Evaluation and mitigation of outdoor live music

Live music is hosted at many small restaurants and breweries as a means for attracting customers and helping to expose patrons to local bands. Outdoor live music, especially during warm spring and summer seasons provides flexibility for venues in terms of seating capacity, patron comfort, and the integration of natural scenery. However, sound from outdoor entertainment can be a vexing problem for the surrounding community, especially for late evening and nighttime performances. In response to community concerns, outdoor live music venues located in three different communities (rural, small town urban, and waterfront) were each required to provide in-situ demonstrations to assess the effect of outdoor music on nearby homes. The effectiveness of these demonstrations, along with an analysis of mitigation measures, is discussed.