Noise monitoring helps minimise disruption for residents

Previously the Open Air Theatre had only held 12 shows a year and Scarborough Borough Council, which owns the site, wanted to expand that to 30 shows a year as part of a long-term plan to raise the town’s profile as a premiere UK resort. 

One of the conditions set by the licensing authority was the requirement to carry out more noise monitoring to help minimise disruption to local residents. Symphotech worked closely with the council’s licensing team, particularly the environmental health officers, and put in place extensive measures to monitor noise levels at the concerts, which featured performances by The Kaiser Chiefs, The Jacksons and Michael Ball and Alfie Boe.

To improve the service offered, Symphotech trialled a new system in partnership with NTi Audio UK, which allowed noise levels to be monitored in real time by anyone with access to the system, including the event organisers, promoters and the sound team. In addition to remote monitoring, the team set up a fixed noise meter at a sensitive location  to continuously record sound levels – both ambient background and noise from the concerts – which was fed back via a data server to any internet-enabled device, so levels could be monitored at all times. 

Ian Taylor, Symphotech’s event safety and noise consultant, said: “This is our first year working with Scarborough Open Air Theatre and thus far we've had a hugely successful year with no complaints to either the environmental health team or to the venue themselves, which is testament to the level of cooperation between us and the Adlib audio team and engineers.”

http://symphotech.co.uk/