Can soundproofing help resolve the live music row?

Only partly. Loud music is just one of the many complaints against pubs and bars in the area.

Residents and pubs in Indiranagar continue to wage war, and a pub says it was forced to cancel all World Music Day events because of a mindless clampdown on music venues.

In January 2018, the Supreme Court upheld a Karnataka High Court Order from 2005 mandating that restaurants and pubs obtain a licence for live performances. The Supreme Court ruling came in the wake of the Kamala Mills pub incident in Mumbai, which claimed 14 lives.

On June 21, BFlat, a lounge bar and music venue in Indiranagar, put out a post saying it had called off all World Music Day events scheduled from June 21 to 23.

The post suggested the venue had done its bit to keep the neighbourhood undisturbed: “There’s no separate treatment for those who are totally soundproofed and complaint-free for the last 10 and a half years.”

The Instagram post by BFlat.

Same brush problem

Manu Chandra, head of the Bengaluru chapter of the National Restaurant Association of India, says things are complicated here.

“Noise could come from various sources -- loud music from a rooftop or open pub, traffic in the evening, and cab aggregators lined up at an area honking away. People standing outside an establishment can also talk and create a nuisance,” he says.

Pubs and bars have to produce a variety of documents, but as tenants, not all establishments in Indiranagar have been able to do so. “Controlling the music scene amounts to being culturally regressive. Many of the venues in Indiranagar, including Monkey Bar, are soundproof and no one can hear the sound outside
the venue. The Pollution Control Board and
law-enforcing
officials should check the decibel levels before they act,” he says.

A member of iChange Indiranagar says loud sound is just one of the residents’ worries.

“What about the 15,000 people that descend on to the area every weekend? Would the soundproofing take care of this huge number and would there be no Ola and Ubers parked around the areas?” she asks.

Businesses that spend lavishly on interiors could consider getting their walls soundproofed. At least, that would show people in the area that the pubs and bars are considerate to one of their concerns.

Gokul Abhishek, sound engineer with a radio channel, says soundproofing can take care of some but not all problems when it comes to pubs and bars.

Glasswool and rockwool is conventionally used to isolate sound: the material is used to create a sonic barrier on the wall, and heavy doors are installed. “The area has to be completely enclosed. The higher the density of the material the more the isolation,” he explains.

When a performance space is soundproofed, even the floor will have to be sealed.

“Obviously, these measures don’t work for open-roof pubs. The volume levels will have to be manually controlled then,” he says.