I have been to three live concerts in total, the first was Imagine Dragons so obviously that one was massive in a basketball stadium, the next was Wardruna so slightly less massive in a concert hall and the last was Moon Walker in a pretty small venue. So standing through a whole concert kind of sucks and the most recent one didn't even have an option for sitting. And the one that I actually could sit at had the most uncomfortable sets I have ever been in. And despite having silicon ear plugs at the last two, I could understand most of the words being sung with the drums drowning out everything at the Wardruna concert. This was once I might have thought that venue had poor sound balancing but twice in a row? The nice thing about the most recent concert is that the openers offered to chat with fan at their merch tables but since they were in the same room at the on going concert so it never really felt quite enough to talk to anyone. I don't know it feels like everyone else there got way more out of it than me that is a sucky feeling.

Edit: I'm going to bed so won't reply for a while but you answers have been reassuring and helpful.

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[–] mech@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Not sure why this is a popular way of mixing sound

No one likes this. But it's much harder to get right than people think, and depending on the venue, it can be impossible. Also, a lot of sound technicians in small venues just suck, and many have hearing damage.
I used to work for a small venue that got it right, but that involved constructing the building from the ground up specifically for concerts, coating all walls in the right material, sound techs with years of weekly experience in that room specifically, having our own bass drum to use if that of a band wasn't suitable, and an actual shitload of money for equipment that needed constant maintenance, too.

[–] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Sounds great, but I don't buy it. I know for a fact that it is possible to mix the other instruments in accordingly even in larger venues. Probably because these bands were adamant about it. I believe the reason it's often better in smaller venues is because there's less separation between artists and technicians.

[–] mech@feddit.org 3 points 1 week ago

It's easier in large venues, actually.
But there you run into the issue that it sounds perfect from FOH, but the further you are from it, the worse it gets.