Acoustech support first Access the Festival

Acoustech managed and monitored noise levels at the inaugural ‘Access The Festival’, two-day dance festival on Sherborne Estate, Park Warwick, 25th-26th June 2021.

Being the first year for the festival, the local community and Council were apprehensive about potential disruption and noise. It was important for the organisers to manage the noise professionally and minimise any impact for the local residents, in-line with stringent licensing conditions.

Will Darley, the event director commented:

“This was the first year of the festival and we were operating in level four Covid protocols, but we were keen to go ahead and the festival sold out. The 2,500 people revelling on each day heralded the return to live shows from the pandemic lockdown and made it worthwhile.”

“The licensing conditions were stringent, 69dBs off-site sound, with the stipulation that there had to be measurements by independent consultants. Sophia Livett, Acoustech’s project manager, was recommended for the event by our sound engineer, who had previously worked together and very quickly became she an integral part of our team.

Sophia’s first action was to liaise with the council around their licensing conditions regarding noise levels, she explains:

“The initial offsite levels were initially unrealistically low at 65db. To illustrate that, we measured background noise in the village three weeks in advance of the event. In order to get a new license for the site in order for the festival to go ahead, the council asked for theoretical noise modelling as a condition for the festival. We wrote the report in four days, and the council were reassured by the speed of response coupled with the level of professional reporting.”

Sophia and her colleagues liaised with the Production Manager, Jack Denton, and the PA company while they were setting up on Thursday. Back onsite Friday to oversee soundchecks, building a relationship with the engineers, and familiarity with the PA’s characteristics. Across the festival weekend Sophia pro-actively engaged with licensing officials, the Parish Council and locals, who were nervous and needed some reassurance. She also collected data from the remote noise monitoring locations and gave the sound engineers guidance about cutting certain frequency levels to remain within limits.

Will (Darley) concluded:

“By the time we got to the event weekend Sophia’s professional manner and communications techniques saw her become a fantastic festival ambassador with the residents and council officials. She took off-site readings at sensitive residential locations across the weekend, so that we had evidence for any future complaints.

“Now we’re planning our 2022 festival bigger and better, with Symphotech undertaking our noise management.”