Millennials ruin everything.
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I submit that architects don’t design them (at least most.)
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Nungesser, I always pictured you as a younger guy. You are sounding more and more like a guy of my generation, using terms like ‘smack dab’ and ‘snazzy’. You’re not going to start yelling at clouds any time soon are you?
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Aw, nuts! And here I thought I was doing a pretty good impression of one of those young’uns, only to slip up with some oldster slang. Dagnabit. (Real talk, I’m mid-40s, but like to think I’m younger than that) 
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Yeah, like helping America win back the House and thwarting trump’s and the GOP’s Nazi agenda. Perhaps you forgot your snark tag?
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Well, they will, soon enough.
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Don’t forget that modern interior design is super cheap, and restaurants are about as cut-throat as businesses get.
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What are you doing in a trendy restaurant, Grandpa? Old Country Buffet called and is holding your regular seat open until sunset.
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100% agreed. It’s really not that complicated.
It’s things like this that have made me, since high school honestly, say things like “I’ve always been old” and “I’m not a fan of ‘fun.’” I’m finally old enough that more of my contemporaries (thankfully a wider range than it used to be) are starting to feel (or admit to feeling) the same way.
Hmm… funny how you get impressions of folks on blogs. I am 58 but like you I like to think I am younger. I’ll make a reassessment of that after I have hip replacement surgery in January. Got to get back to hiking and backpacking and not being able to do that is literally killing me. But don’t worry, you’ll be yelling at clouds soon. 
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I can afford it sonny?
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Please be more specific. I, my 38 year old sister, and my 20 year old cousin are all considered millennials. Also, the trend toward louder restaurants being considered trendy was well underway by the mid-90’s, and I doubt it was the then-high-school students and younger kids driving spending in that direction.
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I’ve also been frequently mistaken for female here on the BBS; it’s interesting how the way people write can give you a mental image of them.
In all honesty, I just like using words like ‘snazzy’ because they’re fun!
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Seriously, I’m only a few years younger than you, and suffering from moderate tinnitus. (I blame listening to my Walkman too loud and going to too many rock concerts without hearing protection in my teens and 20s.) Even the clatter of one of those padded and carpeted restaurant is enough to do me in, so the trendy bistros with the exposed duct work and the concrete floors and walls keep me from hearing anything at all.
They say that the newest generation of hearing aids have special modes designed for loud restaurant situations, but I remain dubious.
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Because acoustics is not in the top ten things most people think of when they think of design. Heck, I’d bet it’s not even in the top fifty. Another reason why Kate Wagner is such a treasure.
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Architecture in the Instagram age. Though to be fair architecture designed to be looked at rather than lived with isn’t new. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling water might have been better built on the spot the iconic photographs are taken from rather than where it was (impractically) built. Might have lasted better too.
But then you don’t build pyramids for the view do you?
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Architectural acoustics is my profession. My biggest struggle is getting people to understand how their design decisions will affect the character of the spaces they’re building. Sound isn’t magical, but you’d never know it based on some of the conversations I have with people. For the last time, no, putting foam eggcrate panels on your walls won’t stop you hearing your neighbors.
Now to get back to today’s particular fussy, nuanced effort.
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And if people are drinking alcohol they will begin to talk louder…
We’re still not entirely sure as to what is going on, but it seems to involve a feedback loop. Once you have a few drinks, your sense of hearing is impaired. So when you speak, you mistakenly think that you are talking more softly than usual. To compensate, you (without even thinking about it) automatically start talking louder.
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I’m not sure that’s the issue. Masses of people are loud. A busy dining room of any size, full of people talking quietly, with the staff, equipment and work of serving people is loud. Even with no music, soft noise absorbing aesthetics and all that. People tend to talk over the room noise to be heard, so there’s an periodic escalation of noise. There’s a bar in NYC called Burp Castle, they specialize in Belgian and other high end European beers. Have a goofy tongue in cheek Abbey theme to go with that. They play no music (except occasional coral music and Gregorian chants), and have rules against speaking loudly or using cell phones. The murmur of people whispering and moving around when they’re full can be deafening, and as it fills up people get louder to be heard over the crowd noise. So the bartenders periodically “shush” the patrons to bring the sound level down again.
The new materials aren’t just about cleaning and sanitation (seriously soft materials are just gross they’re infectious), or aesthetics. It’s about maintenance and durability as well. Restaurants are high traffic, a carpet looks worn and needs replacing after just a year or two. They’re easy to damage and difficult to repair. Exposed ceilings and drop ceilings give better access for repairs, adding equipment, and so forth. It’s just a lot cheaper to keep a restaurant looking “nice” on all fronts
Plus soft materials like drapes and carpets are trip and fire hazards. There are safety and liability issues involved in the shift. And a surprising amount of this is the result of things like fire and health codes or insurance requirements.
That sounds like some one misunderstood the science on the subject. From what I understand louder music is better, but only to a point. Ideally music should be just below the level of conversation as that tends to be associated with increased sales. But music that’s too loud has a bigger negative impact than music that’s too quiet.
Since noise of conversation and work noise go up with the number of customers. You have to increase the volume as you get busier. To keep music loid enough to be heard, but not so loud that it drowns out conversation. But there’s a point where that’s not really possible because the whole room is too loud.
Type of music is also a lot looser. Faster tempos and more “upbeat” music is good. But music that’s noisier or more agressive is often bad. More bass is good, but low frequencies tend to swallow higher pitches. So too much will make speech difficult to understand even at lower volumes.
My preferred things to use in “nice” white table cloth places were hot club jazz and what I call “my college girlfriend’s appartment”. Female singer song writers and dancey Indi rock from the 00’s. They’re both fairly up tempo and innocuous enough to tune out.
Most restaurants don’t have the sort of money or management to have these sorts of strategies. You hear stuff like that and it’s almost entirely talking about corporate and chain restaurants and hotels. Your little corner spot that’s independently owned is just working off rules of thumb or trying to project a certain aesthetic.
It depends corportate and large restaurant groups tend to have architects and designers. Independent places (who outnumber the former) it tends to just be ownership or a contractor from the land lord.
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It was definitely surreal watching tuxedoed staff serving high-class food with “Welcome to the Jungle” playing. All 80s hair metal at top volume. Apparently that’s what Mario Batalli liked to play to ‘pump up’ his kitchen staff, and he decided at some point to just pipe it into the dining room as well. Not sure if that’s what they still do these days.
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