Music festivals could be affected by potential changes to Calgary noise bylaws

The city of Calgary received 47 noise complaints during this year’s two-day Chasing Summer festival at the Max Bell arena.

While area residents complained the music festival was too loud, it was actually in compliance with Calgary’s current noise bylaws.

The Chasing Summer festival features electronic dance music (EDM), which has a lot of bass, and that kind of low frequency is currently not covered under the city’s bylaws.

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Calgary’s noise measurements are based on standard, ambient sound using what is known as the A-rated scale. That covers talking, speaking, or typical noise found in the downtown or residential neighbourhoods.

Bass is measured through the C-rated scale, which covers all low-frequency sound like concert-related noise and large equipment-related noise.

This summer Calgary bylaw officers have been working with a sound engineering firm to try to determine a quantitative C-rated scale in order to decrease complaints from citizens during special events.

The results will be presented to city council for review.