With numerous complaints from local residents going back over a period of time, the council staff at Burton on Trent Town Hall needed to take urgent action over the noise disturbance from the many events that take place at their venue. With bands and DJ's performing to excessive levels and leakage from the venue itself, a plan of action was required.

After commissioning a report by an acoustic expert, the council looked for suitable audio contractors to develop proposals for a flexible sound system in the main hall to cater for the many varied events, but maintain strict control over sound levels.

After considering a number of systems, PAS proposed a digitally controlled system from Community Audio and Symetrix that develops 12 channels of audio which distributes sound throughout the hall without the need for the extremely high levels of the past.

The system is discrete yet capable of high performance and was carefully setup utilising specialist test equipment by PAS commissioning engineers. An audio limiter constantly monitors the output of the system within the hall and provides a visual indication of the peak volume levels at any time.

Should the volume exceed the pre-set maximum limit for in excess of twenty seconds, the volume will drop automatically by 20dB causing a significant drop in level which can only be reset by management.

Both management and residents are pleased with the results which now ensure control is maintained over levels at all times, whilst still providing a quality audio listening experience.

For more information about this project, click here to view an article from December 2013's issue of Installation Magazine.