A thousand people dancing at a silent rave
posted March 30th 2005 11:23AM
It seems slightly (okay, highly) counterintuitive to us to go about cutting party noise by having everyone dance
wearing wireless headphones—afterall, isn't half the point in listening to the music out and loud? But hey, we're not
going to pretend the rave scene ever made much sense to begin with, and apparently Glastonbury's trying to appease The
Man by moving late-night dance sessions to a mass headphone affair because of all that pesky block-rocking bass (maybe
they were inspired by those Sony commercials from a few weeks back?). But seriously, have you ever been to a party with
no music? It's freaking scary, man—imagine taking off the headphones and hearing the sounds of a few hundred or
thousand people dancing? Actually, no, that would be totally amazing and hilarious.
[Via BoingBoing]
Of course, a screw up at the sound board and thousands of people instantly deafened. Hilarious.
Now for the next rave technology all they have to do is invent infrared glowsticks. So that only those people with special glasses can see them glowing.
I get more of a laugh visualizing the idiots who would yell over the sound in the headphones to someone on the other end of the music-less room.
Slightly interesting idea, but theft of the wireless headphones might be a costly issue.
isn't this sort of like that sony walkman commercial a few years back, where all these kids were going to the beach, and the police were suspicious, and then that weird blue alien dude came, and everyone pushed play on their MD players, all playing the mix MD the alien supposedly made.
that alien guy was kinda creepy. especially how he managed to bed hot chicks.
This has been done before with small pirate radio stations and and portable fm recievers.
Better yet, have headphones receiving different frequencies. Then not everyone will be dancing to the same beat...
The IR glowsticks comments is priceless. The lighting should be polarized, too.
Years ago I went to a performance artist who did a thing in a theater where all the seats were wired with sennheiser headphones, and he was up on stage. It was a very interesting performance.
At one point I had to use the restroom, which meant I had to take my headphones off and walk around. It was extremely eery to be in a theater that was entirely silent, but every face staring intently at the stage, and occasionally the entire audience bursting into laughter.
As far as a rave goes, it's been close to ten years since I was at one, but the bass pounding my body was an important factor that simply cannot be reproduced with headphones no matter how good they are.
This is quite similar...http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=44
I thought of this idea a year ago, taking it one step further: everyone brings their own iPod and dances to their own music!
Wouldn't the people at the back of the tent be out of sync with the people at the front?
^^^
Nope. There would be more chance of that with a sound system mounted at the front of the tent, as is usually the case. If the headphone system was IR based, which I couldn't imagine would work very well, then everyone would be more likely to be in sync. (light travels faster than sound) If the system were RF based, then I don't think there would be any issues.
you;d be suprised how well IR works for audio. of course you need line of sight but I've been to a few theatres that use IR headsets because there is no bleed over like you can have with RF from theatres that have multiple screens close together.
I could see how it could be an issue for in clubs though, since not everyone is look at a set object like a screen or stage.
http://www.bijoubreaks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1353
I dont think that the headphones are the point. I think the point is that a good event organizer got tired of authorities shutting down their parties for bull sh*t reasons and got clever on that ass. It may not be the same experience that loudspeakers bring, but it is a small price to pay to keep the party going.
On the other hand, with all the loud sounds gone, people will be speaking a lot quieter when they buy their drugs. ;-)
This thing has been going on in The Netherlands for a few years now. Starting of with twenty headphones and a DJ, it has evolved into a few hundred headphones, live acts (without amps) and the works. At festivals like Glastonbury its a big hit.
The best bit is when they have two channels to choose from. When you're listening to an average song on channel A, and the half of the crowd who has channel B starts going mad so everyone with A starts switching over. Its great for DJ-battles. And pretty weird to see.
I have been to a party years ago where this was done before! I think it must be 6 or 7 years ago, on one of the first legendary Eskimo parties in Gent(Belgium) that was held in an old Renault Gargage in the centre of the city. Because they couldn't get a permission for the loud music late at night, they came up with the idea of wireless headphones. It sure was a strange site, 1000+ people dancing, 2 dj's in front jumping up and down, and all this without hearing music, unless you put the headphones on. Must have been the oddest party ever.
Actually infared glow sticks have been around for years. the military uses them in night operations for use with night vision goggles.
http://www.prangstgrup.com/index_1000.html
check out silent dance party
Went to it, queued for it.Experienced it. Very odd if you took your headphones off due to the virtual silence (aside from the occasional whoop). Two DJ's playing on two FM freqs - shame they weren't any better. Left it.