The Duc d'OrleansII

[Tom Smit]

It's been quiet here so I thought I'd make a post.

I went on an enjoyable river cruise on this https://www.ducdorleans.com/our-ship to experience a live band on board. It was, wait for it, a three.. hour.. cruise. Anyway, the band that I am in, is scheduled to play during a Saturday evening cruise in August, so, I thought I'd do some learnin'. Bands typically play on the aft, upper deck. The sound guy tonight, told me that he had plenty of power to run his subs, which were place under the tops, which were at either side of the boat (boat is 28ft wide) If you look at the photo, you can see the exhaust funnel roughly midship, and, while standing there I noticed strong bass.(heh, I was checking to see if it was there). If I side-step two paces, the bass dropped and the overall sound quality cleaned up. Volume was running about 100-105db A-weighted throughout the cruise. I am interested to see if I can better it.

[DaveMacKay]

Sounds like fun, Tom. I haven't cruised on the Duc d’Orleans but it would make for a lovely evening.

Good luck with your upcoming marine gig.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Always measure music C or Z-weighted, A doesn't measure bass.

[Tom Smit]

Always measure music C or Z-weighted, A doesn't measure bass.

If I had used C weighted, it would have read more, correct? I am mostly interested in measuring what bothers the ears.

[Tom Smit]

Sounds like fun, Tom. I haven't cruised on the Duc d’Orleans but it would make for a lovely evening.

Good luck with your upcoming marine gig.

Thanks, Dave!
P.S. -you should come on the cruise in August!

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

C weighted would have read more because it measures more frequencies. A weighted is typically used for industrial applications.

[Bruce Weldy]

C weighted would have read more because it measures more frequencies. A weighted is typically used for industrial applications.

And when you want the cops to see that you are within the required 85db at the end of the property.

[Seth]

Tom, if your intent was related to the protection of the audiences hearing, I believe you made the right choice.

I think the real value isn't in which scale is used, so much as it is being aware of the correlation of the different weighted scales, so that when someone say A, C, or X weighted, the educated receiver of that information can relate to it and extrapolate it for what it is compared to other weighted scales. Me personally, the only time I'm really concerned with a generic peak SPL reading in anything I do (like level matching the lows and highs at the crossover point), it really doesn't matter what scale it is. Every other instance I can think of, I'd actually prefer seeing the full spectrum at C or Z, not just a generic single peak reading... for a peak SPL reading, my mind is always thinking "okay, so what frequency does that peak occur at?"

For hearing protection "A" weighted pretty much doesn't matter what frequency it occurs at, since the weighted curve is fundamentally based on hearing sensitivity and hearing damage over time. Where, one would have to calculate that out from a C weighted reading, which would be impossible to do without the full spectrum readout and knowing what frequency that peak occurred at, since low frequencies can have a much higher unweighted amplitude before hearing damage occurs, compared to higher frequencies.

Bill's completely right that A Scale isn't typically used in audio... with the caveat being if it's measured for hearing protection purposes, for limiting overall venue volume... which falls under "industrial use". And even then, there are specific analyzers that track the overall exposure time and varying amplitude throughout that time and throughout the full audible frequency spectrum, Which allows the sound tech to maximize volume while also managing the safety of the audience members. (10eazy, NTi Audio, Smaart SPL)

Bruce is right... if law enforcement comes-a-knocking, definitely want them to use A Weighted if the neighbors are complaining about the bass. (good one Bruce )

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

In 2004 I was hired by a major outdoor venue on the verge of being shut down due to complaints about their sound levels in the neighborhood, mostly because of high levels of bass. This was a year after they paid a 'professional' company $50k to come up with a protocol to monitor their levels at the FOH to insure that their levels off-site were within acceptable limits, which included a SPL meter hooked up to a red light warning if the levels were exceeded. The red light never went off, the complaints increased. That's because they did everything 'A' weighted, so the bass was never being measured. A half mile away the 'A' weighted levels were on average a benign 50 to 55dB. But 'C' weighted was 75 to 80dB. I wrote a new protocol using both 'A' and 'C' weighted standards and the complaints went away.

[Tom Smit]

Thanks, all.
I should have arranged the paragraph a bit differently. I should have said that I want to do a better job, sound wise.
As for the volume that I reported, my intent was to share how loud it was, even being A-weighted! Yes, I used and exclamation point. I was surprised, mostly because I usually don't attend these events.
So, as far as volume is concerned, my intent will be 90-ish dbA.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

The protocol I wrote specified a maximum of 95dBA, 105dBC at the FOH, 75 feet from the stage. That keeps the neighborhood at 50dbA, 60dBC 1/2 mile away. This is the venue: https://www.banknhpavilion.com/