Proactive concert sound management: The essential ingredient for community acceptance of outdoor concert venues

Abstract

Residents living adjacent to outdoor music venues have often objected to sound emissions. With increased sound power now available from loudspeakers, the situation is exacerbated, threatening the existence of music venues. Venues have demonstrated that by using a fixed installation system to manage and control concert sound emissions effectively, the friction with the community can be reduced substantially. An essential ingredient of the amelioration process is making automatic sound emission reports available to amphitheater sound engineers and management as each concert proceeds. Sharing these same reports with citizen activists immediately after each concert helps develop trust. Case histories will be presented.