[Rfu-station] Re: The Loudness of Speakers

[Andrew Ó Baoill]

First, I'm happy to hear that we have a new tenant for the space, and  
welcome Bette to the building. I look forward to getting to meet you,  
and am always available at andrew at funferal.org or at 217-766-1480 if  
you have any questions or comments.

WRFU already has plans to build an insulating structure between our  
studio and the adjoining office. We're hoping to accomplish it in the  
coming weeks - obviously volunteer availability is a constraining  
factor here, but it's something we've been working on over the past  
while and hope to have completed shortly.

For a number of reasons I don't believe that a total ban on speaker  
use is useful or productive, but we will discuss this and other  
possibilities at the next WRFU meeting. (We already have a general  
policy of encouraging producers to keep speaker volumes at reasonable  
levels during office hours, which shouldn't cause interference to  
neighbors, and which has been generally effective.) The meetings are,  
of course, open to the public, so if Chris, Bette or others want to  
attend to be part of this conversation they will be welcome. I'm  
copying this mail to the RFU lists, so that our members have sight of  
the agenda item in advance of our meeting this coming Tuesday.

Andrew

On Jan 30, 2009, at 2:44 PM, Christopher Evans wrote:

> RFU and Finance folks,
>
> The IMC has rented the "Silkwood office" next to the WRFU radio  
> studio. The configuruation of the building is such that the unused  
> door to the immediate left as you come into the RFU studio is a  
> shared door with that office. When the speakers in the studio (not  
> the front lobby speakers) are turned up to above 1 and a half on the  
> in-studio speaker knob, the sound of the radio station is a clear  
> presence in the adjoining office behind that door.
>
> Our new tennant runs a tax and estate planning business. Her name is  
> Bette Wagner and she will be setting up shop within the week.
> Her business requires her to be able to have confidential in-person  
> meetings, audible phone conversations, and the quiet needed to  
> process documents and engage in serious reading and calculating.  
> Obviously, our wonderful community radio station will be a hindrance  
> to her if our DJ's are playing the studio speakers during her work  
> hours.
>
> To address this problem, I offer some solutions that I would like to  
> discuss as agenda items at the next RFU station meeting:
> 1) the possibility of a rule being created that during normal  
> business hours (like 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Mon-Fri), day time DJ's  
> must use headphones if they need to enjoy their music.
> 2) a possible building of an insulated wall or some sort of sound  
> buffering on that door from inside the studio to stifle the sound  
> from traveling into her office.
>
> These are proposals, and necessary ones to enable an office-type  
> business to use the adjoining space.
> I realize, time and materials will be required to solve this problem  
> permanently.
>
> Since that proposal may be a few weeks away from a concrete plan,  
> the fastest solution in the interim is a policy to keep the studio  
> speakers off while Ms. Wagner is conducting business in her office.
>
> After Ms. Wagner is moved in, whether a policy has been developed or  
> not by then, I will be approaching DJ's personally during their  
> daytime shows to explain the situation and ask they not use the  
> studio speakers. I assume DJ's can monitor their music through the  
> CD timer and headphones. Without putting a damper on DJ's  
> celebrating their music, the IMC must impose a happy solution of  
> some kind for all our tennants- including Radio Free Urbana of  
> course. I also assume that talk radio shows won't be a problem since  
> the studio speakers are not on when DJ's are on the mic.
>
> It should be said, that if the front lobby speakers are kept at  
> volume level 14, there is no hindrance for Ms. Wagner. The front  
> lobby speakers should be kept on at all times, my opinion.
>
> I suggest an invitation be sent to Ms. Wagner to attend the next RFU  
> meeting, and I plan to be at the next RFU meeting to address this  
> problem.
> Some of you have been sent this email because you have expertise in  
> stifling amplified sound. If you don't have time to get involved, I  
> send this anyway so that you might make suggestions as to how we can  
> baffle the sound or acquire extra headphones.
>
> Chris- The Building Guy
>
>
>
> Windows Live™: E-mail. Chat. Share. Get more ways to connect. Check  
> it out.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/rfu-station/attachments/20090131/4c7278c8/attachment.htm