PDX_Stan: For one thing, they were recorded with primitive technology that had limited frequency response and sparse sensitivity which limited the dynamic range. Today’s singers are recorder much more faithfully. The recordings from that time period do not accurately reproduce the voices of singers.
the_real_apples: Generally people in show business used their voice differently in the 1920’s, and this will have affected the way they sang, too. They learnt that as a part of their training in the arts of theater, among others, and this way of using one’s voice seems to have a name as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
My whole life is a lie
QueefBuscemi: Haha yeah those speakerwalls have been replaced with line arrays decades ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_array
The problem with speakerwalls is that they have a tendency to cancel each other out, creating dead zones in the crowd (and that’s not even counting the moshpit *badum* *tiss*).
Line arrays are calibrated to ‘project sound’ evenly over great distance, required fewer speakers and consuming less power.
Trivialnicesuit: I used to work at a country venue. We had a band that played stadiums come play our club. The guitar player’s entire rig was the guitar to pedal board to a 10 inch speaker that they ran all the way to the dressing room so they could get a mic on it without interference. Entire stage was fake.
squirrel_farmer: Work great with an air guitar…
incomplete: You mean [these](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/36/b7/4e/36b74e608959131399a199d71306572f–geddy-lee-rock-band.jpg) might not be real?
Edit:NO look they have [mics](https://i.imgur.com/RgDFN.jpg)
The_CONQ: Alot of bands run digital, and directly out to the sound man using Fractal or Kemper, and there are no real guitar amps on stage.
However, bands like Dinosaur Jr., Sleep, Motörhead (when they still toured) And AC/DC all stuck with their real tube amps, Marshalls in particular. Angus Young, for a stadium set up would use 9 100 watt Marshall Super Leads, running to a wall of 4×12 speaker cabinets on stage, all of which were live. Check out AC/DC’s rig rundown on YouTube where his guitar tech talks about all of this.
Sure, Digital is easier, but I think you lose alot of life in your guitar tone, especially when the only stage volume coming from your guitar is from the monitors.
PersuasiveContrarian: You can fill a stadium with sound from a 15watt amp with the help of a PA system. Since all gear is mic’d at venues, no one needs stacks of amps anymore. It’s not worth the cost or more importantly the pain in the ass to lug around actual speaker cabs, just build em for the effect and no one knows.
For instance, the frontman for Royal Blood plays in front of a wall of 12 cabs. No way in hell are those real.
roofuskit: The guitarist doesn’t know either.
belledelalune: Lol welcome to the concert industry
terrynutkinsfinger: Nikki Sixx?