Sound Limiters - How they can impact your event

Important information if your venue has a sound limiter installed

So, you’ve found the dream venue for your wedding or event, everything looks perfect….. BUT they have a sound limiter. The reality is that the more beautiful the venue or it’s location the chances are that they will have a sound limiter or restrictions in place to limit the sound. Contrary to popular belief, sound limiters are not bad. They are there for a reason and most venues have them as it is required as part of their licence. They may well be in a area of natural beauty therefore protecting wildlife or nearby residents. Set up correctly sound limiters do an excellent job at what they have been designed to do, however, there are more limiters that have been poorly installed and maintained than correctly installed ones. So how can you tell a correctly installed limiter to a poor one. Sadly, you can’t, well at least on first glance. You’ll need to do a little detective work first, and I assure you - a beautiful venue means nothing if the atmosphere is flat. First of all the venue should inform you that they have a sound limiter present and the level that it is set to. However don’t take it for granted that they will tell you. Especially if it has been poorly installed or set too low. So remember to ask your venue if they have a sound limiter installed. If they do have a sound limiter installed, don’t panic. As I say, it’s not all bad. However you must do some research before setting your heart on the venue. Look around at reviews. There are lots of independent review sites around, so look at those. Secondly, social media is now your friend. Look around for reviews or join a few wedding groups and ask specifically about your chosen venue in a post. Couples who have experience with that venue will share their views and experiences with you. It is common for sound limiters to be set anywhere between 80 - 120db. Ideally a limiter set at around 90db upwards is ideal to create a dancing atmosphere. Anything less than 90db will not be catastrophic but you will have to live with the fact that it is set so low that creating any kind of of atmosphere will be very difficult. Your guests will be continently asking to “turn it up” and announcements using the microphone may and usually ends up in causing problems with power outages. Even singing , applause and raised voices will cause problems with the music being cut off. Cutting off the power to the sockets is the job of the sound limiter. Usually the performer will have a few seconds to turn down the music before the limiter cuts off the power to the sockets. However even turning down the music can still result in the power being disconnected if your guests are cheering, singing, whitelisting or applauding. The sound limiter takes into account all noises and not just from your entertainment. Something else to think about before booking a venue with a limiter. Music will be interrupted anything from a few seconds to a few minutes. Some limiters restore power automatically after a few seconds, whilst others have to be manually reset by pushing a switch or hard reset by the venue staff. This can obviously affect the flow of the dance floor and somewhat limit the songs the DJ can play especially if it’s a well known feel good sing along track. I have published a helpful graph which shows the decibel levels for different everyday scenario give you a deeper understanding of db levels. This is not exhaustive, and there are lots of factors to take into account. For instance a sound limiter set at 80db can be better than one that has been poorly installed and set at 120db. So it is imperative that some research is made before making any rash decisions. One thing is for sure, your wedding will be the equivalent to a noisy restaurant before adding any kind of music, so bear that in mind - then add the music on top. That’ll depend on you either hiring a DJ or live band. A DJ is arguably in a better position to maintain the music volume over a live band with many instruments and PA’s, though not impossible. Some soloists / duos and some bands use backing tracks which makes things easier to manage over a full band with drums etc. Limiters set at around 100db and above is a safe zone which is set at a realistic level which shouldn’t cause any or very few issues.

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