AUDIO ENGINEERING

Overview

Ken Dibble Acoustics are an independent consultancy in noise control, acoustics and audio engineering. This page outlines the range of services available in connection with public address, sound reinforcement, & other installed or temporary audio systems, system components, and their application.

In summary, KDA are able to provide a complete electroacoustic design, specification, test & audit package for new and existing systems and products, or any element of that package as a separate service:-

Services Provided

New Systems Installations
The client's requirements are carefully assessed in context of the intended application, the acoustic and environmental conditions in which the system is to be used, the specific operational requirements and the appropriate British or European safety and engineering standards. The system is then designed and costed for approval by the client, tender specifications prepared and bids vetted, the installation phase is supervised and the system commissioned and handed over.

Experience to date includes hotels and nightclubs, theatres, concert venues, sports stadia and leisure facilities, legislatures and conference centers, corporate HQ buildings and office complexes, industrial and power generation sites, ocean-going vessels, outdoor concert sites, festivals etc.

System Audit Services
Many system providers do not have the expertise or the instrumentation resources necessary to show compliance with the system specification at the time of commissioning. KDA are able to provide an independent 3rd party audit and compliance statement in such situations.

Contractual Disputes
Many installations unfortunately fail to meet the performance expectations of the client. This is because many contractors, specifiers and consultants fail to appreciate the complex interplay between audio electronics, acoustics and electrical engineering necessary for a successful installation. KDA are able to provide an independent performance audit and engineering appraisal of the system and the contractual chain to identify causation and liability. For example:-

A design-build contractor may have failed to address the complex issues discussed above and simply be in need of help.
An installer may have carried out a first class execution of the system as specified only to find that the specification itself was inadequate or incapable of being complied with.
A contractor may have failed to meet an adequate specification due to overethusiastic "cost engineering".
Individual system components may have failed to meet the manufacturer's specifications on which the system design was based.

Many such situations unfortunately end up in the Courts. KDA are able to provide the necessary technical evidence for either arbitration or as actual Courtroom testimony.

Audio Component Appraisal
KDA have the technical resources to provide an independent performance appraisal of individual sound system components including mixing desks, dynamics processors and equalisers, routing devices and loudspeaker component drivers and systems. This service is available to equipment manufacturers, system specifiers and contractors, trading standards departments or as an adjunct to our contractual dispute service.

This service is backed up by the reputation and experience of the Practice Principal as a long established technical reviewer of such equipment for the specialist audio industry press.

Compliance with the 1989 Noise at Work Regulations
Modern day audio systems generate high sound pressure levels often well in excess of the regulatory requirements.

KDA have considerable experience in the design and adaption of audio systems and in devising additional acoustic measures - often using computer modelling and prediction techniques and in collaboration with the venue architects or design house - so as to ensure that staff will not be exposed to sound levels in contravention of the EEC workplace noise legislation whilst going about their normal duties in an entertainment environment.

Outdoor or Short Season Event Noise Management
Licenses granted by many local authorities in respect of outdoor concert and festival events usually require compliance with the Noise Council 1995 Code of Practice on Environmental Noise Control at Concerts. Compliance requires that the sound propagation paths between the venue and the nearest noise sensitive premises are predicted by calculation, that the sound systems are set-up and operated in a certain way and that noise levels are monitored and controlled throughout the event. As acousticians as well as audio engineers KDA are well placed to deal with this situation.

Permanent Venue Noise Management
Many concert venues, sports halls, community centers, public houses and nightclubs are subject to license conditions or to the requirements of a Noise Abatement Notice served under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act which have the effect of restricting the volume levels at which music can be played. Whilst limiters or volume regulation devices can provide a solution the limit level is usually too low to satisfy performers and patrons. Again as acousticians as well as audio engineers, KDA are able to address both the noise containment properties of the building shell as well as devising the least intrusive volume regulation devices or control regime.