Keeping noise pollution under control

Paul Milligan, 06 August 2008

Vanguardia Consulting, the Surrey-based acousticians, sound system designers and noise control company, has been working with concert promoters at Hyde Park and Brooklands to meet event licence requirements for environmental noise.

Using wireless monitoring systems, Vanguardia's teams have been monitoring sound levels at multiple points of events, from the Nelson Mandela show in Hyde Park for Live Nation to the UK's newest concert venue, Mercedes-Benz World at Brooklands, Surrey, for Marshall Arts.

The company deploys its own in-house-designed software and hardware package, AudioView, to provide a multi-point remote noise level monitoring system. The system uses a combination of standard hardware and Vanguardia's own software. The laptop display gives the system tech or FoH engineer a readout of four pieces of information: real time sound level, the current changing LEQ, the last minute's LEQ and the last 15 minutes' LEQ.
For Elton John's shows Audio Rent/Clair Brothers Europe used a Clair Brothers i4 line array system with S4 subwoofers and P2 fills, configured using a Lake controller system and mixed on a Yamaha PM5000. The concert arena was setup in the middle of what remains of Brooklands' racing track, overlooked by the building that houses Mercedes-Benz World. Surrounded by residential properties and never previously used for concerts, close noise control was vital to ensure good relations with neighbours were maintained.