Comment by baxtr
1 month ago
I find it absurd that music in cafés and restaurants has become so loud that it’s hard to have conversations with the people on your table. Sound pollution is a real thing.
1 month ago
I find it absurd that music in cafés and restaurants has become so loud that it’s hard to have conversations with the people on your table. Sound pollution is a real thing.
I bet it's by design. If you actually make things pleasant you might accidentally create a third place and no one can profit from that!
To be contrarian: If people are comfortable they stick around and keep ordering more stuff.
If people are uncomfortable, they can predict how often they can turn the table over and get another party in there.
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In restaurants it doesn’t make sense, because you usually have the table for 2 hours after which the staff will remind you it’s time to leave (in Germany).
For cafe, sure!
I find that sound design is famously awful in most public spaces!
For example, train stations tend to have high ceilings, so announcements are loud and full of echoes and reverbs. [0]
I think of sound a bit like WiFi: it’s better to have tons of low power speakers everywhere delivering a clear and non aggressive sound, than a handful of screaming speakers in a tight space: if you’re next to it it’s too loud, and far away it’s drown in reverb.
My guess is that architects and everyone else either don’t know or don’t care.
[0]: like the new Munich Main Station under construction, slide 2: https://entdecken.muenchen.de/en/station/26-4/
"with this music we are a happening trendy place!"
(and nobody will notice during slow times that we donn't actually have that many customers)
The night clubs I went to in the nineties had loud music and low lights so talking to anyone was a challenge.
That's true of nightclubs today, and I think that's just expected and normal? I'd go to a club to hear music, dance, and drink. Sure, sometimes you might stop to try to talk a little bit, but that's not the primary activity.
I went to nightclubs because other people did and to meet women. The music was pretty much all the same with a beat behind it, and the drink was watered down.
It's almost as if nightclubs are set up to prevent human interaction.
hey, it's hard for the employees to enjoy their muzak over the din of all of your conversations!
It's because they don't want you sitting there for any longer than it takes to eat your meal. They deliberately have tile floors and hard walls to amplify the noise.
I get that, but what about the next time I think about where to go?
Floors are more about cleaning, tbh.