# People Who Cough Loudly



## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

We all have a wonderful recording of a great live performance. We have all heard the best parts of them suffer from somebody who either smokes too much or needs a new lung. 

Do they bother you, or do they make it more like your there?

Sometimes I think of that episode of Looney Tunes were Bugs Bunny is dressed up like Leopold Stokowski, and he shoots a member of the audience for coughing.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Doesn't bother me, because if it's a good performance, I'm drawn in by the music and tend not to notice extranneous noises. But I have some live recordings that are coughing-free, which is wierd. They were made in the 90's, so I assume the sound engineers used technology to edit out any coughing? I wouldn't be surprised that this would be possible with the technology we have today.


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## andruini (Apr 14, 2009)

John Adams wrote a hilarious post about this on his blog (which everyone should read, it's one of the best blogs on the internet easily).
http://www.earbox.com/posts/28#post
It does get annoying sometimes, especially when it's old people who just go to concerts because it's a "social event" or something.. Now they are the most obnoxious people in the world..


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

That article was so true. I don't blame the unwilling, because I would hack up a lung if I was forced to see some musicians.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think the coughing is more annoying on live recordings because you know when it's coming after a few listens. It's like a bad scratch in an old vinyl record. I used to have those memorized too, and had to imagine in my head how the music would sound without them. 

I think our recording techniques are almost too good now though. These days you can hear the sharp intake of breath from the violinists in a string quartet just as they start to play, or the click clacking of the keys on an oboe in chamber works. I find this equally annoying. We never heard this before the digital age. It may be just a matter of taste or of trying to be authentic. (But that's a whole different thread.)


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2010)

As Weston says it does get annoying particularly on a CD that you play often and hence anticipate the next barrage, but I prefer live recordings warts and all, scraping chairs, the bow that knocks a chair, its all part of a concert experience


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

It's weird, but thinking about it I hardly ever cough, except if something's in my throat, which I don't think would ever be the case at a concert. And I don't think I'd go if I had some crazy cold. Am I unusual?


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2010)

nefigah said:


> It's weird, but thinking about it I hardly ever cough, except if something's in my throat, which I don't think would ever be the case at a concert. And I don't think I'd go if I had some crazy cold. Am I unusual?


Depends on how much you paid for your ticket and who the Artists are


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

I have Herbert Von Karajan's Don Carlo performance on DVD. Right in the the middle of Ella giammai m'amò there is a guy who sounds like his lungs are trying to escape. I mean Kuh Hacckk Mu Hu hu hu Cahoooooooo.


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Coughing bothers me a lot. 

And the coughers always seem to go for the pianissimo moments when they make the most damage...


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## Dim7 (Apr 24, 2009)

Weston said:


> I think our recording techniques are almost too good now though. These days you can hear the sharp intake of breath from the violinists in a string quartet just as they start to play, or the click clacking of the keys on an oboe in chamber works. I find this equally annoying. We never heard this before the digital age. It may be just a matter of taste or of trying to be authentic. (But that's a whole different thread.)


Ah yes, breathing on chamber and solo music... That annoys me. It almost nauseating for some reason. Sometimes you can hear it very clearly and frequently.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> Sometimes I think of that episode of Looney Tunes were Bugs Bunny is dressed up like Leopold Stokowski, and he shoots a member of the audience for coughing.


That episode is called Rhapsody Rabbit, here's the Wikipedia link:

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_Rabbit*

I have a CD of an old mono BBC recording of Elgar's 2nd symphony which sounds like it was recorded during a swine flu epidemic. It says on the cover, "never before released on CD," and that is probably why.

Generally I don't like extraneous noise, but for pieces with guitar I want to be able to hear fingers scraping across the wound strings. Otherwise it just doesn't seem right.


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## ConcertVienna (Sep 9, 2009)

It bothers me a lot! not only in a concert hall, but in a theatre, in a cinema...actually i think this is why i almost never go to the cinema nowadays - everyone feels free to eat, drink, talk etc. which gets on my nerves.

in the good old days in Vienna it wasn't so. I know a person, who was politely asked by the usher in a concert hall to remove his wrist watch - it was ticking too loud.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I never pay attention, never care, never get annoyed. When I hear someone coughing, no matter if it's a live recording or live performance, I just smile and keep on listening. I never considered it as some great discomfort.


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## Artemis (Dec 8, 2007)

I don't like audience noise. Generally, if I'm playing music from my PC system when I know it is present I tend to flick on the "audio clean up" facility in Creative Labs MediaSource. That controls it to some extent, but it only gets rid of clicks and hiss, which is not the same problem as coughing.

What can be done as a further measure if coughing is very bad is to run it through "_Audacity_" and use the appropriate repair facility. I usually give such tasks to my nephew who knows all about these geeky things. In the wrong hands, or done by a novice, you would ruin it.

I mention this because _Audacit_y may not be known by many, and it really can be made to work quite well if you know what you are doing. For example, I recorded some of last year's Proms. There were some quite terrible noise isues at times, but my cleaned up versions sound much better.


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## Polednice (Sep 13, 2009)

_Audacity_ is definitely a useful tool! I use it a lot.

I too am one of those whose nerves are rattled by audience sound. I can't abide it; it makes me cringe. If people really _have_ to cough, then I understand that I can't hold a grudge against a necessary bodily function, but what percentage of such coughs - coughs that can destroy an intense or delicate moment - can really be necessary? If people are ill, they shouldn't bother coming. As for the rest, it seems like coughing is some kind of ritual. I'm just like nefigah - and I would expect all normal people to be too! - I _never_ cough unless I am ill, choking or dying. Why else would I? For some, it's apparently an almost-subconscious habit. Grr...

Saying that, I feel I must also voice my deep and fiery resentment of people who go about trying to enforce concert 'etiquette'. Not coughing is common sense, but personal dress-codes (when not enforced by the venue), posture, handkerchief usage(!) and all other such nonsense is a waste of time and if you ever come across somebody who believes such things are important, then you can immediately tell that they are a waste of space!


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

ConcertVienna said:


> It bothers me a lot! not only in a concert hall, but in a theatre, in a cinema...actually i think this is why i almost never go to the cinema nowadays - everyone feels free to eat, drink, talk etc. which gets on my nerves.


In the cinemas here in Amsterdam they display a short phone number onthe screen before the feature, if anyone is disturbingly loud you can text the number with the number of the room youre in and someone will come to sort it out!!

ON topic:
Ive actually never heard a cough in a live recording (though I own very few). I also have never noticed breaths or clicks in chamber music, but have heard the clicks on some woodwind solos in orchestral recordings.. to be honest I think it adds a little something.


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## Vic (Sep 2, 2009)

Posture?
I have to admit I totally adore old men being like a tramp with an HMV bag full of CDs going into a posh concert house. You just know they are the real music lovers.
Don't mind coughing, but I absolutely love if there is clapping on the recording.


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## TresPicos (Mar 21, 2009)

Artemis said:


> I mention this because _Audacit_y may not be known by many, and it really can be made to work quite well if you know what you are doing. For example, I recorded some of last year's Proms. There were some quite terrible noise isues at times, but my cleaned up versions sound much better.


Funny, I was just thinking of the Proms. I have a recording of Vaughan Williams' piano concerto, where - apart from the regular coughing - you can also hear the torrential rain from a thunderstorm hammering on the roof of the concert hall. But, contrary to the coughing, I think the noise from the rain actually adds to the atmosphere.


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