Posted By adrian allman
Does anyone have any reputable information on noise control in bars and nightclubs? Particularly difficult areas I'd like further information on are:

- Hearing protection for DJ's who insist on removing their personal hearing protection to listen to the music in the club

- The installation of a large floor-to ceiling glass screen (44dB Rw?!) within a live music venue to protect bar staff from high levels of noise exposure

Many thanks

Posted By A Howard
Hello everyone.

This is my first ever post so please be gentle. I often surf the forums, but I've never posted before.

As an ex-Club DJ I feel I am qualified to shed some light on why I believe there is a reluctance for DJ's to wear hearing protection. This is obviously not the case for every bar/club across the country but I'm certain that it applies in a vast number, especially those playing dance music.

What you first have to understand is that DJ'ing has moved on leaps and bounds since the days of the stereo-typical DJ you still hear nowadays at weddings and other functions, playing a record then speaking in between.

Most Nightclub and Bar DJ's now speak very little and their aim is to mix 2 tracks seamlessly together. In order to do this the speed or pitch of the tracks need to be altered so they are both in time. I.e. the drum beats in both tracks are at the same speed and playing on top of eachother so to speak, hence seemlessly mixing the end of one track into the start of the next.

The most favoured method of ensuring both tracks are at the same speed/pitch is to listen to the track you are going to play next in one headphone whilst listening to the music playing in the club with your other ear. This is the reason you will see DJ's with one headphone on and one off.

Believe me this is no easy task, especially when the background noise is loud, and drunk people shouting at you asking for requests. It takes concentration and it's vital that the music playing in the club is heard clearly.

In my experience, The acoustic set up in the majority of clubs/bars means that it's very difficult to perform this task whilst relying on the speakers dotted around the dancefloor to hear the music playing in teh club, therefore it's necessary for a speaker to be located near the DJ booth and pointing at the DJ (known in the business as a monitor speaker). This is commonplace in most bars/clubs and any DJ worth his salt would not attempt to DJ without a monitor for fear of messing up a mix and facing ridicule by the audience.

As the bar/club fills up it is necessary to increase the volume, which in turn requires the volume on the monitor speaker to be increased in order to hear clearly. Hence you have a speaker blaring in one ear often only feet away from you.

The world we live in dictates that modern trendy wind bars and nightclubs play dance music and to DJ with dance music requires this mixing method.

I was a club DJ for every Friday and Saturday for approx 5 years (age 20 - 25) and I have very mild tinnitus (I'm 29 now).

In terms of control measures I don't know how to solve this issue. Laterly in my career I started wearing plastic moulded ear-plugs, but these were a one size fits all approach and their effectiveness was limited. I know that a number of professional club DJ's wear bespoke ear plugs which I belive are far more effective, but these people are in the minority and by no means the norm. I believe they retail at approx £200 too and obviously must be fitted and made by a specialist. I also know of one DJ who used to turn the monitor speaker down completely and use the bar/club speakers to get the speed/pitch of the next track in time and would only turn the monitor up for the actual mix or period when the two tracks are playing. This is obviously down to behaviour and takes practice. If the monitor is left off by mistake for the mix this can result in disaterous consequences for the DJ, namely the ridicule mentioned above!! I guess using the risk hierarchy it would be best to remove the DJ from the sound, perhaps he/she could be in a seperate room with the volume at a reasonable level. This obviously doesn't help the bar staff etc in any way and would face stiff opposition from both bar/club owners due to the cost and DJ's due to being removed from the crowd and atmosphere!

As an aside I have recently been to a rock club that caters for local up and coming bands as a friend of mine is in a band. This is not usually my cup of tea, but I go along to support my freind and I've noticed that the setup here is much much louder than any nightclub/bar I've ever played in.

Sorry if I've bored anyone to tears, but it's a topic I often used to think about being an HSE professional as my tinnitus got increasingly worse. But I'm still no clearer to finding a solution.

Andrew Howard

Posted By Dave Merchant
I also have a gentle whistle from too long too close to PAs and high explosives, but like everyone in the business you accept it as part of the territory. Seems silly for someone who makes money from their hearing to not care about damaging it, but it's a strange way to make a living and thinking like a person "at work" is really alien to most DJs (hence the lobbying to delay NAWR for entertainment).

Noise-canceling headphones are brilliant but they take a bit of getting used to - when you're used to picking apart sounds from ambient then get a clean isolated mix into each ear, something in your head doesn't trust it - you lose the acoustic effects of the venue, which bothers people who are used to recompensating for that in their heads. They can adapt easily enough but it means trying to impose something like that on a DJ will instantly raise objections "just because", plus the usual complaints of not being able to hear people talking to you, mucking up your hair, etc... I've also seen a few people using QC2s with one muff behind their ear, and then complaining the things weren't worth the money.

Yeah.. did I mention the money?