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Losing The Music? Sign This Petition! Reported by Adam Symbiosis / Submitted 20-01-09 11:54 Stop what you are doing and sign here quick! We need to make sure we don’t lose any more of our clubs to the government. If they had their way, there’d be no music, no dancing, no fun! But what’s the truth behind these claims and should you be supporting them? HarderFaster sent Adam Symbiosis to investigate. The internet is a great and wondrous thing bringing entertainment and information to the masses of people now hooked up and able to exploit its potential. While many of us only scratch the surface of what it can offer with our daily emails and limited website accessing, the power to connect to many people at once via viral messages can be harnessed to amazing effect, no doubt through the urban phenomenon / folklore (depending on your viewpoint) of six degrees of separation, an idea expanded from the early conjectures of Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy. Apart from the viral messages that clog up the internet every day of the year that help to develop and increase our intolerance of others – dying children here, free money there, viagra, enlargement and goobledegook – one message that has spread like wildfire round music boards, private messages and email inboxes recently has been the No Noise Control petition currently hosted on the next to pointless area of human un-interaction that is the Number 10 E-Petitions website. In fact it is currently the most popular E-Petition on Petitions.Number10.gov.uk with 38,728 signatures with 10,000 more people concerned about not being able to damage their hearing than the current grave humanitarian problems occurring in the Middle East. Designed and introduced in 2006 to make delivering petitions to the Prime Minister easier and simpler, what little good the various petitions have done in any case seems limited to reducing the size of Number 10’s postbag or the number of arrivals of 'pesky demonstrators' delivering paper petitions. As an exercise in anger venting it has to be seen as a complete success, though its effectiveness as way of changing government policy has to be debated, especially in light of the complete lack of democratic oversight in the case of the Heathrow expansion currently being bulldozed through. Still here’s the original text as displayed on the petition page and posted by “Warren James of Musician”: Quote: It has been brought to attention that the government wish to consider it a legal requirement in the new tax year to introduce laws insisting anyone applying or re-applying for an entertainment license must have a noise control device fitted to the venue. This will be the final NAIL for ALL entertainment in the UK as the level at which these devices CUT you off is dreadfully low and damaging. PLEASE DO NOT INTRODUCE THIS LAW, WE LOVE LIVE MUSIC! Despite the appalling use of the English written word to convey the campaigners point, if true then it is obviously a concern to any music lover, from clubbers to rockers to pub goers. Even the bandwagon loving Daily Mail supposedly threw their weight into the ring and got involved, announcing “Pub music noise ban in ‘desperate attempt’ to ban binge-drinking.” However the report being bandied about as evidence by some was from November 2008 and they closed their article with a quote from an unnamed Home Office source, “This document is a draft and should not be taken as an indication of Government policy. Ministers have yet to take any final decisions.” Certainly not the best evidence. But what is the background behind this petition? Is it a true indication of what will happen to clubs if the meddlesome nanny state has its way? The Control Of Noise At Work 2005 Regulations were brought to the UK via the European Physical Agents (Noise) Directive from the EU. The TUC (Trades Union Congress) which represents the UKs many unions and their members and RNID (Royal National Institute for Deaf People), the largest UK charity working for the deaf and hard of hearing, directly campaigned for the entertainments industry to be included in the sectors of work covered but the industry successfully applied for a two year interval to allow changes to be implemented. The regulations demand that action needs to be taken at two levels: where staff have daily exposure to noise levels of 85db and where staff have daily exposure to noise levels of 90db. To put this into perspective these noise levels equate to standing 5 meters from a busy road (80dB) or standing 10 meters from a Diesel Truck (90dB) Both levels take into account the use of hearing protection and the HSE recommends various types of hearing protection based on “the single number rating (SNR) value provided with a hearing protection device.” What this means is that a place of work like a club needs to carry out a Noise Risk Assessment, take measurements of noise levels and work on ways of reducing the peak noise exposure to staff - for example if they have noise levels measured at 100dB, the club must issue hearing protection with an SNR of at least 25 to fall within the regulations or they must install sound limiters to bring the sound down to the lower level – 85dB. What does this mean for the average clubber though? Very little has actually changed. The Public Entertainments License controls the provision of live music, music and dancing and karaoke, subject to various exclusions. One important part of gaining a license is providing Risk Assessments for various activities and acting on the outcomes or recommendations. No doubt there is a greater focus from licensing committees who will look at not only the impact of amplified music on workers and what has been done to reduce their exposure but the impact of noise on the health of customers and sound pollution on neighbors, forcing clubs, pubs and bars take a holistic approach to their impact. Is that really a bad thing though and what can clubs and pubs do? Hearing protection will fall under recommendations for clubs and pubs but in addition acoustic controls like sound absorbent wall and floor coverings could be implemented, better direction of sound towards dance floors rather than all over venues could be investigated, quiet areas for staff and customers which act as buffers between noise and neighbors could be implemented and of course the “dreaded” sound limiters could be introduced keeping the sound down, not turning it off for the whole night as has been reported elsewhere. Each venue would be different and all aspects of layout and positioning would have to be investigated and assessed as part of a Noise Risk Assessment. I shouldn’t need to remind you that above everything else excessive exposure to high levels of noise can lead to irreversible hearing damage and even permanent hearing loss. Perhaps slightly quieter music and an increased focus on sound levels will bring these important issues to the attention of many more people. An ill thought out petition and the hysteria that has followed only damages strides to protect workers and, indeed, provide customers with distortion free music from quality sound systems. I’d start a petition myself against the original petition but in reality how much good would that do? No one wants to dance to quiet music, but then again no one wants to live AND sleep next to a noise polluter and certainly no one should be forced to endure excessive, distorted and damaging music. A balance needs to be struck between all interested parties. However if clubs, bars and pubs have chosen to ignore the hiatus to bring in changes and become more aware of the health of their employees, customers and neighbors then maybe you should be a little more concerned about visiting these venues and spending your hard earned cash or working in them and possibly losing your hearing for life. What did you say? Adam Symbiosis Links Protect your hearing and save with these special HarderFaster deals Use the special link above, search for SC1164/HARDER, SC1661/HARDERS or SC1661/HARDERW and watch out for the HF logo The infamous E-Petition Daily Mail article HSE noise Regulations guide HSE Hearing Protection requirement guide HSE guide to the control of noise in the music and entrainments sector Sound Advice – practical guidelines to control noise at work in music and entertainment TUC and RNID report from 2004 Photos courtesy of the HarderFaster archive. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Adam Symbiosis: Godskitchen Xmas Party: Reviewed The Big Chill: Reviewed Tiësto at Victoria Park: Reviewed Lilly Allen: Reviewed Digital Society May 2009: Reviewed The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: ~deleted1390 on 16th Jan 2009 12:20.31 Hooray! From: Lewis Hamiltons beard on 16th Jan 2009 14:51.42 Good article, if another person asks me to sign that petition, I will stab them with a rusty spoon. From: steelo kuchiki on 16th Jan 2009 15:08.54 bk - revolution From: lol u no on 16th Jan 2009 16:05.36 I see kev's spoon and raise them a dirty bamboo spike. From: ~deleted12332 on 16th Jan 2009 20:26.45 Excellent article indeed.. From: voodoobass on 18th Jan 2009 04:22.34 Great article Adam. I wish the solution to this issue was simple. The best sound systems give a full, rich, detailed sound with low end you can feel in your gets but still have a conversation over without having to raise your voice too much, however, rigs that deliver this kind of performance are generally beyond the budget of all but the most lavishly specified venues. And even in venues where the rig has been properly set up, overzealous DJs often push the system too hard causing incomfortable distorsion, notably in the treble and mid-range areas. There's no denying that loud music has great impact on the listener, and if one legislation is passed, it should be free disposable earplugs for clubgoers and staff. For someone that has worked in nightclubs, I have found it beyond wearing to serve drinks for an 8-hour stint where I still can't hear people's orders despite them shouting. Having said that, I think in general things are better than they used to be. Back in the day when I was going to a lot of rock and metal gigs, if your ears weren't ringing at the end of the night, it was considered a weak gig! Encouraging venues to control sound presssure levels is not such a bad idea, however I worry that laws brought in to do this will be too draconian, and also be used as a weapon against venues or licensees that have fallen out of favour with the local council. Also in a time when many smaller venues are suffering financial hardship and reduced attendances, expecting them to absorb costs of new equipment or a resident engineer to ensure than levels are adhered to in order to comply with these rulings seems a bit harsh. However, foam earplugs are very cheap, at pence per pair - distributing a pair of these to all punters through the door would certainly be an excellent start. From: junky_stepz on 19th Jan 2009 08:15.52 Foam earplugs seem the right way to start caring for our hearings indeed. The government shouldn't be allowed too much control over the LIVE music environment, as the 696 form proved it: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/how-form-696-could-pull-the-plug-on-the-capitals-music-scene-1028240.html . With so many clubs throwing their last parties here in London, the city might become less varied and less entertaining. Nobody in the Government has anything against this happening? From: K8-e on 21st Jan 2009 10:57.59 As I said Friday I haven't signed it - it's about time this was looked at really. I don't want to go deaf or listen to distorted music when I'm in a club. Adam you made some great points From: Prozak on 21st Jan 2009 13:02.39 radio transmitted speaker head implants anyone??? From: bennett on 28th Jan 2009 11:45.52 its all a hoax... http://www.nme.com/news/various-artists/42188 From: Rick D on 31st Jan 2009 08:39.23 great article adam, has shed a bit of light on what originially seemed like the governments plans to rid the UK of clubs altogether, or make them so little fun to be in that no one would go (ie with noise limiters). Some of the points you mentioned are very valid points ie. directioning sound towards the dance floor and having quiet areas in a club, theres nothing worse than not having somewhere to go and sit down and have a chat when in a club. Also a DJ's tendancy to not think its loud enough unless all the red lights are lit up on the mixer. I agree that something needs to bo done, but am concerned just like everyone else that the rules enforced would be too harsh. From: bennett on 19th Feb 2009 12:47.28 http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page18339

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