525 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

Two more

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[Mike K.]

The stage is going up for Rifflandia 2013 in Market Square.

[VicHockeyFan]

Area police departments said they were deluged with noise complaint calls over the weekend, stemming from RIFFLANDIA FESTIVAL at Royal Athletic Park.

Saanich Police even considered bringing in extra staff to handle the phone calls.

What was YOUR experience?

[HB]

My thoughts are that some people dont like it when others are having a good time even in controlled environment such as the ball park where there would never be any expected noise. Right?

The people complaining would probably complain about the symphony splash or or aircraft noise if they lived in the harbour area.

I lived in Dawwson City for 4 years and each July there is the Dawson City Music fest. The organisers give free tickets to all living on the perimetre of the venue as a sort of peace offering to those in the immediate area because its loud if you live right there

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Area police departments said they were deluged with noise complaint calls over the weekend, stemming from RIFFLANDIA FESTIVAL at Royal Athletic Park.

Saanich Police even considered bringing in extra staff to handle the phone calls.

What was YOUR experience?

Walking home last night, I was still hearing the sounds emanating from RAP past the intersection of Oak Bay and Fort. Various friends living close by in Fernwood felt abused and helpless.

I'm all for a great party with great music, but what was going on there was either ill conceived or badly executed. Criminal charges should be a slam dunk - while it's occasionally hard to prove malice, it's generally easy to demonstrate negligence. The public address system had no need to be that loud to provide excellent sound.

[Mike K.]

They were cranking the music, that is for sure.

Aren't there decibel readers out there that the City can use to identify noise? If you surpass a specific decibel level a certain distance away from the venue, you're in contravention of noise bylaws. It should be as simple as that.

[Szeven]

Walking home last night, I was still hearing the sounds emanating from RAP past the intersection of Oak Bay and Fort. Various friends living close by in Fernwood felt abused and helpless.

I'm all for a great party with great music, but what was going on there was either ill conceived or badly executed. Criminal charges should be a slam dunk - while it's occasionally hard to prove malice, it's generally easy to demonstrate negligence. The public address system had no need to be that loud to provide excellent sound.

Did you feel this way last year? Having attended both years I thought it was exactly the same in regards to timeline and noise. Maybe not? I never got that close to the stages, but if it was not as loud it would have been amplified busking, not a music festival. It is consistently one of the best organized events I attend, so any issue with it being badly executed stems from personally being against loud noise in the area for an entire weekend. I thought over by 9pm was reasonable.

[VicHockeyFan]

They were cranking the music, that is for sure.

Aren't there decibel readers out there that the City can use to identify noise? If you surpass a specific decibel level a certain distance away from the venue, you're in contravention of noise bylaws. It should be as simple as that.

90dB on the site was the rule. My God, they had a super-early curfew, and it's only a few days a year, for the largest festival on the Island. God forbid if these complains means that it moves to Wescom, you know Mr. Young would love to have them out there.

[Szeven]

If anything I would expect Phillips to get the book thrown at them. I thought they were much louder and went until at least 12:30am. Im sure they were within whatever rules they thought they had to follow, but the capacity of that place and the noise is overwhelming.

[VicHockeyFan]

Various friends living close by in Fernwood felt abused and helpless.

Abused and helpless? Surely it was not louder than general street noise.

[jonny]

I went yesterday. (We left early because the closing act was super lame.) Anyway, sound could still be heard at Bay and Cook, and the last act was a pretty quiet bunch.

I wouldn't classify the sound as overly loud from a few blocks away, and the live music was over at what must have been around 9pm. Not too bad, but I could definitely see it being annoying if you lived nearby and weren't in to that sort of thing.

On another note, that poor grass at RAP is going to need some TLC!

[HB]

90dB on the site was the rule. My God, they had a super-early curfew, and it's only a few days a year, for the largest festival on the Island. God forbid if these complains means that it moves to Wescom, you know Mr. Young would love to have them out there.

That is what may happen and eventually when there are no more events in Victoria pople will be looking at each other wondering why.

Just look at the car meetup at royal oak. People complained now the event is in Langford and its great. I went to it the other night and there is a live band on the street awesome cars lined up BBQs smoking and a relaxed and festive place.

Royal Oak on the other hand is empty save for the occasional tumbleweed rolling by

[sebberry]

I could hear it at my place near Fort/Oak Bay but I wasn't about to call the police over it. It's one day a year. (I didn't hear it on Saturday).

Those as far away as Saanich calling the police need to get over themselves if they think that was a disturbance to their lives.

[Mike K.]

Complaints like this generate a great deal of local interest, but unless curfews were broken, unless decibels were crossed and unless event organizers broke local bylaws this is really all much ado about nothing.

I do have sympathy for those who live near RAP or other music venues and it would be nice if event organizers had some sort of a program in place that gave each home within a certain radius of a venue discounted tickets or a few free beverages at the event for one or two days of a festival, or something like that.

[sebberry]

How long has RAP been used as a concert venue?

Surely people moving into the area knew in advance that there was a risk they might have to hear the occasional concert.

A peace offering sounds nice, but I don't think that's what the residents want. It's like giving James Bay residents a free Helijet or seaplane ticket. Sorry for the noise, here's a free trip to Vancouver.

[Jason-L]

I live right across the street. This year, the sound rig up was much better - the music and vocals were really crisp, unlike last year where they were a bit muddy and distorted. It was about as loud as years before - and every year, they've had noise complaints.

My only thought would be to possibly reign in the use of "motherf*****" by the bands, just cause the sound does carry across the entire city. That did ring out a handful of times while I was chilling on my patio last night.

[VicHockeyFan]

I do have sympathy for those who live near RAP or other music venues and it would be nice if event organizers had some sort of a program in place that gave each home within a certain radius of a venue discounted tickets or a few free beverages at the event for one or two days of a festival, or something like that.

Yes, that would be nice. Even an "untransferable" ticket, you use it yourself, with ID, or it can't be used.

Over 45 comments on my FB page are running about 5-1 all in favour of the music.

[Sparky]

They were cranking the music, that is for sure.

Aren't there decibel readers out there that the City can use to identify noise? If you surpass a specific decibel level a certain distance away from the venue, you're in contravention of noise bylaws. It should be as simple as that.

There's an App for that. Every cell phone can be a decibel meter for free.

[Bingo]

There's an App for that.

Here's mine.

[http]

There's an App for that. Every cell phone can be a decibel meter for free.

I doubt it.

A decibel meter is not a sound pressure level meter. I'd trust an app to measure relative levels with good precision, but without individual hardware calibration I don't consider them any more accurate than a wet rock. While analog-to-digital conversion hardware has gotten ridiculously inexpensive over the years (just like every other kind of semiconductor), accurate microphones have not - and your cell phone does not have one.

Precise and accurate have different meanings here. Accurate means "close to actual value". Precise means "capable of noting small changes" See, I KNEW that stats class wasn't a total waste!