09. November 2020

Since 1994 the Poolbar Festival, held in the quaint medieval town of Feldkirch, has been a regular event in the Austrian concert scene. With an average of 20,000 visitors it is one of the biggest festivals in Western Austria. This stage for international and local artists delivers a high standard of musicianship and a diverse program. The event is further characterized by the venue being a converted swimming pool, with the audience located partially in the pool itself (minus the water). With the corona pandemic, the acoustic professionals were also put to the test this year. Thanks to NTi Audio's comprehensive measurement system, however, these new circumstances could be elegantly accommodated.

This year the corona pandemic presented the Poolbar Festival organizers with new challenges. In addition to a corona-event concept developed to reduce the likelihood of transmission of the virus, new solutions and additional measures in the area of sound reinforcement were needed.

Poolbar Festival 2020

For example, all events took place in an open-air setting outside of the actual venue, which meant that particular attention had to be paid to the impact on neighborhood noise. The festival ran for 30 days, and required strict adherence to the official regulations on noise immission. This meant that continuous level monitoring had to be installed.

For the purpose of level monitoring during the festival, NTi Audio provided two XL2 Sound Level Meters including measurement microphones.

XL2 Sound Level Meter at FOH desk

In the run-up to the events, the sound technicians determined correction values for the XL2 at noise-critical positions in the vicinity of the festival area, which allowed the FOH position to constantly keep the levels at these points under control. For the festival, the FOH limit was defined as 91 dB LAeq with the option to correct downwards during the actual events if necessary.

Monitoring the levels with the XL2 ensured compliance to the law. At the same time, average levels for the critical positions, determined via the correction values, were visible.

In fact, during the course of the festival, an average level (LAeq 1 min) of between 80 and 85 dB was maintained during live performances. These neighbor-friendly levels minimized the number of noise complaints.

The daily measurement reports generated with the XL2 were provided to the police and authorities for inspection via a cloud upload immediately after the event. In addition, the audio recording function of the XL2 allowed, in case of a dispute, to acoustically check which events had generated too-high a level. Thanks to all these functions and the extremely simple and user-friendly handling, the XL2 always excels.

Picture credit: Eva Sutter and Matthias Rhomberg