Sound permit changes in Austin

The Austin City Council voted Thursday to change signage and low-frequency monitoring requirements for live music events.

When putting on a live music event, organizations are required to obtain an amplified sound permit. They are required to apply for the permit at least 21 days before the event and must pay the required fees.

Thursday’s vote updated these requirements for amplified sound permits in Austin. The ordinance now requires mobile response codes, like QR codes, linking to the event’s sound permit be placed on signs advertising the event.

 A larger change to sound permits was the council’s decision to switch from the traditional “A-weighting” to “C-weighting”. According to Hear Forever, a campaign by Howard Leight a company who specializes in making top of the line earplugs,  both scales measure the intensity and frequency of sound. Hear Forever was created to build awareness about noise-induced hearing loss. The new “C-weighting” scale will incorporate a more low-frequency range of sounds that is becoming more popular in today’s music.

“Before this change an event might have been in compliance with the A-weighting scale but still rattling windows of nearby residences from bass notes,” said David Murray, sound engineering consultant for the Austin Music Office.

At the recent Fun Fun Fun Fest the Austin Music Office rented sound monitoring terminals that were a way of tracking the sound output and proving that the event was abiding by the permit restrictions. According to Murray, the Austin Music Office hopes to continue to use these to help festivals make sure they are within the new amplified sound parameters.

These changes to the amplified sound permits will be put into place starting in February.

Changes to sound permits are a hot topic in Austin lately. In September, city of Austin officials announced they were going to more strongly enforce event permits throughout the neighborhood west of the University of Texas at Austin campus. They announced that each permit application must now include an attached site plan mapping the property of the event and any bars or other structures that are going to be built.

Austin isn’t the only city that has to be mindful of its large population while supporting live music. Cities such as New York City and Chicago also have large live music festivals that they must provide sound permits for.

“We get our sound permits through the New York Police Department,” said Josy Dussek, director of operations and community outreach at the New York City Parks Foundation. “We aren’t allowed to go over 85 decibels and have to shut down by 10 p.m. if we are having an event in Central Park. If we are out at the boroughs it’s 9 p.m.”

Council members have also decided that permits for festivals held in parks will no longer be obtained through the Parks and Recreation Department but through the Austin Music Office. Councilwoman Laura Morrison led this change.

“We had quite a bit of a challenge during our last festival,” Morrison said. “If we can take advantage of the expertise that our music office brings we’ll be much more sophisticated in dealing with sound.”