seems very specific as there are plenty of bands out there who for whatever reason haven't made decibel readings available to public knowledge. This doesn't mean that high volume isn't an important part of their performance. I don't think you can have an article about loud bands without once mentioning the likes of My Bloody Valentine, or Sunn O)))... and I'm sure there are many more who fit into this category. Demonofthefall (talk) 07:41, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Very surprised that the 1960s California Band Blue Cheer does not appear anywhere in this article, as I distinctly remember it being the first group to be tagged with the "loudest band" appellation, circa 1968. Not adding it to the article as I do not have attribution, but I encourage somebody else to do so. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.6.192.28 (talk) 17:19, 3 September 2018 (UTC)

Hanson broke the 1998 record?
I was just watching an interview with the guys and from what I understand they broke the record in 1998 In Toronto Canada?

Deafening sound
"and a 3 dB increase means doubling the sound level"

That's incorrect. While 3db increase would be a doubling of acoustic power level, sound levels are measured in pressure, not watts. 6 db is a doubling of sound pressure level.

For apparent loudness, a 10 db SPL difference is approximately half (or double) loudness.

http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-levelchange.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by Whitcwa (talk • contribs) 15:13, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Up to 11
The secion on 'parody' is cock eyed. Marshall Amps went up to 11 long before Spinal Tap. It's a hangover from click-position knobs (which are used with resitor chains) having 12 positions: 0-11. The numjbering gt carried over when potentiometers were used. More infor here: [] Stub Mandrel (talk) 20:50, 20 August 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah but the general public doesn't know that. The parody didn't refer to this little-known fact, so the effect was an effective parody. I laughed, and so did most everyone else. That's what matters. Herostratus (talk) 15:20, 17 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Peavey and Fender amps have gone from 1-12 since before Spinal Tap, it's totally erroneous information that should not be on an encyclopedia. 103.240.228.211 (talk) 08:25, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

Nov 2020, slight rearrangement and added Blue Cheer
I added Blue Cheer as they were ****ing loud and everybody said so (refs provided). Led Zep and (now, since I added them, Blue Cheer) have been called Loudest Band, but there's no decibel level recorded. However, observation by critics with standing is valid data also, of course. But I divided it into two sections, one for subjective observation and analalasys to add to the by-decibel section. Herostratus (talk) 15:00, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

“Increasing the sound level by a factor of ten”
A 10dBSPL increase “means increasing the sound level by a factor of ten” is unnecessarily imprecise and also misleading. 10dB SPL is widely perceived as a doubling or halving of perceived volume 2600:4040:297A:CF00:6441:9F81:C001:39B4 (talk) 19:21, 30 January 2023 (UTC)
 * You are correct. I removed that bit and more as well, because it interrupted the reading flow. Binksternet (talk) 20:48, 30 January 2023 (UTC)