Venues with Sound limiters

[robbiedj 0]

Personally, although I dislike them, I have NEVER tripped a limiter with my music. :saint:

 

 

 

 

However, the audience singing, stamping, clapping has a few times. :ads:

 

 

 

 

 

[vokf 0]

Hey Robbie, good to see you back!

 

Never set one off, but the band did... 4 times

 

Problem was, their vocals were going through my PA.

Due to space, I was plugged into a non-switched supply, with the band into the supply controlled by the Sound Level Monitor.

 

When it cut-out, the keyboard & guitars were silent, but the drummer & singers continued... make life interesting! lol

 

I kept within the Red - the monitor was there for a reason.

 

Jason

[spinner 0]

There is one venue with which I'm familiar and at which I have been booked, where, on more than one occasion, my clients had not been made aware of the limiter. At one wedding reception it was set so badly that the power was cut when I announced the first dance!!!!

 

 

I was a guest at a wedding at the above venue a couple of weekends ago.

 

For most of the evening a quartet of 3 acoustic guitars (with pickups and a small amp) and a double bass were on.

 

After that the groom had hired some powered cabinets and plugged in his laptop. It was certainly not loud - I was at the other end of the room and conversation was very easy - yet the limiter cut the power 3 times.

 

This venue is on a farm with no other buildings in sight and they say they have had amplified bands there. Beats me how they managed it without the power being cut off almost permanently!!

 

 

[aaadisco 0]

THE LONDON CANAL MUSEUM - NOISE LIMITER WARNING!

 

Hi Guys,

 

Last week I did a wedding at the London Canal Museum. The B&G were not informed that there was a sound limiter, I actually did a pre-event meeting at the venue a few weeks before and asked the staff and they didn't know anything about it.

 

We agreed that I would could setup from 4pm as the museum is open to the public, the people were turning up at 4.45pm. I would be setting up upstairs so would not be a problem if people arrived as I was finishing off.

 

On the day, I got to the venue nice and early but was told that I couldn't start bringing anything in until 4.30pm when the place closed to the public, even though by 4pm it was empty. I tried to explain to the manager that I did not want to be lugging equipment in as the bride and groom turned up at the venue. 15 mins is not long enough to get everything upstairs.

 

Anyway, he finally let me in at 4.20pm and we quickly got everything out the trailer and in to the venue.

 

We set up the background music, left it playing and the crowd came up to eat while we went downstairs to wait.

 

I was then told by the way there is a sound limiter but we only switch it on at 11pm. I was also told that no announcements were allowed on the microphone after 11pm :omg:

 

The evening disco started and it was great, people were really enjoying themselves and the volume was a reasonable level.

 

Then the manager comes up and tells me I will have to turn it down a hell of a lot, he puts the limiter on and although I turned it down the power went straight off.

 

I had the usual thing of everyone turning round and saying turn it up so I pointed at the sound limiter and said sorry. Anyway this pretty much killed the night from there, it was set so low that you could hear people talking over the music. Also when I played come on eileen, the crowd's singing set it off. It went off 5 or 6 times and the worst thing was that the wedding reception was booked until 1am.

 

I went over to the groom and apologised that it kept going off, he said that it wasn't a problem as he had really enjoyed the evening and was very happy with me. He told me that they had not told him about the sound limiter.

 

Now I know these days with neighbours complaining etc venues have limiters but I mean not allowing the use of a mic. I mean come on! I had to stop the music and then shout so people could hear me.

 

It's funny the manager told me that functions make up half of the revenue of the museum so they are quite happy to take the money.

 

Now I have learned to live with these sorts of things and find it is best not to argue with the venue over the limiter because then they certainly won't recomend you. I always apologise to the bride and groom and if guests ask me about it I point at the limiter and suggest they speak to the venue as I have no control over it.

 

So I got through the night and the bride and groom were happy and said they would recomend me to other people so really it was a sucessful night, however I felt really annoyed for the couple. If it had been my wedding, I would have actually asked for money back because it killed the atmosphere.

 

Anyway rant over but a word of advice, if you have a couple planning on having their reception here then suggest that they bring it all forward and have the evening ending at 11pm as when the limiter is off it is a great little venue.

 

Edited July 30, 2010 by aaadisco

[robbiedj 0]

THE LONDON CANAL MUSEUM - NOISE LIMITER WARNING!

 

Hi Guys,

 

Last week I did a wedding at the London Canal Museum. The B&G were not informed that there was a sound limiter, I actually did a pre-event meeting at the venue a few weeks before and asked the staff and they didn't know anything about it.

 

 

 

To be fair to them, it is on their website and mentions a clause in the contract.

 

http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/venue/noise-policy.htm

[Raymilkybarkid 0]

Does anyone include a point in their client hire T&Cs about sound limiters?

 

Yes I do

 

19) Sound limiters

Some venues now have sound limiters fitted, and we may be unable to play at the volumes you may require

 

 

[robbiedj 0]

I have a whole pargraph:-

 

4. Sound Limiting Devices.

 

We reserve the right to refuse to work in venue's which have unreasonably low set sound limiting devices installed should it be deemed necessary to do so. If such a device is fitted a smaller show may be provided.

Many sound limiters work by cutting mains power at source - as a result sudden power loss is very likely to cause serious damage to computer based equipment and can cause expensive damage to speakers and amplification hardware. If damage is caused from such a device to audio or lighting equipment the venue and/or client will be fully liable for the cost of any repairs.

It is also detrimental to the guests’ enjoyment of the function as they are often triggered simply by the noise volume of audience participation. An alternative is if an agreement is made to provide an uninterrupted power supply and an understanding between the venue management and the presenter that the volume will be kept to a level acceptable to all parties.

 

I feel they need to know why I don't like them and what it may cause.

[funkymook 0]

Last couple of places I've played with a sound limiter I've only plugged my mixer through it - all my other gear (active speakers, HD2500) are on normal mains, so if it does trip sound goes off but everything but the mixer stays on - does anyone else do this?

[deejaymitch 0]

If damage is caused from such a device to audio or lighting equipment the venue and/or client will be fully liable for the cost of any repairs.

 

Is the part about holding the venue responsible enforceable? If the T&C relates to a contract between you and a client, of which the venue have no knowledge, I wouldn't have thought so.

[gadget 0]

Last couple of places I've played with a sound limiter I've only plugged my mixer through it - all my other gear (active speakers, HD2500) are on normal mains, so if it does trip sound goes off but everything but the mixer stays on - does anyone else do this?

 

No. Thankfully, I've not had to deal with a sound limiter yet. But I'd obviously plug into the right sockets I'm supposed to. There's an argument for lighting (which needs to stay cool), to be plugged into non-limited sockets to avoid bulbs blowing (and potentially exploding in some cases?).

 

Surely your mixer going off/on will send a spike through the main-outs, causing a thump/pop to be heard? Wouldn't this potentially damage your speakers, as you're always supposed to turn on amps last after everything else ?

 

Cheers,

 

David

[funkymook 0]

Surely your mixer going off/on will send a spike through the main-outs, causing a thump/pop to be heard? Wouldn't this potentially damage your speakers, as you're always supposed to turn on amps last after everything else ?

 

Good point - I didn't notice any thump/pop the couple of times it happened (maybe the music masked it) - I'll listen more carefully next time just in case it does. I did drop the volume on the mixer so I could fade the music back in rather than getting a sudden blast when it came on again, didn't hear anything then either. If it does happen maybe it'd be better to have just the active speakers rather than the mixer connected to it?

 

Worst thing I ever had was a boat party - no limiter, but they cut the power at every lock, and I couldn't see when the locks were coming up and even though I kept asking they didn't give me any advanced warning - never again!

[Rothgar 0]

I had my first experience of a sound limiter last night doing a combined disco/karaoke. Doing the disco it was fairly easy to stay within the traffic light system. I explained to the guests at the beginning of the evening that I couldn't ramp the sound up and what would happen if I did.

 

Then came the karaoke and this is where it got really tricky. Especially for the male singers, the vocals pushed it straight into the red, I had to turn the mic right down and was constantly monitoring every singer. It took the enjoyment out of it for me, I had to concentrate on those damn lights.

 

I had to take a pee break during a singer and left my wife behind the kit. I should of explained which knob does the mic sound. As I walked back in the guy was singing American Pie, and he sang "and then the music died". As if on cue the power went off!

 

I got it all back up in a couple of minutes and the crowd were sympathetic but my I shouldn't have gone for the leak. Oh well you live and learn.

[Swingcats 0]

Bath Assembley Rooms has one, but never went over amber and never turned me off.

 

Old Barn Club Yeovil- Switched me off 5 times in one night, now refuse to gig there.

[Draconic Pride 0]

I had a residency at a local club last year.

They had a noise limiter fitted.

To top things off there was a bad connection somewhere on the loop the limiter was fitted to which meant that sometimes, even when the bar was quiet with no music playing and just me and the manager behind the bar chatting, the limiter would shoot up onto red for a few seconds!

The damn thing was so temperamental it did my head in.

I must admit though, there's nothing like that rush you get when the red light comes on and you start counting and right at the last millisecond it goes off.

 

 

My other residency (which I still have) should probably have a noise limiter fitted, but I know full well that if it had one the manager would just bypass it constantly anyway.

Actually that reminds me... I was gigging in a local pub with my band on Saturday night. It's right smack bang in the middle of a huge posh housing estate. The venue had a limiter fitted which we could monitor from where we were playing. All we had to do was cough (away from the mics) and it would shoot straight up into the red. The noise from the crowd chatting before we even started was knocking it up into the red. The manager explained that it was ridiculous and always gets the bands to plug in elsewhere!

 

I keep having nightmares about the damn things lol