27 May
2010
27 May
'10
4:44 a.m.
On 5/26/2010 7:50 PM, Chrissy Fowler wrote:
does anyone on SW know how many decibels a typical
contradance is?
Define "typical"; that's largely going to depend on what kind of
room
you're in, what your weather is like, who's playing, who's calling, how
many bodies are on the floor (and how noisy they are), and how
knowledgeable and attentive to detail your sound guy is.
I tried to keep mean levels at 85 dB or lower with peaks at 90 dB when I
was running sound in Berkeley and San Francisco, and I'm known for
keeping things on the quieter side. Just the dancer chatter alone
(measured between end of dances and start of walkthroughs) at Monte
Toyon during Spring Fling hit 95 dB at times, and I've been to Wild
Asparagus gigs that have topped out at 110 dB.
dB measures can be misleading. A good sound guy can make 105 dB sound
comfortable. A bad sound guy can make 80 dB sound excruciatingly loud...
--Nick (sound guy first, caller second...)