Music Volume

I really don't get it. Why do some DJs crank up the music to ear splitting levels? If it's a small crowd bludgeoning them with volume isn't going to fire them up. It has the opposite effect, when the music is so loud you can't talk to anybody, if it's a song you don't like it turns into torture. If it's a big crowd I can understand. You need to turn it up to reach the audience. If you don't turn it up the music will get drowned out with background noise. But makes no sense to turn the music up when nobody's there. I actually change the time I go in the club to avoid the really loud DJs. I hang out there so I can talk to a girl who normally wouldn't give me the time of day. The key word is talk. Cranking the music has the same effect as putting cotton in your ears when you are trying to talk. When your ears are stuffed with cotton you can't hear the person talking, when the music too loud, you can't hear the person talking.

From business point of view it doesn't make any sense. I don't think most people working in the club realize how bad it really is. After working there for while they've either gotten use to it and/or suffered some hearing loss. I hang out there every other week or so, and I have tinnitus (permanent ringing in the ears). I never had it before and considering the loudest thing I have to deal with outside the club is my alarm clock. It's the primary culprit. The OSHA limit for noise over 90db is 15 seconds. An average Ipod can peak at 95db. I can only guess what the levels reach on the center stage where the speakers are pointed at. It's louder than an Ipod. I can only imagine what the people who are out of the floor deal with. It hurts. It physically hurts, when you see somebody reach up and cover their ears they are in pain. I can think of no way faster to lose a customer than to inflict pain on them.

Then to have the DJ yell at them "if you don't like it so loud, you can f'n leave" is really bad. If you got people line up waiting to get in you can get selective. If you have empty space, telling somebody to take off only insures that it will be emptier next week. Its takes time to build up a customer base. You can destroy it in a day. A little common sense, when was the last time you heard somebody say "hey let's go hang out at D2, it's so loud you can't talk to anybody". If you were to ask customers what the primary reason for why they walked into the club, music volume isn't one. If you asked why they left, I bet music volume would be one. You are in business because of your customers, not in spite of your customers. When you lose track of this you've got real problems.

I'm amazed the club hasn't been sued by a piss off employee. Oregon is a right to know state, if the club doesn't notify their employee's of potential hearing damage and provide protection they are liable. Get enough upset ex-employees you can get a class action suit.

Unfortunately I don't think it will change soon. Periodically the volume gets turned down, but never for very long. I suspect when they turn it down business doesn't immediately pick up, so they assume it doesn't make a difference. The problem is that they've been driving people away for years, you're not going to fix that in a day. It will take a while before you start to get people back. When I first started to hang out at the Dolphin, I used to get there a 6 and leave around 8 because it was so crowded you couldn't get a seat. Now I can walk in at 8 and almost be alone. I can only hope that a little common sense will prevail.