On this page
Noise conditions are set by a licensing authority. None is attached to this address.
- Limiter in the mains feed
- Subs decoupled
- Lobby as an airlock
- Every trip logged
Rig and limiter
The level is heldby a sealed box, not by goodwill
Sound is what a club is most likely to be judged on and the easiest thing to lose control of after midnight. This page is the rig, where the limiter sits in it, and what happens when somebody complains.
01RigTops on poles, subs decoupled
Tops go on poles either side of the booth, at a height that puts the front of the room under the pattern rather than directly in front of it. Subs sit on the floor and are decoupled from it, because a sub bolted hard to a slab turns the building into part of the cabinet and sends energy out through the structure instead of through the air. Structure-borne sound is the kind a neighbour feels rather than hears, and it is the hardest kind to argue about afterwards.
02LimiterIn the mains feed, sealed
The limiter sits in the mains feed to the amplifiers rather than in the signal path, and it is set and sealed by an acoustic consultant against whatever condition applies to the premises. Sitting in the mains matters because it cannot then be bypassed by plugging a laptop in somewhere else. Being sealed matters because the setting stays the consultant’s rather than becoming the last operator’s.
Mute, then a stepped restore
A trip mutes the amplifiers instead of ducking them, because a duck simply teaches an operator to push until it ducks again. Power returns in steps over a short delay, landing the room below the level that tripped it. Every trip is logged with its time.
Nobody in the booth holds the key. That is not a comment on anybody’s judgement; it is the only reason the seal means anything at all.
03ConditionA level at a façade, not a dial
A noise condition is normally written as a level measured at the façade of the nearest noise-sensitive property, or as a limit set relative to the background level measured there while the premises are quiet. It is not written as a position on a dial, and it cannot be satisfied by an undertaking to be sensible. That gap between where the condition is measured and where the volume control sits is the entire reason the limiter is a box with a seal on it.
04BreakoutDoors, lobby, car park
Most of what a neighbour hears never comes through a wall. It comes through an open door, out of a propped fire exit, off the back of a crowd standing on the pavement, or out of a car with its own system running. The lobby is built to work as an airlock: two sets of doors, and never both open at the same time.
- Fire exits are not propped. A propped exit is a noise breach and a fire breach at once.
- The smoking area has its own number and it closes before the room does.
- Deliveries and bottle disposal happen in daytime hours, not at close.
- Bottle bins are emptied in the morning, which is the single cheapest noise control there is.
05ComplaintLogged whether or not it is agreed with
A complaint is logged whether it arrives by telephone, in person, or through the licensing authority. The entry records the time it was made, the time it referred to, what was playing, what the limiter was reading, what was changed in response, and who dealt with it. A copy goes onto the duty manager’s sheet for the night in question so the two records agree.
The reason to log a complaint that seems unreasonable is the same as the reason to log a refusal that seemed obvious. The value of a record is that it is complete, and a log containing only the complaints somebody agreed with is evidence of nothing whatsoever.