Calling all DJ's!!! LAST Chance to police yourselves.?

[fritz]

I quote Jonah from his tribe.net post here: "the individuals who intend on DJing should be treated similarly to those who intend on spinning fire in the conclave: Attending a session to get all the rules and regulations straight. Perhaps after the meeting, a little badge could be given (similar to volunteer assignment badges) to vouch that the DJ attended the session and clearly understands/ is accountable for..."
ENFORCEMENT of the Sound Policy [TBD].

I add this in a much light-hearted spirit of teamwork than my previous smarm session on the first thread.

I regret but agree with the idea of yet another 'LAMINATE' to hang on people's necks. So far we have:
- Rangers (Yes, even non-confrontational non-cops need stinking Badges!)
- Moop Team (so others won't mistake MOOPers for thieves or scavengers?)
- Participation Station (Many hang out there; it's hard to know who's doing what.)
- Gate (Duh...you don't want to turn your precious barcode over to a scalper!)
- DPW (??? Maybe these should be MAILED out to the Early Arrivals Listees?)
- Sound Patrol ("I have a dB meter and a walkie-talkie and I'm not afraid to use 'em!")
- SOUND EXPERT (I'm the one in this camp that the Sound Patrol is going to dump on, so just turn it down BEFORE they show up!)

It doesn't matter to me if the badge reads "Sound Patrol" or "Sound Mind" but the idea behind "SOUND EXPERT" is to remind violators of BOTH the training that might be done by the PDF Staff AND the actual knowledge of the sound gear that most DJ's already possess. After midnight, if somebody is DJ'ing music in their camp, he/she should wear a 'laminate' issued by the Theme Camp Leader, or somebody with the training and the 'badge' should be nearby the DJ booth.
WHY? - The concept behind "BANNING A THEME CAMP" for violation of a sound policy is ridiculous. Think about it?!? New name next time, and a new leader filling out the questionnaire. But the same people, the same sound system and the same ignorance can still buy tickets and cause the same noise complaints every event...at least until their individual participation starts to become obvious. And what happens then? The INDIVIDUALS are asked not to return, for the good of the community. Currently, some great Theme Camp Leaders have to take the heat for a vague sound policy with little to no expertise, or a consistent enforcement method. It sucks to be them!

Inevitably this is VOLUNTARY compliance: it only takes a few seconds of loud noise after midnight to generate a complaint. I admit to being guilty in the past of firing up the balloon burner; I never received any complaints then, but it could easily cause some, so generally I lock it away for the night. Even if a relatively quiet drum circle, or a little group cheering on a pole-dancer at 3AM, is not generating any complaints, it still doesn't mean that the camp next to them feels they need to overcome that sound by amping up their bass, "just for a minute or two while so-and-so is fire-spinning? Then we'll turn it back down." The overall BIG result of SOUND should be examined by AT LEAST ONE SOUND EXPERT in EVERY CAMP. (Just some voluntary delegate that was formally trained in PDF's Sound Policy, but not necessarily holding a dB meter OR a radio?) It's my opinion that people with the same training speak the same language, and therefore they communicate better, faster and wiser...and in this case, quieter also?

I would add that perhaps every Leader who sends in a Theme Camp Questionnaire should sign and 'check-the-box' that they "have read the Sound Policy and will either attend the PDF Sound Policy Training Session[TBD?]."

Every Theme Camp Leader would be answerable for this SOUND EXPERTISE, or have a member in their camp that they have appointed to attend the training and 'wear the badge' while the TCL is, uh, sleeping, for instance?

Why is this good? Because it would be best if there IS a noise complaint, that the Sound-Patroller that is dispatched to handle the complaint can find and speak directly to the SOUND person in that camp who is pre-designated as being responsible for knowing how to operate their camp's soundboard, speakers, amplifier(s), and generator.

In my few instances this past event trying to 'enforce' the Sound Policy, I was given unintentional run-arounds. Truly, I think it was unintentional...the DJ's knew how to work the soundboard, but not how to isolate the subwoofer and/or the systems' outermost speakers. The person who knew how to do that was not around, but somebody did volunteer "to go get him" and he showed up ten minutes later. Overall, it did take longer than anybody wanted to get the bass level turned down, and I didn't have any specific training or authority other than as a "newbie" Ranger responding to a noise complaint. Initially the complaint(s) came to me via the Ranger/Gate radios, and then escalated to an actual person-to-person request for a 'bigger, better' sound turn-down result. The noise level went down for awhile, but as often happens, it crept up as time went by. Part of this was just carelessness; part of it was just the result of 'tuning' by the DJ. That's where COMPREHENSIVE SOUND SYSTEM CHECK-OUT would be helpful to the DJ's; and this technical task can really only be done effectively by the Sound Systems' owners, designers and users IN COOPERATION WITH the Sound Policy ENFORCERS.

Gee, I think I got thru this long-ass post without using the F word? So in honor of that, I will finish with saying
<<<<FUCKIN' AWESOME KUDOS to Thibeaux for his concise and honest summary of Sound Patrol Fall 09.>>>
I think he did a great job of setting up more groundwork for this problem than anybody has in the past, so I don't think he needs to be too apologetic for taking on such a thankless task. Seriously, thank you T.L. for getting the ball rolling. I know I would not have volunteered, and still won't, for being the Sound Patrol Lead. Hazardous job, no pay, lousy hours! A job only an ambitious up-and-coming DJ could love. Hence this set of suggestions.
Peace (and quiet?),
-fr!tz

[Joanna]

I think this is a pretty good plan. Is there someone who wants to step up to actually run it?

Also, as stupidly simple as it is, here's something that I think might help, since one of the biggest issues is word about acceptable volume level not getting passed on between DJs: Hand out little laminated signs with info about the turn down policy to each sound camp to affix to their DJ equipment.

We can also encourage the responsible sound person for each camp to mark the equipment with what the ideal turn down settings should be to meet our requirements.

[karnak]

I normally do the 2-5 am ranger shift so this sounds right up my alley


I'll make sure that I attend the next planning meeting to find out more details

DAVE