Last month, Sydney favourites Sticky Fingers rallied the city’s Tame Impala fans after taking to social media to complain about the unsatisfying sound levels during the Perth outfit’s performance at the Opera House Forecourt.
Management at the iconic venue fielded a deluge of complaints on social media, with many fans claiming they could barely hear the band. Opera House management eventually replied, insisting, “The sound has been turned up.”
However, according to Tame Impala’s sound guy, Adam Round, that never actually happened. Speaking to CX Magazine, Round said “the Forecourt has very low noise restrictions” and as a result, can’t go over certain dB level.
“You can’t go over the limit or they threatened to step in and take control of our show,” he said. “If they let you go over it jeopardizes their ability to do any shows there. It’s a real shame as it’s such a beautiful spot.”
“We tried every trick in the book and added extra front fill. Still would’ve only been louder if you were at the front. All of our subs were in cardioid but we ended up having to pretty much turn them off.”
As CX Magazine reports, Round was given a noise limit of 89dB(a) peak (5dB more at the weekend), which he believes is “an unacceptable level for rock and roll”. As for the sound being turned up, well, that simply never happened.
“We applied roll offs from 100hz down on the system, channels and added a crushing amount of Waves L3 to remove peaks,” Round explained. “They simply will not let you go over. It’s a council decision caused by complaints from residents.”
“As much as everyone tried to work with us, there’s nothing we can really do, so our second night will not be louder than the first. The limits are set in stone.” As it happens, the Opera House is not an ideal venue for rock music according to its own rules.
“As with any outdoor venue, sound levels for all Forecourt events are closely monitored by Sydney Opera House. We have a team of acoustic consultants on site working alongside our sound engineers to deliver the best possible audience experience,” a statement from the venue read.
As CX reports, the venue handbook (dated September 2015) says that noise levels measured one metre from the adjacent Bennelong Apartments must not exceed 65dB(a) – the volume of a conversation.
This rises to 70dB(a) on a Friday or Saturday. If the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure or the Opera House “may be experiencing noise levels that exceed the mandatory noise limits”, then the limit is reduced to 60dB(a) or 65dB(a) on Friday or Saturday.
In translation, the sound of a crowd cheering between songs is a brach of the Opera House’s sound limit. “I basically mixed the whole gig on the pair of 108P (reference monitors) last night as it was hard to hear the PA at front of house,” said Round.
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“There’s a lot of PA down here but you could basically just use a couple of 15” and horns on sticks and you’d still be breaking their noise limits.” It’s not just Tame Impala’s performance that resulted in complaints about low sound levels, either.
Similar complaints were aired about a Forecourt performance by Florence and the Machine which took place the following week. CX reports that an experienced sound engineer got a reading in the mid-80s dB(a) with an (uncalibrated) phone 10m in front of the mix position.
Translation: quiet, really quiet.
