Oh Silent Night and Summer Noise

On Monday we were running in the rain, and getting soaked and two women were discussing Caribana, Paléo, Festineuch and more. During another hike people were speaking about Montreux, and during a book discussion someone said “I don’t think I can be at the next book discussion because of a concert.

Now, on the flipside you have groups that wake up to run at 6am on a Friday and normal society says “But that’s too early” because normal society considers that going out at night until 2am, or watching TV until late is a good use of an evening.

There are plenty of times when I did not disagree with them. There are, however, times, when society breaks down when people who stay up late make it impossible for people who want to wake early, to sleep. When I worked as a deicer I was breathalised three or four times, and I suspect that exhaustion encouraged that. Sleep deprivation is as bad, or worse, than alcohol, and yet it can’t be detected by a breathaliser.

Next week, from Wednesday to Sunday 3am it will be impossible for me to sleep in my home because the sound engineers, who got their diplomas in Corn Flakes packets, are going to saturate the air with noise pollution from 1800-0300am every night.

When I complained they said “Oh we’re so sorry”, and didn’t change a thing.

Now, for context, I could just spent the next four nights at the cinema in an imax theatre watching whatever is on. I bring up the Imax as an escape solution for a clear reason. Sound design.

Imax theatres have huge sound, but used so intelligently that you can nestle an Imax theatre next door to other film theatres in a multiplex without any sound bleeding between rooms.

This means that the technology exists, to provide festival goers with huge sound, without flooding the countryside with noise pollution. The irony is that music festivals do employ sound engineers, to ensure that the sound gets to every speaker stack at the right moment, to avoid echoes and other problems. In light of this Caribana could design their sound to remain within the festival grounds, without it being deafening in neighbouring villages.

Plenty of people feel the same way as I do about the noise pollution from Paléo but they flee, and disguise their distaste with illusion. With Caribana, last year, I fled, and I plan to do the same this year, but I am curious to see how bad it is, and whether they have the same incompetent person dealing with sound, or whether they have found an environmentalist sound engineer.

An environmentalist sound engineer should be an essential and key individual at every open air music festival. His role is to be sensitive to how noise pollution affects local plants, insects, and wildlife as well as local inhabitants.

You might think I’m being absurd but it’s worth remembering that plenty of events, after 2200 at night go into silent disco mode, and music festivals should either do the same, or design their sound so that it is contained like the sound from an imax theatre.

You might think “oh but Caribana is just four nights, who cares?” and the answer is “I do, because losing one night of sleep can ruin a day or more. Losing three or four nights of sleep requires a week or two to recover. It also impacts group runs at 6am, and evening group rides, and more.

The thing is, about Caribana, and Paléo and other music festivals, is that sound equipment today is industrially loud, rather than artisanally loud. What do I mean by this? I mean that modern music festivals make as much noise as jets taking off. People think “oh but you’re just cruel, and you don’t want people to have fun”. I worked as a deicer and a luggage handler so I worked at the airport. I use the same hearing protection in light clubs and sometimes music festivals not to go deaf.

Silver Lining

If you are from that group of people that like to wake early, rather than stay up late, then you can cycle, run and hike when places are quiet. “The world belongs to those that wake early.” If you wake early enough, you can entirely avoid the traffic jams that are connected to the two festivals. If you’re even luckier you can flee the region entirely. The amount of money you save on concert tickets and drinks isn’t to be ignored either.

When I went to such events it was a volunteer or camera operator. I have never paid for Paléo, and I don’t remember for Caribana. I’d rather volunteer and get in for free.

Less than a week before I feel the burning desire to flee.