I recently passed through Grand Rapids, Michigan, on my way to a show in Paw Paw, and some of the locals from the Grand Rapids area told me about an ongoing skirmish between the brand-new Acrisure Amphitheater and nearby residents.
Apparently, noise from the 12,000-capacity venue—which opened in May of this year—propagates miles down the Grand River into neighborhoods far from the venue’s downtown locale, providing residents with an all-too-clear rendition of the sound mix, whether they want it or not. Yikes.
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Bass is often a big offender in such situations, as low frequencies have long wavelengths that not only travel far but can also pass through and bend around objects that might reflect or absorb high frequencies. That’s one of the main reasons you can hear a kick drum or synth bass coming, literally, from a mile away. But nearby condo owners are reporting that in addition to loud bass and vibrations, they can clearly hear lyrics during sound checks and performances, with some people stating that SPLs have reached 98 dB inside their homes.
City officials initially defended the amphitheater (surprise, surprise), arguing that the venue operates under an entertainment exemption from noise rules. Now a Kent County Circuit Judge has ruled that the venue must comply with city noise restrictions, which require quiet hours from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. The venue presently operates until 11:00 p.m. How’s that gonna work?
I sympathize with the folks living near the Acrisure. I can’t imagine what it would be like to own a house or apartment in a quiet neighborhood and then have an industrial noise generator move in and wreck my peace and quiet. What’s the alternative? Up and move? Heck, I have to restrain myself from throwing bricks when a car screams down my street late at night blasting music out of the windows.
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The situation in Grand Rapids is difficult, but not impossible. Witness the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California, a venue that shut down from 1995 to 2003 due to lawsuits related to poor noise management. Currently, the maximum permitted SPL at the back wall of the venue is 86 dB, lest it spill out of the bowl and into the surrounding neighborhoods. Having mixed there on many occasions, I can assure you that the folks at the venue take that restriction very seriously, monitoring SPLs during the show and imposing fines for those acts that don’t comply (I witnessed one engineer having a hissy fit at FOH when his show started and he was asked to turn it down—as if he wasn’t warned ahead of time.)
Luckily for the concert industry, modern line arrays can be aimed with almost pinpoint accuracy, preventing sound from spilling out of the bowl and ticking off the neighbors. The Pac Amp also smartly instituted a 10:00 p.m. curfew, which, quite frankly, is fine by me; done by 10:00 p.m. means loaded by 11:00 p.m., if not sooner.
The venue managers of the Acrisure Amphitheater would do well to have a look at the way Pac Amp handled their delicate situation. It seems to be working out for both sides.
