# Where to sit at the symphony?



## Robert_G (Jan 8, 2020)

If you had your choice to sit anywhere you wanted....

In the movie theater i try to sit as center as i can. Both right to left and back to front.

In the symphony i wonder if the same spot would be ideal? Others say as close to behind the conductor as possible....but keeping center.

Thoughts?


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## Gerbil (Jan 8, 2020)

Depends on the piece. If it's Shostakovich's Symphony no.11 then as far back as possible because the end is so loud it rips my ears off.


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## muk (Jan 8, 2020)

Depends on the hall, the piece, and the orchestra seating plan. In the middle around two thirds to the back is usually a good spot acoustically. For smaller ensembles it's nice to be closer. That's a rough rule of thumb if you don't know the location. But in a good concert hall, you should get great acoustics on many seats.


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## jbuhler (Jan 8, 2020)

For cinema I prefer half to two thirds back for the medium theater, half way back for the large theater and slightly off-center. In concert hall for symphony, main floor two thirds of the way back, again slightly off center. The various balconies often have good spots too but it depends greatly on the hall.


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## Robert_G (Jan 8, 2020)

Its an interesting way to look at things. As someone who is there in the audience we dont hear such drastic panning by sitting further back. The conductor hears drastic panning.... some instruments to his complete left some to his complete right some straight forward and the rest somewhere inbetween.

My thoughts on this are trying to brainstorm the perfect panning of the VI instruments in my mix to what the best seat in the house at a symphony would sound like.


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## d.healey (Jan 8, 2020)

It depends on the venue. I like to sit up in the highest balcony. The sound is great (at least in my local venue) but more importantly for me I get to see what everyone is doing. Oh and the seats are cheaper 

Another location I like is the front center of the first balcony. At my local venue this puts me roughly in the center of the hall in all 3 dimensions as the balcony comes forward quite a bit over the audience below.

The stage is raised up quite a bit at this place so sitting ring side is crappy; you can't see anything and the audio isn't that great either. I once sat there for an African choir performance and luckily the group came down from the stage and was dancing and singing amongst the audience so the front row seats turned out perfect on that occasion.


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## Loïc D (Jan 8, 2020)

I attend a lot of live classical concerts a year, so I go for the cheap tickets (even if I benefit from loyalty plan).
I like to be in first balcony front (expensive seats though).

That said, last concert was Mahler’s 3rd and I was seating behind the Tuba. I was happy. Him too.


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## Daryl (Jan 9, 2020)

Every concert hall has a sweet spot. You have to do some research, either yourself, or from regular concert goers. There is no fixed rule I'm afraid.


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