Riverfront Park and Ascend Amphitheater. Photo: Metro Photographic Services.
Metro Nashville Parks and Live Nation have instituted new sound mitigation measures for Ascend Amphitheatre in downtown Nashville. The new terms affect soundchecks, decibel levels, and the starting and ending times of events.
The policy will be enforced for the 2016 season and thereafter. The changes come after complaints of noise levels from downtown residents.
Opened in 2015, the venue is part of downtown’s Riverfront Park and owned by the City of Nashville. Live Nation was awarded a long-term contract to manage, market, operate and program the venue.
Metro Nashville Parks will be responsible for the monitoring equipment at Ascend. Although Live Nation already does their own in-house monitoring, the Parks department plans to add a system to help monitor the agreement.
Tommy Lynch, Parks Director, has stated, “Both Metro Parks and Live Nation are sensitive to the concerns that have been expressed. Live Nation is voluntarily working with us on noise levels and sound check times. They had a fairly intense schedule this fall, which probably added to the complaints. Overall, it appears that Live Nation really knocked it out the first season at Ascend. It was well received by the people attending the concerts, those performing at the concerts, and we are thoroughly pleased with how it went.”
Metro Nashville Parks submitted the proposal document to MusicRow. It reads as follows:
• Monday through Friday there will be no line check/sound check prior to 3 p.m.
• No Concert Event shall start before 9:00 a.m. nor end after 11:00 p.m. on any day of the week; provided, however, that if a Concert Event is delayed or disrupted by Force Majeure or artist delay, then the end time may be extended to midnight but under no circumstances shall any Concert Event end later than midnight. Live Nation shall use good faith commercially feasible efforts to mitigate and minimize any such delays. This limitation shall not apply to “after-concert parties” and/or similar nonpublic, indoor gatherings following Concert Events, so long as such events do not involve external sound amplification, and are not audible outside the Amphitheater.
• During any Concert Event the overall spectrum of the dB level as measured at the furthest point of the property line of the Park from the edge of the stage (which point is at least 415 feet in distance) shall not exceed an overall spectrum of 98dB for any five consecutive minute period.
• The decibel level shall not exceed 102 (A-weighted) at the sound mixer before, during or after the performance. Sound monitoring devices will measure levels on a continual basis for all shows.
