I'm a sound tech at the Thursday Night Dance in Mt. Airy (Philly) and help
coordinate the sound staff. We've had a fair amount of communication on
this topic recently -- nothing conclusive but addressing the topic in
different ways.
A few thoughts:
Yes, you can get db Meter apps for IOS and Android phones. Important
consideration, you need to calibrate -- at least get in the ballpark. The
microphones in phones are all different. My Android add needs to be
adjusted upward 22 db to get in sync with my Radio Shack digital db meter.
That said, we do have tools now to provide at least relative measures of
loudness, so we can avoid a lot of the fuzzyness that has accompanied this
kind of discussion in the past.
Speaker placement does make a big difference. A little elevation or change
of direction can make a big difference, especially to dancers at the very
top of contra lines.
Attendance and "room noise" make a big difference -- when you have a lot of
people you seed more volume.
Sound levels can depend on instruments, too. Probably not the case in the
venue here, but I have worked in places where they used an acoustic piano.
When that's the case, other instruments and caller levels have to be higher
-- the un-amplified sound of the piano sets the base level for sound. But
going with just an un-amplified piano -- that doesn't give you a good mix,
so you need mic and amp it up a little, to get a good band sound (in my
opinion).
Dance music sound has a very wide dynamic range. So, with db meter in
hand, what do you care about -- peak volume, "average" volume (and when
how/when do you measure peak or average?
I've had people express concerns about sound levels and put it in context
with OSHA standards. So I looked up OSHA standards. The limits are for
sound at a continuous level -- like a machine or engine running
continuously -- are are are scaled like this: no more than 100 db for 2
hours continuously, no more than 97db for three hours; no more than 95 db
for 4 hours. You might approach these limits at a rock concert or outdoor
music festival -- but no contra dance I've ever been to approaches OSHA
limits. Not even close.
Personally, I have always run sound a little hot (loud) and have had very
few complaints. My SOP over the years has been to use my trusty Radio Shack
DB meter from the middle of the hall. I use a setting that allows me to
measure sound levels for a time -- 10 or 15 seconds usually. After the
time elapses, I can check the peak reading and the low reading. I avoid
balances during the reading. If I see that the peak reading (not continuous
reading) is hitting/exceeding 95 db on my meter, I cut back a little.
Overall, I adjust so that we are never going over 95.
That said, I have had people say to me that volume readings should never go
about 80db and such. Realizing that db readings are logarithmic (90 db is
10 times louder than 80 db), that just seems much to low to me (and it may
be that there's an issue with calibration of the meter??). And by the way,
what about your favorite touring band that does it's own sound. Everybody
loves it. What levels are they running? Recently we had a big name band
that does its own sound pass through and one of my colleagues took readings
(we are in fairly close agreement with our meter readings. Spot checks
during the waltz showed 99.9 db peak and 92.6 for low.
My sort of conclusions about all this.
It's very subjective, but on the whole, louder music is more exciting and
energizing. As a dancer, I want to feel that the band is right in the room
with me, not off on the back of a stage somewhere.
We need to listen to complaints/concerns and make an effort to address them
appropriately. That might mean reducing volume. It might mean tweaking
the EQ in some way. Might mean raising the speakers. The 100 percent wrong
thing for a sound tech to do is to behave with arrogance and suggest to the
person that "it's your problem." If there's an unhappy dancer, it is
our
problem. We may not be able to fix it, but it's our problem.
db measuring tools can be very useful and phone-based tools are free. But
-- you have to have a reference source to calibrate. Then, if people want
to talk about sound levels, you can pull out a measuring tool and have an
intelligent discussion.
Thanks for listening.
Ridge
--
Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145]
When you stumble, make it part of the dance. - Anonymous
And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least
once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at
least one laugh. - Friedrich Nietzsche