7 October 2007

Noise from the Mawson Club

| sporran
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I live in a flat near the Mawson Club. Tonight, as has been the case for months, the music coming from the club was stupidly loud, and got progressively louder as the night went on. Some nights it’s a faint rumble in the background which is fine, but other nights it’s so loud the bass can almost be felt as well as heard and absolutely nothing blocks it out.

This has been going on every weekend for months. Complaints to the club are pretty much dismissed with the equivalent of “you must be imagining it”. In fact, since complaining directly to the club, it has gotten worse. Originally, it was only really loud when they had a band on, and the volume would drop considerably around 11:30-11:45pm. Now, it’s almost every Friday and Saturday night, whether there’s a band or just recorded music. It kicks off between 9-10pm and generally continues (with the odd “break”) until 12:30am….sometimes longer.

Ring on the night and you just get laughed at. Likewise, complaints to the police are pointless as they apparently don’t have the power to do anything except visit them and tell them to turn it down (which would explain the “breaks”). Complaints to the EPA result in a warning letter and a visit, but after that you have to call an EPA officer out to take a reading and for some reason they want to come to my flat rather than do it at the lease boundary. Two attempts to call them out resulted in them arriving during a “break”, so there was nothing to measure.

I find it really hard to believe that the volume they are putting out after 10pm doesn’t exceed 45dB, which from my understanding of the noise standards is the level which applies to their zone after 10pm. However they are adamant it has been checked and okayed by the EPA. Mind you, they are also adamant that things have always been this way, which is a crock (they haven’t always had a bloody subwoofer installed).

It seems as if, when a venue (or rather its staff) are determined to do whatever they damn well like, there’s not much anyone can do about it. I’m pretty pissed off but I feel like I’ve run out of options.

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hahaha ! Gotto laugh !

Or even worse, Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love Yoooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”!

I feel bad for you having to put up with sh1tty Robbie Williams tribute acts and mediocre cover bands, that’s all Mawson club ever has.

What a rubbish club..

VYBerlinaV8...the_original_and_best9:35 am 09 Oct 07

Can you feel the love?

Better yet, replace the fuse with your finger.

Felix the Cat8:50 pm 08 Oct 07

Find the fusebox for the club and pull the plug….

el ......VNBerlinaV86:41 pm 08 Oct 07

This one would probably be just as appropriate Barney:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimby

Probably should. Given the amount of “ANALLY RETENTIVE” heaps of sheep-dung crawling about.

I might go see if I can get Canberra added to this Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anal_retentive

To all those bitching about Canberra having no live acts/no nightlife/too much red tape, you can always MOVE.

el ......VNBerlinaV85:47 pm 08 Oct 07

Move to one of the inner north suburbs like Hackett or Watson and you can be amongst heaps of other NIMBYs complaining about noise related crap.

Good luck with the dB meter, jackass!

I initially said in response to this post “you can move”. Having thought about it again, and having read the subsequent posts, I still feel the same way.

I don’t wanna come across all nastily about this, but you live in the Mawson town-centre area. It’s just tough sh1t.

I think there is FAR TOO MUCH RED-TAPE in Canberra already…………………

Ring-up John Stanhope on Chief Ministers talk-back on alternate Fridays ABC radio.

Get a db meter and with the windows closed video tape the readings when the doff doff plays.

Top yourself.

@ JR
Ask bonfire at your next LR meeting.

just move to a house in a paddock in the middle of a bird free animal free forest.

Are you referring to Tasmania? 😉

No, that would also be tree free :o)

Absent Diane3:21 pm 08 Oct 07

What good gigs have they had there that must be retained?

not the point. The point is that people succesfully whining sets a precedent for other whingers out there.

v_man_returns3:15 pm 08 Oct 07

What good gigs have they had there that must be retained?

How can you be all out of options with unbroken windows and all those stones outside ?

As others have said…get over it, or move. It’s people like you that have been slowly destroying the live music industry for some years now…& are the reason why there’s plenty of lobbying for “existing rights” legislation. The music venue was there before you were, you had a choice to move in close to it or not. Don’t like it? MOVE AWAY FROM IT & SHUTUP. No sympathy from me I’m afraid.

riot-act, the site of sympathy caring and love…

nice to know you can post here and get a warm response with hugs and insight…

anyway sporran, ya oughta ring up with middle eastern accent, declare a jihad on their loud arses and watch the place erupt. mebbe hire one of those 2am jumbos arriving soon… you ‘can’ fly a plane, of course..?

‘course, if you rang they wouldn’t hear the phone, what with all that noise…

James-T-Kirk12:28 pm 08 Oct 07

Hmmm,

do you ride a recumbent pushbike???

Jonathon Reynolds12:27 pm 08 Oct 07

@bonfire

just move to a house in a paddock in the middle of a bird free animal free forest.

Are you referring to Tasmania? 😉

whinger.

just move to a house in a paddock in the middle of a bird free animal free forest.

plenty of silence.

Sepi, they’ve probably spent all their money ‘beautifying’ the outdoor areas to keep the smokers happy, so soundproofing probably isn’t an option.

Just wait until the first moron starts trying to sue clubs/pubs for hearing damage, then they’ll do something about it. I wonder if anyone has come up with passive deafness yet???

Also the Mawson Club is virtually surrounded by flats, so this must affect hunreds (thousands?) of people.

and surely they can afford a bit of sound proofing to try to come to the party a bit.

v_man_returns10:49 am 08 Oct 07

It’s not like Mawson club gets any good live acts though. If he was trying to mess with a venue that played good local or national acts I’d probably add my two cents but Mawson either get cover bands or some ridiculous tribute bands. The place is mutton dressed as lamb. It won’t play any sport on the telly – trying to keep up with a classy image and prevent sport-loving males from coming in and getting drunk – yet the last four times I’ve been there there’s been massive fights. Now people are lining up for hours just to get in – highlighting how fickle Canberrans can be. I’ve got beef with the place.

Absent Diane10:34 am 08 Oct 07

it is amazing how many people want to kill the vibe of an already dead city.

The EPA will come to your property.. because that’s where YOU, the complainant, are affected. They will then proceed to measure the noise level from inside your premises with the doors and windows closed. This shows that you are taking reasonable measures to keep the sound out. It’s not a reading taken from the lease boundary.

If the EPA find that the noise isn’t exceeding the determined levels then there isn’t much you can do..

That hasn’t stopped the Waldorf trying to do something about Toast though.

That said, the acceptable noise levels in this city are far too low to be reasonable. I’ve been on a wander through Civic on a Friday night with a dB reader, and the noise of people talking in the street instantly exceeds the noise limit.

I feel for those with noise issues too.
It drives you round the twist.

I would keep on with the EPA process – surely once they actually get a reading something will have to be done – or are they a totally toothless tiger?

hingo_VRCalaisV69:58 am 08 Oct 07

LOL @ Absent Diane

AD, perhaps one of those fart masks from the jackass boys?

Absent Diane9:33 am 08 Oct 07

my housemates bodily functions exceed 45db regularly – we hear them from our room. I think my only option is to kill him – but I am not sure how well he will cope with death.

** Disclaimer **
Building a bridge will entail a lot of noise

Sure, there is stuff all sporran can do about it – but ffs, it’s a legit complaint – not a whinge.

The reality, however, is that the only probable solution is to put up with it or move.

Seems lots of people here think noise is OK! Which is just as well. Those 2am jumbos coming in from Singapore are coming soon. enjoy. don’t be “whingers” now.

Well, this IS Canberra, Shauno… Maybe that’s what Sporran needs!

I stayed in a hotel in Amsterdam once on the 6th floor loft right adjacent from a church bell tower that rang on the hour every hour. Now that was annoying. Mind you I was able to enjoy some of the local medicinal herbs that made the experience more pleasant.

It could be worse.

You could live near Mooseheads?

Look on the brights side. The noise from the Mawson Club might drown out the aircraft noise that will surely be distributed over Canberra when the residents of the Tralee proposal start complaining. Mawson residents may be among the first not be affected!!

Constant disturbing noise in your own house is incredibly upsetting. Bass noise especially knows no boundaries, it radiates in all directions. Other peoples’ noise is never nice… sure we all like loud rock sometimes, but we get to choose what, and where. Having it projected at you all the time is just miserable (as the owners of Gitmo know).

You might like to try getting other local residents interested. Just a few, and you’ll have something to go back to the authorities with. Amazing how a few more people can elevate the problem. Not that you should have to, but noise seems to be something governments don’t want to address.

If you own the place get double glazed windows and thick hotel style curtains. If you rent just move and its easily fixed.

Grab some Bose 3 noise canceling head phones although not ideal for this type of noise as they can block out a lot of the noise around you to an extent but make some types of noise more noticeable due to the fact its so quiet.

Where I come from, 1 molotov cocktail through window = 2 weeks restful peace while interior refurbishment is carried out.

-Worth it.

l2 wear earplugs. imo kleenex moment ?

Hey Jonathon Reynolds, ever heard of “tl;dr”?

All your posts fall under this category. If you don’t know what I’m talking about look it up.

As for the OP – get some earplugs or move out, either way, stop whinging, nobody cares.

I had the same problem a while back and I saved myself muchos aggro by buying a bagful of those earplugs that you squeeze and they fill up the ear canal. Aaaaah bliss, couldn’t hear anything from outside te unit, and yet they allowed me to hear important indoor noises such as the alarm clock and if needed the smoke detector. I realise that ear plugs won’t solve the cause of the problem but they will stop the effect, and it might be an easier road than trying to deal with a local club.

Rename it the Mawson Dragway and Hopeless will close it the next day.

green_frogs_go_pop1:39 pm 07 Oct 07

well, i can see where sporran’s coming from, i work in mawson myself, and at 10pm or so last night, i stepped outside to go home, anyway, i could hear the mawson club from like woolies/the garden shop/tab/shops around that area. and it was heap loud!

el ......VNBerlinaV81:09 pm 07 Oct 07

I hope the whingers enjoy the months and months of construction noise then 🙂

Jonathon Reynolds1:03 pm 07 Oct 07

@el ……VNBerlinaV8

As I was saying about pedantism… how do you know something is more than a particular sound level without being able to substantiate it. Stating that something is louder than 45dB is going to be about as accurate at me chucking a call and getting you to accurately estimate its speed.

@Growling Ferret

Unfortunately I have to agree with your sentiment to a certain degree.

There was a similar problem around Gold Creek Homestead here in Ngunnawal (Gungahlin) a number of years ago. It was here first (established in the 1860s) and residential housing came later (1990’s). It was being used for weddings and other functions (predominately on weekends) until the residents in the newly built homes around the property complained about the “excessive” noise levels. Net result: the functions ceased, compensation for paid to the homestead leaseholders, the property allowed to decay and run down to a state of almost total disrepair, now there are new proposals to rezone the site for redevelopment (DV 278) http://apps.actpla.act.gov.au/tplan/variatio/dv287/recomfinal%20v287.pdf I would almost put money on, that the same people who complained about the “noise” will be the first people to complain that they now have a development over their back fence.

Actually DV 287 looks like a good outcome providing the following is actually realised:

The indicative concept plan in the Planning Study for the site provides for a fully integrated aged care and community facility. The fundamental landscape and heritage qualities of the site are retained and enhanced and residential aged care and supportive housing units are provided on the western part of the site. The indicative concept plan provides for the Homestead and parts of its curtilage are restored to create a community meeting place that is suitable for art exhibitions, open days and the like. Opportunities exist to construct additional buildings in a vernacular style to accommodate community arts and craft spaces that would be managed as an adjunct to the aged care facility while also allowing for broader community involvement.

It is intended that the indicative concept plan will form the basis of lease and development conditions, which will inform the release of the site for development following the variation to the Territory Plan. Any separate aged care dwellings will be part of a managed complex and will not be individually leased.

el ......VNBerlinaV812:47 pm 07 Oct 07

Oh, and JR – investing in a dB meter and ‘proving’ the allegation won’t help in the slightest, as it’d be ridiculously easy to force the desired result.

Must be people like you who tried to shut down Toast.

All I can do is echo the sentiments of these guys. Move, and be prepared to pay a larger amount of rent for the privilege of a quiet night.

el ......VNBerlinaV812:44 pm 07 Oct 07

However they are adamant it has been checked and okayed by the EPA

Looks like you *have* run out of options. Well, there is one final option:

Stop whinging.

If its too loud – your too old.

You can always move.

Growling Ferret10:12 am 07 Oct 07

You live next to a live music venue.

It was there first – the Ambassador Hotel was on the site for 30 years before it became the Raiders and now the Mawson Club.

Get over it whinger

Jonathon Reynolds9:29 am 07 Oct 07

Have you checked the Environment Protection Regulation 2005?
http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/sl/2005-38/current/pdf/2005-38.pdf

My reading is as follows:

37 – Compliance point—exception for leased land with boundary with different noise zone

If the noise is emitted from leased land with a boundary that is also a noise zone boundary, and the adjoining noise zone has a different noise standard, the compliance point is any point as near as practicable to the boundary with the noise zone with the lowest noise standard for the time when the noise is emitted.

Note Noise standard is defined in s 24 and detailed in sch 2.
Noise zone is defined in s 23 and detailed in sch 2.

Schedule 2 – Noise zones, noise standards and conditions

If you want to be pedantic invest in the following:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=QM1589&CATID=&keywords=sound+meter&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&priceMin=&priceMax=&SUBCATID=

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