Loud music jarring residents' sleeptime

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Live Music Capital of the World may soon have to turn down the volume. Sound traveling miles away from bars in downtown has homeowners all the way in North Austin complaining.

Residents of four different North Austin neighborhood associations met Monday at City Hall to voice their concerns before Austin's Music Commission.

"We have sound waves that hit your window, and that window rattles and reproduces the sound inside our home," said Michael Riley, president of The North University Neighborhood Association.

Residents say the noise is so loud that it wakes them up at night, and is anything but music to their ears.

The neighborhood associations hired an acoustic engineer to determine where the sound was coming from and how it was traveling to their homes. The results they found came with a bit of shock.

"When we got on our bikes and traced back the noise we were surprised to find it was bars in the 6th Street area," said Riley. "We are seeing that sound off of ground level is coming up catching the Waller Creek Basin and making it all the way up (north)."

The acoustic engineer noted that environmental circumstances like the Waller Creek Basin help amplify the noise. Music bounces off the water and then can travel for miles. The results also showed that an increase in rooftop bars and outdoor music venues only makes the problem worse.

This year alone there have been 52 noise complaints from these North Austin neighborhoods made to the Austin Police Department; compared to nine complaints made in 2010. They are recommending the city create new noise ordinances which would help soundproof Austin's music venues.

But local musicians say adding the restrictions will only hurt the economy, and slow down an industry that brings in more than a billion dollars each year.

"Now, because of the sound ordinances there are less opportunities, and we have to move events indoors which means we can only entertain smaller audiences," said Jeremy von Stilb, an Austin disc jockey.

"It's more than just people going out and having a good time," he said. "It's about community, it's about creativity -- that's why, as (the Austin Music Commission) said today, 95 percent of people move to Austin: for live music."

While it's an argument that homeowners say they understand, they're still left looking for a good night's sleep and a compromise.

"I'm looking for a solution where we can better manage sound at the source and keep our musicians playing but also satisfy and allow people to sleep at night who happen to live around here," said Riley.

The neighborhood associations are recommending that the city look at noise ordinance models in cities like San Antonio.

No decision was made in Monday's music commission meeting. Commissioners are hoping to gather research and place the item on next month's agenda.