We all love the music that our routines are choreographed to, and that’s why dance competitions usually play your music really LOUD. Sound pressure levels of greater than 95 decibels are common in competition venues. You can easily get an approximate measure of the sound pressure level of any environment you are in with a free smartphone app. (I use Decibel Meter-Free for iPhone.)
Most dance teachers and choreographers are unaware that exposure to sound sources at these volumes (94 db or more) for more than 60 minutes consecutively can cause permanent hearing loss (source:National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)).
That is why I ALWAYS use hearing protection at dance competitions. You can use the cheap, foam type found in pharmacies, but that type tends to muffle the sound, and is therefore not enjoyable to use. I use Ear Peace protectors, which reduce the volume uniformly across all frequencies. The result is that the music sounds just as good as without the ear plugs, but the sound pressure is reduced so that you don’t damage your hearing or leave the competition with a splitting headache. I find that music actually sounds BETTER at competitions or rock concerts with the ear plugs than without, because at super-loud volumes, music actually distorts in your ear drums. Best of all, you can get a pair of HD Ear Peace protectors, with carrying case, for less than $20.
The other great thing about Ear Peace protection is that you can still have conversations with people that are next to you.
Just as you wear sunglasses in bright sunlight situations, consider hearing protection to be the equivalent device for your ears in loud settings. Do yourself a favor and protect your ears the next time you are at dance competition, especially when the solution is quite inexpensive.
Just finished bringing up the volume of another movie soundtrack song (based on a Broadway show tune) for a dance teacher in Tennessee.
We can raise the volume (without distortion) of any tracks that are playing too quietly compared to commercial releases today. This service is quite different than simply raising the volume in your audio editor of choice, which will invariably cause a harsh kind of distortion called clipping distortion. I’ve actually heard this kind of clipping distortion blasted over competition sound systems. It’s not pretty.
Raising the volume in this manner is most commonly needed for show tunes, movie soundtrack songs, and some older songs. These type of songs actually sound fantastic, because they retain their dynamic range, but in the world of dance competitions, the people responsible for the sound systems expect a certain volume from the CDs they are playing. You can’t rely on them to raise the volume of a soft song because they don’t know if a loud section of music is still to come. (However, if a song is too loud, you can count on them to turn the volume down.)
Bringing a song up to the proper level without distortion is currently being offered for only $19, and if the song is being edited by Squirrel Trench Audio, then this aspect is included in the regular price. What a bargain!
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to hear clearly in your studio’s rehearsal space? As a teacher, are you constantly having to yell to be heard above the music? There is a reason for that: most dance studios’ acoustic characteristics are about as bad as they can possibly be. Because all the walls are parallel (floor and ceiling of course too), and one or more walls are covered entirely with mirrors and windows, sound bounces around and around and around and around. This bouncing is known as echo or reverb. Often these types of spaces have severe flutter echoes.
The net effect of all this sound-bouncing (reverb and echo) is that it makes it hard to hear things inside the room clearly. And when you can’t hear clearly, it makes you want to turn the volume of the music up much too loud. It makes you have to yell in order for the kids to hear you, and even then, it can be hard for them to understand what you are saying, and also hard to hear the details of the music you are playing.
This is ESPECIALLY PROBLEMATIC FOR TAPPERS! Not only are tap shoes loud to begin with, but flutter echoes and loads of reverb make it really hard to hear the details and timing that your tappers are trying to achieve! No wonder that your tap students are having such a hard time trying to get in sync with each other…. they can’t hear what they are doing!
Another downside to the terrible acoustics inside your dance rehearsal spaces is that by cranking up the music to try to hear it better, you are annoying your neighbors, whether they are other businesses or other dance rehearsal spaces. If it’s another dance teacher in the next room, then they have to turn their music up to drown out yours… leading you to turn up your music even louder to drown out theirs, in a never-ending loudness war.
It’s time to stop the loudness wars in your own dance studio! It’s time to start hearing the music and the instructor more clearly inside the the studio space! It’s time to stop going home at the end of a long night of teaching with a headache and your ears ringing!
Fortunately, solutions are EASY and relatively inexpensive! But the difference, from a sonic perspective, is NIGHT and DAY!
Many dance studios have a cadre of talented and able-bodied Dance Dads who build amazing props for their dance daughters and dance sons. These heroic dads (and of course moms too!) then also have the job of carting said props long distances to various regional and national competitions.
Well, the next “prop” your studio’s dance dads should build is …. drum roll….. broadband acoustic absorbing panels.
Yes, you heard me right. For a total of about $150-$200 in materials, your handy dance dads (and moms!) can build six or eight 2′ by 4′ acoustic panels and hang them in your rehearsal spaces, bringing down the amount of flutter echoes and reverb to a reasonable and comfortable level. The result of which will be:
You can hear the music CLEARLY at a comfortable volume
You don’t have to yell as loud to be heard by your students
Students can more easily hear the instructions you are giving them
You don’t leave the studio with a headache every night from the volume of the sound system
You don’t annoy your neighbors with OONCE OONCE OONCE all night long
If you have the budget, you can purchase pre-made acoustic panels and traps, but dance studio owners can save a few bucks by enlisting the help of capable dance parents! More about how to build these acoustic traps coming up soon, so stay tuned! If you can’t wait another minute to find out more, here’s an example of how it looks/works installed in a dance studio: Acoustic panels in a dance studio. Here’s a nice and short little YouTube video that explains quite clearly how to build them. My only advice beyond this video is to use a nice-looking fabric for the face so that you have something beautiful to hang on your walls instead of burlap.
We all love the music that our routines are choreographed to, and that’s why dance competitions usually play your music really LOUD. Sound pressure levels of greater than 95 decibels are common in competition venues. You can easily get an approximate measure of the sound pressure level of any environment you are in with a free smartphone app. (I use Decibel Meter-Free for iPhone.)