Are you about to book a venue for your wedding? If yes, and you want live music, it is essential that you find out whether or not they have a noise limiter (also known as a sound limiter) before booking.

Have you already booked your venue and been told that they have a sound limiter? If so, read on to find out more about how to deal with it to get the most out of live music at your wedding. You’re also very welcome to get in touch to find out if we have any experience at that venue.

Our key message

Based on 18 years of experience of running live music at events with a noise limiter, our advice is:

1. If you really care about having live music at your wedding, try to book a venue that doesn’t have a noise limiter.

2. If you do go for a venue with a noise limiter, book a band with experience of working with them. In the case of Mike Paul-Smith Music’s bands, we have experience of working with just about every type of noise limiter – but, we do insist that you add a dedicated sound engineer to the band line-up, who can focus on noise levels and can act quickly in case anything goes wrong.

I hope this article will be helpful to anyone booking a wedding band – whether through Mike Paul-Smith Music or elsewhere.

How are volume levels regulated by venues?

I need to make it absolutely clear at the outset that I’m not writing this to criticise venues (many of whom have been forced to install a sound limiter against their wishes) – my only intention in writing this is to make sure that clients are fully informed and can make the most out of their investment when booking live music at a venue with a noise limiter. Most people only book a live band once in their lives (when they get married) and it’s therefore unlikely that they will be experts in the various ways that volume levels are managed by different venues.

I’ve had difficult conversations with venues in recent years about noise limiters and I really do understand and acknowledge that many are in a difficult position – but that being said, it is your wedding and you need to know what you’re dealing with if there is a noise limiter in place. 

As licensing rules get tighter, and more wedding venues open, venues are increasingly being asked to monitor noise levels. Volume levels can be monitored and regulated in a few ways:

1. At some venues, a member of staff is asked to walk around with a hand-held sound monitoring device known as a decibel meter, measuring the noise level at the property boundary and asking the musicians to play more quietly if the volume goes over a certain level. Most bands can work with this sort of system without any problem, because it has the human touch and allows the venue and the musicians to work together.

2. At other venues, a fixed device called a sound limiter is installed which cuts off the electric power to a band above a pre-defined noise limit. Many venues have been forced to install these as a condition of their licence – perhaps because nearby residents have complained about noise levels.

3. Alternatively, some venues have installed their own PA systems which tightly control the level of the sound (one example could be installing speakers in the ceiling which directs all the sound to the dancefloor but not to their neighbours). Some of these systems are amazing, and some are simply terrible – read on to find out more about them!

What are sound limiters?

As mentioned in point 2 above, a sound limiter is an electronic device that cuts the electric power to a band (or DJ) when the volume detected by the sensor exceeds a certain limit. 

Most limiters have a graphic light display which allows the musicians to see how close they are getting to the limit – and if they exceed it for a certain amount of time it cuts the sound to the band (and also turns off their stage lighting, plunging your party into a sudden, silent darkness). 

When this happens someone – either a band member, or a member of venue staff – needs to reset the limiter, which takes about 30 seconds. 

At this stage, you might realise one of the ironies of a noise limiter – which is that non-electric instruments can keep playing, and making noise. So the drummer and horn players can keep making noise (and they might have been the loudest to start with!) whilst keyboardists, guitarists and vocalists can do nothing but look horrified and hope that the electric surge hasn’t damaged their precious equipment. 

And another irony is that there is another “acoustic” instrument in the room – the audience. Several times I have witnessed audience applause on its own trip a noise limiter, at a moment when absolutely no instruments were making any noise. 

Perhaps you’re beginning to see why noise limiters are a nuisance, so here are my top tips for dealing with them.

Tip 1: check if a venue has a noise limiter before you book

I promise I’m not here to criticise wedding venues, many whom I love working with on a regular basis, but I have to say that I’ve heard so many stories about venues who have failed to disclose that they have a noise limiter until a few weeks before the wedding. 

Obviously this is totally unethical – so please carefully check whether or not your venue has a noise limiter when you book. If you want live music at your wedding, please specifically ask your venue if there will be a noise limiter active at your event and get it in writing from them.

Tip 2: if your venue has a limiter, check what decibel (dB) level it is set to

If you do have a noise limiter at your venue, it’s critical that your band know what level it is set to. 

Here is a very rough guide to noise levels – with the disclaimer that everything depends on whether or not the noise limiter has been installed properly, and where the sensor (the microphone which detects the noise level) is positioned in relation to the musicians.