Amplified Buskers

jody1234567

MOD_ link to old thread on this subject: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056297387

Why not have a busking competition like a Galway xfactor and all the best acts get through with a licence and the bad acts don't we can still keep the volume down in support of shop keepers and coffee drinkers it can all be monitored but banning amps means no modern music no circle shows no break dancing only dubliner music and Irish dancing banning amps is not viable and will make this place dreadfuly boring with little or no entertainment at all..

Is a circle show where they rope off most of the street? Do you need an amplifier to project your voice across somewhere as narrow as shop street?

dr.bollocko

Deleted User wrote: »

Is a circle show where they rope off most of the street? Do you need an amplifier to project your voice across somewhere as narrow as shop street?

Once one has it they all must have one.

It's a fooking arms race.

That said some of the buskers really are quality. But many others should probably be euthanised.

Paddyfield

Amplifiers should be banned. Buskers add to the unique ambiance of this little city of ours but electronic speakers & backing tracks often over compensate for the absence of real talent

I pity the staff in Easosn or Matt O'Flaherty chemists etc who are bombarded with needless mind-numbing noise every day.

TerrorFirmer

But if you blanket ban amplifiers, what about the soft singers, the woman who plays the harp, man who plays the spanish guitar - you get the idea. Amplifiers aren't the problem, noise levels (arguably lack of talent plays a factor in some caes) are.

FouxDaFaFa

Unfortunately having a maximum level would require someone to enforce it and I don't think the Guards would be up for that.

And there's not much to stop buskers lowering the volume as a garda car passes and then returning to normal.

It's a pity for those who respect the businesses nearby but I guess you have to go for the biggest noise generator - the amps.

I suppose the issue is, how far should a busker expect to be heard/projected? The point of busking is that you stop and listen to someone, not that you hear them a street away.

I think busking is great but I also work in a shop that has constant busker activity outside it. There have been days I've had to take painkillers for a headache from drums, days when we lost customers who left because of the noise. I wished I could join them, tbh.

It sounds very melodramatic, I'm sure, to people who don't have that much exposure to buskers but when it's the same thing for hours and hours every day it's draining.

antoobrien

Paddyfield wrote: »

Amplifiers should be banned. Buskers add to the unique ambiance of this little city of ours but electronic speakers & backing tracks often over compensate for the absence of real talent

I'd have thought that exacerbate would be the correct word, most of the ones I've heard lately using amps so bad as to actually cause pain to the ears.

Links234

It's really an issue with one busker in particular isn't it? Hat, struts around like he's Frank Sinatra, amp, backing track, very loud, but can't actually sing?

inisboffin

Please let's not turn this into a 'bash the individual busker' thread. Whether we like them or hate them. As I've said before, never mind how good or sh*te someone is, if Elvis or Bowie played outside your place of residence or work every day you'd get sick of them anyway. I sympathise with people on the main drag. The decent buskers rotate every couple of hours.

Musical talent is only some of what buskers do. Some are mediocre (or horrible) yet entertain. Others aren't very performance oriented yet play really well.

The same discussion happens all the time re the amps. If the amps were banned we'd have an increase in sax players, accordions, bongos and other louder instruments. Some would be good, some would be sh*te.
I'd totally be in favour of regulation of decibel levels (like they do in some places), but as people have mentioned, we are bad at getting things together.:rolleyes:

What might be possible is limiting use of amps to a cube amp which only makes so much noise, not those hefty suitcase things. That way electronic musicians can play without taking the piss.

Links234

I miss the plink-plonk guy

Mrs OBumble

Links234 wrote: »

It's really an issue with one busker in particular isn't it? Hat, struts around like he's Frank Sinatra, amp, backing track, very loud, but can't actually sing?

Mmm .. having spotted the next post, maybe I'm not gonna say that after all.

SlipperyPeople

Links234 wrote: »

It's really an issue with one busker in particular isn't it? Hat, struts around like he's Frank Sinatra, amp, backing track, very loud, but can't actually sing?

you mean the OP of this thread?.....awkward

Redhairedguy

Guys. I know it's hard to resist the urge to throw in a sly dig about your least favourite busker of preference, whether it be due to their lack of talent/over-zealousness/use of amps, and so forth. I especially feel for those living/working in the area. In the past, I was one of those two things, so I know the paaaaaaain.

However, this discussion is about buskers using amps at all, and the many merits/problems with it. Let's try to keep it to that, yo'! :cool:

ben.schlomo

Four foreign looking minstrels playing the Game of Thrones theme with violin, accordion, flute etc outside River Island this evening, best ive seen in a long time and no amp in sight.

Mrs OBumble

I got a pic of these four the other day, louder than many amp'd buskers

Sorry the pic is so big, haven't got to grips with the new phone yet

Redhairedguy

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I got a pic of these four the other day, louder than many amp'd buskers

Sorry the pic is so big, haven't got to grips with the new phone yet

Pun Direction?

Fey!

Give each shop a super-soaker, and when the busker outside becomes too repetitive/loud/off-key let them have the entire contents. Eventually they'll get the message to learn new material/turn down the volume/get lessons.

pphheerroonn

That massive ensemble set up on shop street this evening and yesterday evening is very disruptive. Blocking the whole street!

Col200sx

There must be huge competition for space on Shop Street for the Arts Festival, as I saw two different (regular) buskers already set up before 8am this morning :eek:

MarysCurtins

Links234 wrote: »

I miss the plink-plonk guy

That guy is awesome. Always make me smile.

inisboffin

Links234 wrote: »

I miss the plink-plonk guy

He's back! Or at least someone doing a tribute plink plonk is...
I saw his 'gear' last night on Shop St.

swiftman

Saw a video on Facebook doing some tricks with a football down at split of shop street outside evergreen. Between his cones making space for himself and tig colli having there seats out (rightly so, it's there space) the whole street going down on the left was blocked of.

Mrs OBumble

inisboffin wrote: »

He's back! Or at least someone doing a tribute plink plonk is...
I saw his 'gear' last night on Shop St.

Cool .. I'm gonna go upmarket, and make him some cardboard "euros".

thesandeman

inisboffin wrote: »

He's back! Or at least someone doing a tribute plink plonk is...
I saw his 'gear' last night on Shop St.

Yeah. He was in Neactains last night. He has a new set list as well.

ArtyC

He's a lovely guy as well.... Good to see him back!

Joe 90

Every time I see this thread I think of

Selling atonal apples, amplified heat

swiftman

Just seen a video now on social media of a group of 7 young people and one child dancing in the middle of shop street. Only 1 metre on both sides for people to walk past.
Anyone read the piece in the paper about local shop workers in the city, willing to pay out of there own pockets to ban buskers. Rightly so.
It's in the connacht tribune

Paddyfield

swiftman wrote: »

Just seen a video now on social media of a group of 7 young people and one child dancing in the middle of shop street. Only 1 metre on both sides for people to walk past.
Anyone read the piece in the paper about local shop workers in the city, willing to pay out of there own pockets to ban buskers. Rightly so.
It's in the connacht tribune

They want amplification banned. Buskers are welcome. Shops have offered to cough up €50 each to sponsor a busking competition but without amps.

inisboffin

So people would be grand with 4 sax players and a group of bongo drummers?
Makes no sense.
I used to live in the centre of town, everyone drives you mad at some point, good or not, though I have to say the amount of significantly off tune singers seems to have increased recently (youtube generation)!:D

I'd propose:

Decibel monitoring (small amps, not the giant take the p*ss ones)

Limited designated amplification spots (many buskers have amps because of their style of singing, type of instrument, plus simply be heard over other buskers, crowd noise etc). And no, louder is not necessarily better. If you limit the amplification spots then the sound bleed isn't there and everything comes down in volume.

Rotate the spots. Most of the regular buskers do this anyway. Some buskers have only 3 songs, others have hours of material. What drove me mental is hearing the same song over and over again for hours. If 2 hrs max is implemented then it eases that. Dunno how you would monitor that though.

Buskers add so much to the character of Galway.

MadYaker

Decibel monitoring is totally impractical and frankly the gardai have far better things to be doing. Buskers would just turn it down when they see gardai coming. Just ban the amps.

ArtyC

Would be cool to get a poll added-