NSL Productions and HighRise: The Riverside Youth Project.
/Guy Hughes of UK event promotion company HighRise contacted NSL Productions back in March 2018 with an ambitious project to turn Bristol’s Riverside Youth Project boxing gym and basketball court into a five arena super club right in the heart of Bristol.
As all venue owners, managers and festival organisers know, carrying out a project like this can cause a major noise impact on local residents. This was especially critical with this project due to the central location, with flats and houses within 100m of the proposed site. As an additional challenge Guy’s plans included two outdoor music spaces.
Riverside Youth Project (Bristol)
High Rise x NSL Productions (NYE 2019/20)
Our engineers utilised FFT-based audio analysis and decibel measurements in strategic locations within the venue complex to test various sound system configurations, using modern noise-cancelling techniques. The results of these tests informed us on the best - and, more importantly, the worst - configurations to keep the sound focussed on the dancefloor whilst minimising the impact on the local residents.
“NSL Productions has years of experience overcoming off-site noise problems at festivals such as Glastonbury, Boomtown, Balter & many others, so we began making plans with Guy to deliver incredible sound performance whilst keeping the neighbours happy.”
We had the pleasure of working closely on this project with Eddy Goldsmith from Hydrock’s acoustic team. Using our real-world test data and complex acoustic modeling software, Hydrock were able to create a comprehensive noise management plan to submit to Bristol City Council. After two smaller events in 2018 we were able to prove our concept and provide great sound levels on site without a single noise complaint.
As a result of NSL Productions’ expertise and delivery Guy was able to obtain his full licence in Autumn of this year. The grand opening of the full 5 arena venue on new years eve was a roaring success, with a sell-out crowd of nearly 3000 partygoers in attendance. NSL Productions provided sound and lighting in three of the five spaces, hosting major artists such as: No Go Stop, Aba Shanti, Spectrasoul, and DLR.