76 dB Sound Limiter

[pagan_flame]

Oh Cr^p. I have been passed a wedding for 14th April, and the dreaded words 'sound limiter' were in the contract. I emailed the hotel, to get the reply that it is set at 76 dB :eek: - over this for 10 seconds cuts all power to the disco.

Helpful hints followed - 'it doesn't like bass bins or talking over the microphone'.

Errm it's a wedding so I will have to make some announcements... and I guess I'll be going in with just my 12" speakers.

Any ideas on what sort of output would give a decent sound level without tripping the d^mn thing? He admits that its was twice tripped last year by people singing along...

[Shaun]

Ouch!.

Any song that gets the crowd signing along could be a problem. :(

Inform the client of the possibility of potential problems during the night. Try reducing the bass (also reduce the bass on the mic). Before you start the evening find out how the limiter works (does it require manual resetting?), if it does find out the procedure to get power back as quickly as possible.

Apart from that there's not much you can do except keep a close eye on the limiters visual indicator (if it's in view).

Good luck.

[BeerFunk]

Someone mentioned on another thread that they once wired into a socket which wasn't hooked up to the limiter, although this would probably be in-practical

[Paul James Promotions]

Are you sure it's 76db? That is stupidly low. I would refuse the booking, you'll have problems. 76db is around background music level.

[Corabar Entertainment]

76dB IS very low! Ouch!

[symo]

76!!!! 76!!! That's way too low, 80-85 are accepted norms but 76!!!

[Corabar Steve]

I don't know too much about them, but it may be worth getting a UPS for the evening (just to sa***uard your sound equipment)

Anybody know more about them & if his is feasible or not?

[BeerFunk]

Found an interesting blog about it here (http://www.funkysimon.com/2005/12/02/i-love-sound-limiters/), and it sounds like your idea might just work Steve ;)

[colint]

If it's a clockwork orange limiter you may be able to disable it by unpluging it's mic but some times doing this will cut mains too if it's wired corectlly, if its a formula sound sentry (black box with a db scale on the front) you've got no chance! the only way is to use long extention lead as above! your all gonna find more and more venues with these nasty things now all the licencing is down to local councils,
P.s if they are wired to council regs all sockets within the room are supposed to be affected.

[spin mobile disco]

I use the old extension lead fix myself, run to a power socket not connected to the limiter. A lot of people dont seem to know that a limiter is only required after the 11pm watershed. Up until then it is not actualy required, most venue's just leave it on all the time and cant be bothered to set the timing function.
I played a rugby club last year, they didnt tell me there was a limiter and I was unable to see one (turns out it was behind bar and not visable from my setup place.)
Played fine all evening dead on 11pm the power went off, im a bit flumuxed start checking fuses etc while apologising to the croud. Then barman comes up and says , limiter has just kicked in better turn it down while I reset it.
Turns out their one was setup right , and if I had known would have turned down. But as only 15 minutes of gig left we just carried on at low volume.

Bottom line if setup right should not be a problem until watershed kicks in.

[Dragonfly]

30 Decibels - whisper
50 Decibels - rainfall * quiet office * refrigerator * air conditioner
60 Decibels - dishwasher * sewing machine * normal conversation
70 Decibels - heavy traffic * vacuum cleaner * noisy restaurant * hair dryer
80 Decibels - alarm clock * subway * factory noise
90 Decibels - electric razor * truck traffic * shop tools * lawnmower
100 Decibels - printing press * garbage truck * chain saw * snowmobile
110 Decibels - rock concert * power saw
120 Decibels - jet takeoff * nightclub * thunder
130 Decibels - jack hammer
140 Decibels - shotgun * air raid system
180 Decibels - rocket launching pad

says it all???

[colint]

Afraid they dont all work like that, most will work all the time no matter what time of the day it is! and just a word of warning in extreme cases of noise polution enviromental health have the right to confiscate all or any sound equipment! I used to have a pub in lewisham and had major problems with these people even after fitting sound insallation to most of the building they still came and took readings outside the pub so if you go down the route of the extention lead be very careful because these people are a law unto themselves

[colint]

have a look here for more imfomation confussing? yes!
but very useful sites

http://www.cieh.org/ehp/health_and_safety/articles/turning_the_tables.htm

http://www.castlegroup.co.uk/content/view/82/115/1/3/