RUBBERSOUL >Useful Articles > Sound Limiters

Sound Limiters

These are [...the devil's...Ed] devices which cut the power to the band if the sound goes above a pre-determined level (sometimes for a minute or more). They're found in Village Halls or other community venues and occasionally in hotels.

Usually they're set to about 96 dB (which is a little bit louder than standing next to a major road). Most live amplified rock & pop music however, registers at between 100 and 115 dB (un-amplified drums, alone, can easily register 105 - 110dB).

96 dB might not sound like much less than 100dB, but in fact the dB scale isn't a straight line. 110 dB actually sounds twice as loud as 100dB, NOT a tenth louder. Be wary of the venue who claims their limiter is set to 120dB, therefore (as recently happened to us). This is nearly as loud as a jet engine at a distance of 1m!

The way sound limiters are set, it makes it very unlikely that anything but the smallest of bands (2 or 3 piece and possibly no live drummer unless they play extremely quietly) can play in the room. We've had a couple of instances where our unamplified drummer alone has tripped the system. Sound limiters are more sensitive to bass frequencies (which carry outside the room). DJs can get away with it very easily as they just roll-off some of their bass frequencies. We can only do that to a certain extent because we have acoustic instruments generating those frequencies and hence a live band tends to fare worse.

You can see then that you're likely to have a problem with any kind of amplified music where a sound limiter is present, though a DJ will have far less trouble than a function band keeping the volume below the limit. If you definitely want live music, perhaps try a ceilidh band or trio who use backing tracks rather than a rhythm section.

Sometimes a venue will agree to turn off the sound limiter for your function, but if they offer to do so, you MUST get this in writing. You don't want to be arguing with a duty manager who denies all knowledge of this on your wedding day. We certainly don't want our first set to end before we've managed two notes!

As an interesting footnote, here is some interesting information with real-world examples of how venues could better arrange their performance spaces to minimise exposure levels to sound for both staff and guests. Not all venues are going to make these changes as they do involve capital outlay.

For information about Rubber Soul's policies on sound limiters have a look at our Frequently-Asked-Questions sheet which you can also download and print if you wish.

If you have any questions about the topic of this article, why not drop us an email?