G'day Grant,Grant Bunter wrote: Turns out the standard liquor license condition, at least in Queensland, is that the maximum noise level is 75db C weighted using "fast" mode, 3 metres or 10 feet from the source.
I intially took that as it should be measured that distance from the closed door, or building.
What you describe there is the old License for venues without amplified entertainment, or acoustic only entertainment. Hence 75 dBC at the source, meaning shop PA speakers playing CDs with the odd .... "no 11 your chips are ready" RSL type announcement.
I used to pull the License from the net for each venue I played in as part of my prep for the gig. (The new gov down here only provides an extract online now. (They want $25 for the full license.)) Venues licensed for live entertainment had a dBC limit at the outer door as you expected. To get that license they had to pay more as well as obtain an engineers report. The document you describe is the acceptable method for developing the report.
Industry blokes I've spoken to from Brisbane describe house PA rigs for live bands in the Valley Music Precinct that have traffic lights at the front of the stage. Green is good, yellow is a worry, red ..... FOH cuts out. Red used to be 95dBC 1 m from the front of the stage. Not sure what they run at these days!!