So ok, I am not fully versed with this whole NZ noise control nazis thing, being a natural born Brit...
I am putting on shows and jsut wondering about this noise control bylaw.. so please correct me / help me out in terms of how it works..
from what I understand:
you make a loud noise
someone complains
NCOs come check it out
they think it IS too loud
they say turn it down, wont leave till you do
if they recieve a second complaint or you refuse to turn it down
they fine you 10,000 (max) take you equipment and charge you for taking it and storing it..
if you resist this they call the cops?
any way to get a dispensation or waiver on noise limits?
would be keen for advice, stories of NCNs...
cheers
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i think you get one call out and then ...
i think you get one call out and then they wait there (usually with a db meter) and wait till noise is acceptable. Sometimes you get someone who is cool who realises complainant is an old biddy.
On the second callout they can take away your PA etc... but as far as I'm awar they can't fine you on a second warning.
I have never had this happen to me...I don't know anybody who has had it happen. The one time i really had issues was when I put on Fur Patrol in the "dell" at the wellington botanical gardens. haha, I was only mean to have voluem the level of a ghetto blaster. haha...I was at one stage in a heated argument with 2 noise control officers and around half a dozen residents. I just kept talking shit until the band finished...haha.
my experience in dunedin at least was ...
my experience in dunedin at least was that someone complains and so they come and make you stop. they were no fancy db meters or anything like that. if you reoffended in 24 hours they would confiscate your gear. you would then have to pay to get it back, but only if they thought there was little chance of you reoffending. so basically they can keep your stuff if they want.
i think it is different in every town though.
As someone who can called the council ...
As someone who can called the council to get their noise control people to make a party at 3am STFU, I can state they are not Nazis. They didn't kill any Jews or oppress homosexuals. They just helped me get some sleep.
depends on situation, location etc. 65 ...
depends on situation, location etc. 65 db noise levels in central Auckland are ridiculous. Complaining bout noise levels in the central city is stupid and petty. Moving into the city in the first place and expecting it to be dead quiet is completely fucking deluded.
A party going till 3pm in suburbia, a little annoying but once in a while.... I can live with that. Every other night or even once a week? Yeah fair call.
My old flatmates live next door to a guy called William Shenton. William is the lunatic who knocked seven kinds of shit out of a plastic surgeon with a hammer a few years ago after he realized his nose job didn't make him any more popular. He burned down some trees on my former flatmates properties and wrote WOOF in huge fluoro paint on another neighbours house after their dog annoyed him (possibly for telling him to kill like the dog who talked to the son of sam murderer, it certainly wasn't through barking). The former flatmates get on the drums at all hours until crazy bill calls the noise control hen they put baffles on the drums and invite the noise control guy in. he takes a reading and goes back to make a report that the neighbour is a nut. They've always found him reasonable.
Random noise control story. When I was ...
Random noise control story. When I was 15 I played in a band with a guy by the name of Simon Burke. He is the son of Lisa from Lisa's Hummus, which has pretty much nothing to do with the story. We used to practice all weekend in a shed on their property, in those days down Rosier road, Glen Eden. I remember one day playing away when there was a very loud knock on the door. I opened the door and there was a very large red faced man standing there.
"What the fuck do you think this is, a fucking nightclub?" he asked in a loud voice "There is a baby trying to sleep next door"
I calmly responded "Then you'd better stop shouting, you might wake it" and closed the door on him.
We were never allowed to practice there again.
I'm all for practice rooms these days.
[ http://www.thekillingroom.com ]
Ah bless christchurch. Being told to ...
Ah bless christchurch. Being told to shut up at 7:30pm is bad times indeed. And also bless the fact that christchurch has no particular dB level that is too loud or time that noise is acceptable...its a bit shit when your band is going hard and the shitty old neighbours get the noise nazis round at 3pm...but then again, I get my own back by calling noise control everytime they mow the lawn and thus have had no compliants ever since
I remember getting noise control sent ...
I remember getting noise control sent out to us one Saturday evening at a mates place just having a few quiets.. it was probably 8pm and we were having an acoustic jam, no PA, amps or anything plugged in, and we were probably playing no longer than 20 minutes till they came and told us to stop. Theres some very sad people in the world.
[ http://www.myspace.com/miscreantmusic ]
We got noise control called to a party ...
We got noise control called to a party a couple weeks ago. The guy was actually really cool and we had a conversation with him.
I asked what the maximum db level was on the complainants property and he said their is none, it's simply up to his judgement.
I know that when Parachute was in Matamata it had to be below 65db's at the boundry line, but that was a resource consent thing I think.
Check here:
[ external link ]
Resource consent law replace dNoise ...
Resource consent law replace dNoise control law.. it is what the noise control officers now enforce.. stating certain DB levels or acceptable noise practices all measurable from the boundary of the nearest residence
They came to this party at my old house ...
They came to this party at my old house and the noise was very low (one stereo in one room with no windws ..big garden around house no directly bordering neibhours etc). The funny thing was that the noise control guy came with about 10 cops. As far as anyone there knew it was the first call out. I stood at the door as they walked up the path and said "can I help you" to which a big grumpy cop pushed me on my arse and said something like "don't give us any fuckin shit sunny". The whole scene became so ridiculous as they carried out the tiny tiny amp with this whole crew of cops looking MEAN and about three cocky lefty party goers to each cop given screeds of shit. I should have properly complained about the unprovoked shoving thing but who can be fucked.
I have had much much much louder parties where noise control have come over and been quite resonable...this time i think they thought we were pyschos.
I think it's down to your local ...
I think it's down to your local city/county council as to what the noise level threshold is... in some places they use a meter, but the last time I had a visit from noise control was as a student in Palmy, and there had been a law change at the time which meant that noise control could use their own discretion as to what constituted 'excessive noise'. There was a three-strikes rule before they could force entry/confiscate the source of the noise. I was so proud of my first noise control notice, I screenprinted it onto a tshirt and wore it all the time.
There was a couple of warehouse dance ...
There was a couple of warehouse dance parties (one i attended, one i helped organize) at the former phonic youth centre in lower hutt that got noise complaints from the residents up the hill on the other side of the hutt river (about 1500m away in a straight line, by our estimates). The PA was fairly measley, but a lot of the sound was escaping through a metal garage door. Even so i can't believe it was loud enough to affect peoples sleep at such a distance, we couldn't hear it that clearly from outside the building.
Also had noise control for an outdoor rave a friend put on in Newtown, but the location was probably asking for it. They've usually been pretty reasonable - normally you just turn it down for 1/2 an hour, then gradually let it creep back up.
The only times i ever get woken up (i live in inner suburbs of Wellington) is earthquakes, people with really loud exhausts (especially high pitched ones i.e motorbikes) and when they move houses on the back of trucks past my window -but thats ok, because its impressive to watch anyway..
Ya know some people freak out at the ...
Ya know some people freak out at the sound of fingernails on a board and some don’t. Some people’s ears suck in noise , for others noise is a magnet that pulls their ears where ever it is, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Most of the problems of noise today is the huge low end frequencies modern stereos can give out, especially when bouncing off other buildings. Many times the source seems a lot more innocent than the sound it delivers half way up the road. I’m kind of on both sides of the fence here, thrashed music loud in my teens, can’t sleep through it in my twenties..and I’ll call noise control if I need to , not because I want to , more than it’s absolutely impossible to sleep through these frequencies and when I can’t sleep, I go crazy . It’s not a question of tolerance for some people , it’s sanity.