Noise panel told hit Adele song caused momentary Folk Festival sound spike

A rendition of Adele’s Rolling in the Deep momentarily led to elevated sound levels at a famed Devon pub during Sidmouth Folk Week, a committee has heard.

The “very strong acoustic vocal element” of the song meant that a higher decibel level was reached, according to a sound expert providing details in a session related to noise complaints at The Anchor Inn, in Sidmouth.
Members of East Devon District Council’s licensing and enforcement committee (Wednesday 8 October) heard how sound monitoring had taken place to attempt to ascertain the veracity of complaints from nine neighbours about the volume of performances during Folk Week.
In documents prepared for the committee, written letters of support for the pub were provided from two residents as well as a petition with more than 60 names backing the business. 
Ian Winter, an environmental health officer from the council, said out of six recordings, two showed brief spikes in decibel (dB) levels, but that these soon returned to acceptable levels.
“When I looked at the recordings in more detail, one on 6 August showed [elevated sound levels] in relation to a song being played, and this is a female singer performing Rolling in the Deep, which has a very strong acoustic vocal element,” he said.
“So while the general noise level from the instruments was okay, the elevated levels came from the vocals, and that comes down to demonstrating effective control of the mixer desk to reduce the vocals slightly.”
Mr Winter added that the audience were also “very loud trying to sing those higher notes”, but that following that spike in sound caused by Adele’s anthem, “noise did reduce”, so “the one song was problematic but the hour after, the noise levels were back at acceptable levels”.
He added a performance the following evening by an Irish folk rock group also produced “slightly elevated” noise levels for a short time but again reduced.
A detailed 11-page report by Mr Winters stated there was “no evidence” of excessively loud music, but suggested a potential maximum level for music in the pub’s beer garden.
The report added that setting a 96 dB limit – measured one metre in front of a main stage speaker – should “strike a practical balance between enforcing appropriate noise controls and avoiding excessive restrictions on the premises”.
Music at that level should reduce to around 70dB at the window of the resident who has spearheaded the complaint, Steven Chalkley, and therefore be around the 44 dB level inside his home, the report stated.
Sound of around 45 dB is comparable to a “quiet refrigerator, soft conversation, the sound of a washing machine, or a keyboard typing”, Mr Winter said in his report, noting that music is often perceived to be louder than it actually is due to its contrast with the surrounding soundscape.
Part of Mr Chalkley’s argument is that because Folk Week extends over eight days, music at The Anchor needs to be subject to slightly stricter noise levels.
However, Mr Winters said because of the “unique nature” of the event, and because it is for only one week during the year, the council viewed it as one event rather than eight individual events.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the music noise levels recorded during Folk Week were unrepresentative of typical levels generated by the event,” the report prepared for the licensing and enforcement sub-committee stated.
Members of the committee asked how sound could be managed from acts performing at the pub, and Mr Winter said that it could relate to building up more skills and expertise on the sound mixing desk, and possibly having more equipment.
Mr Winter also added that the way existing noise levels had been agreed “were not enforceable in the way they were written”, meaning it had been useful to monitor sound levels during an event so that an agreed, measurable level could be achieved.
The committee’s chair, Councillor Joe Whibley (Independent, Exmouth Town), said a decision would be made after the meeting and communicated to both parties in writing within five days.