Denver's Red Rocks Amphitheater Continues to Battle With Locals About Sound Pollution

The drama with Denver residents and the Red Rocks Amphitheater seems to be ongoing, as they held a town meeting last week to discuss the quality of li

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The drama with Denver residents and the Red Rocks Amphitheater seems to be ongoing, as they held a town meeting last week to discuss the quality of life issues regarding the sound output from this outdoor venue. For the past year, we have seen numerous reports of disgruntled residents growling at the venue, and have heard that people within a half a mile radius are complaining that their windows are rattling late into the evening hours.  Since this venue is owned by the city of Denver, locals are looking to their government for answers.  Their concerns have definitely been heard, and as of January first, the city of Denver implemented a new mandate to lower the volume altogether, which state “the average decibels for an entire show shall not exceed 105 decibels for one-minute averages after midnight on weekdays and 1 a.m. on weekends and holidays." This is 10 decibels quieter than your average rock concert, and poses the question "how quiet is too quiet?."

The European Union considers hearing loss a serious health risk, and has gone as far as recently implementing a volume cap for MP3 players, which drops the output for new devices to 85dB.  Most MP3 players reach volumes between 100 and 120dB, which means your average EDM concert is the equivalent of your iPod cranked to full volume.  The new 105dB cap seems a bit unrealistic when artists like Bassnectar and Datsik are performing at Red Rocks this year.  These are guys that are known for reinforcing stock soundsystems to make them as loud and clean as they possibly can, and quite honestly, it's part of their live show experience.  I can't help but wondering if building a sound barrier around the venue would appease everyone's interests here.  Muffling the sound as it's exiting the venue seems to make a bit more sense than turning the volume down on concertgoers, but what do I know?

(Your EDM)

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