The City of Anaheim is working with the Honda Center to come up with new sound strategies for outdoor concerts following noise complaints from as far as 10 miles away from last weekend’s Real 92.3 FM Real Street Festival.
Featuring the likes of 2 Chainz, Cardi B., A$AP Rocky, Migos, Rae Sremmurd and more than 30 other well-known rappers and artists, this past Saturday and Sunday’s event inside and outside the Honda Center, was a first of that magnitude with a main stage outdoors festival.
Noise complaints were lodged with the Anaheim Police Department during both show days, but word did not get to City of Anaheim officials until Monday, and they were surprised about the location of many who reported hearing a booming bass as if they were in the Honda Center crowd.
“[O]n Monday, we started hearing from folks in what is called the Hills of Tustin incorporated part of Orange County,” says Mike Lyster, Anaheim’s communications officer. “They reported hearing the music very loudly, hearing a deep bass rumble and consistently heard it.”
That seemed odd, Lyster added, because, “We didn’t have any issues at the concert itself, and it went very smoothly.” Nonetheless, since first receiving the complaints, the city has sought to contact those who filed them to help come up with ways to mitigate noise at future events, he said.
“I talked to about 25 people, and we just heard what the situation was, and we are looking into it,” Lyster added. “You would have to call it a unique phenomenon that happened. I have spoken with folks in Orange, Tustin and few people in Anaheim, but the vast majority are in the Hills of Tustin.”
There have been countless other outdoor music festivals and loud events just over the 57 freeway at Angel Stadium and City National Grove that did not generate the same kinds of complaints. “We have held concerts at Angel Stadium for decades, and those are effectively outdoor concerts,” Lyster notes. “Even with baseball games and fireworks after some baseball games, we have never had any issue like this.”
Indeed, it was the lack of complaints from those games, concerts and other outdoor events that prompted the city to greenlight the Real Street Festival, according to the city spokesman.
No conversations have yet been held about holding other outdoor events at the Honda Center, including a second Real Street Festival next year, Lyster confided. “We have been listening to particular complaints raised to us and will continue looking into it and working with the folks at Honda Center. While we don’t have anything planned, should we down the road ever look at something like this again, this would certainly inform our planning and decision making.”
I live 3 mins away from the Honda center…and i can ass9 you i barely heard anything….i think what the issues was the kind of music that was being played has a big part in it… If it were country or something else i think there would be no complaints… But the fact that it was hip hop and rap people had to say something…. Even during the day nobody complained about hearing it…. But once out hit the night there goes all the complaints… So to me i wouldn’t worry to much..cuz fire works…and a lot more things are louder… But nobody complains about that… You know
No. The sound was real. It was loud. It was a deep base. You could not discern the genre of music. People go to sleep at night so the noise may have been more noticeable as night fell. I am 12 miles away and it was annoying. Much louder and certainly longer that the Disney fireworks .
I live in the Tustin Foothills and I can assure you it’s not based in the type of music. It was so loud, I walked out to the sidewalk in front of my house to figure out where it was coming from and it sounded like it was surrounding my house. The windows were rattling initially and I thought it was a neighbor. I love hip hop and rap, but so couldn’t hear anything but super low, loud bass. ?♀️ The noise didn’t even seem to start until about 10 o’clock and carried on until midnight. I think the sound was reverberating off the hills and that’s what we were hearing here. Nothing to do with the type of music. Please.
I didn’t complain, and I enjoy that kind of music, but I live at the back side of the Tustin Foothills up against Peters Canyon, and I seriously thought that one of my neighbors was having a raging house party. If it was country music, there isn’t as much bass. I think that is the problem. It was REALLY loud on a Sunday, which isn’t fair when people have to get up early for work. Keep it loud on Friday and Saturday, but on a Sunday until after 11pm??? Kind of not cool….
Nope. I heard it all-night long and could not even tell the type or genre of music. It was just a loud booming noise that went on for hours. We honestly thought a neighbour was playing loud music and being obnoxious about it. There’s no way we could decipher the beat or what was being sung.
Your speculation is incorrect. Our complaints had nothing to do with the type of music. At my home in Orange I could not hear music just a deep bass that vibrated our homes 10 miles away from the concert. It was extremely annoying since it went on for hours until after 11:30pm.
honestly I thought the same exact thing. It was a rap and hip-hop event with majority black and brown artists, white people always calling the cops.
So if it was country and I said it is that the brown and black people always call the cops .. Really ignorant really ignorant
your full of shit… my business was 10 blocks away and I could not talk to my customers on the phone for two days… all my people heard was mother fuck this and that, 1, 2, 3,4 lets go boom boom boom.
I lost 20,000 in business because of that shit show from LA…. STAY IN LA WHERE YOU BELONG ornage does not need you underworld shit..
I live in Orange, right off Prospect and Chapman. My neighbors and I all kept looking across the street at Grijalva Park to figure out if there was a concert going on there. It had nothing to do with the type of music. It was LOUD. Woke my daughter up multiple times.
Esther your response is ignorant. I live in Tustin and could hear the bass and had no idea what kind of music was being played. The reason fireworks don’t get complaints is because they are short firework displays that are rarely bet late at night. This concert went on constantly with no break in the heavy bass until 11:30pm which is 1:30hr past noise ordinance. Maybe the reason people don’t complain about other types of music is because they don’t have heavy bass. Heavy bass travels…. And clearly it travels very far I live a 10 mile drive from the Honda Center and I thought there was a neighbor playing music with the bass turned up in his car outside my house. That’s how loud it was 10 miles away. It wasn’t until I took to Facebook to see if anyone else in my neighborhood was hearing it also and it turned out to be widespread all over my city.
Not true, we have a venue close, people have complained about our bands, all kinds of bands so we have to be very careful, especially with the bass.
My walls and floor were THUMPING and I could seriously FEEL the sound from over 4 miles away in my master bedroom. I like hip hop – the problem is they pointed the speakers at the hills where it collected and amplified, and coupled with the raised elevation, made everyone hear it all too loudly. You probably didn’t hear it because the sound was above you. They should have pointed it at the ocean where the sound would have traveled up and over. I thought my neighbor on the next street was having a very loud party, that is how loud it was. Fireworks are a momentary thing lasting 10-15 mins, a techno or hip hop beat goes on for hours and hours.
Most of my neighbors didn’t even know there was an event at the honda center until a week later. This have nothing to do with the style of music, though not to many country bands are hitting 27-35 Hz notes regularly as a beat.
I live right around the corner from the Honda center. Yes it was loud and the bass was too much on Saturday. And it depended how the wind shifted for it to be heard as far as a singing. But you know what it’s an outdoor festival that was very well contained secure and people just enjoying a good time.
I hope that Honda goes ahead and has more in the future and with this being their 1st kick off I’m sure that there could be some fine tuning done but really all in all, you guys enjoy music have fun, and lighten up….
It was not my type of music but I’m sure that with the fine tuning that Honda can do …the Future outdoor events will be perfect!
I look forward to having more outside events I think it’s great for people to get outdoors and enjoy a life.
Impressed that their ears were open to the complaints! We do reside in the flat part of Orange, E/Yorba, between Chapman and Palmyra, the base was powerful, we stepped outside to see which neighbors were having an event….. but then realized it came from the westerly direction, way past the 55 fw.
What about the attendees of the concert and their hearing damage which may be caused by that noise?
Man truly is a curious species ?
In Cowan Heights heard the bass, but certainly not enough to complain about. Couldn’t figure out where it was coming from, but now know.
Would have never guessed? We live off Newport across from Foothill High and I thought there was a big party a couple blocks away. It was loud and we could hear every song. I was just happy my neighbors were having fun enjoying their evening. Crazy that it came from that far away but it makes sense because I’ve never heard a party that loud in our neighborhood. It didn’t bother us at all but I could see why people might be upset.
I live in Tustin near 55 Fwy and heard the bass ridiculously loud on Saturday afternoon into late evening. I could not hear my TV because of it and all my windows were closed with the A/C on. I also heard it clearly on Sunday and it kept me awake until 11:30 (when it finally ended) and I have to get up early for work on Monday. But I have to say Sunday was not as loud as Saturday. The sound just bounced off the foothills and made it worse for us in Tustin than cities closer to the Honda Center.
Could care less about the type of music, I didn’t attend, so that didn’t matter.
What bothered me, as well as many of my neighbors, was the absolute volume of the music, and how late it went. It also vibrated our home, that’s why we thought it was a party in our neighborhood. We were shocked to learn it was 10+ miles away!
Any kind of music is fine. Outdoors can be fun. Just don’t disturb people with the volume and playing it so late.
The thump thump thump was constant Friday so much so that I had to keep my doors and windows closed. But the reverberation was still obvious to me.
An outdoor event allows sound to travel and is likely unpredictable due to air currents and weather conditions. This event needs to be out in the desert or within a heavily soundproofed space. To be smack dab in between Irsnge and Anaheim it also should have ended at 10 pm. Both nights.
I live near Main Place Mall in Santa Ana and definitely heard it. I was convinced one of my neighbor was having a party.
Dramatics. I live in old town Orange and although it wasn’t my preference of music, it was not that obnoxious. You would think the people in North Tustin would have better insulation. lol. I hope they move forward with this annual event as it brings revenue to the city and seemed like a lot of people had a great time! I called Mr Lester know we weren’t bothered and he appreciated the feedback.
Start up a loud car outside then start it up in the garage. The car didn’t change but the sound level did.
The hills facing the pond collected and amplified the bass , just like a garage would. those in the orange circle live in the driveway in my example, those near foothill high in the hills are in the garage.
If we didn’t hear it as loud as we did, we wouldn’t be complaining now, would we? I’m in a rock band, I am used to loud music, and this was just as loud (as least the bass part)
The speakers should have been pointing twords the ocean do avoid capturing the sound.
I am in North Tustin (7.4 miles away) and it vibrated my windows. One neighbor reported a broken window. I got over 200 comments on a Nextdoor.com post about it. It is real. We shut our windows and turned on the AC and it still woke me up from a dead sleep.
By the “sounds” of it the music system wasn’t set up correctly, perhaps an inexperienced sound engineer? There is a dynamic and formula to setting up sound correctly.
I work in the industry and have set a stage where you can have a conversation immediately in front of the stage but 6’ back your ears are bleeding.
It can be done as proven with Angel Stadium, you just need to hire the right people.
People please be kind, sound travels very differently by a simple turn of a speaker, so do not discount what someone else experienced. Let’s live in a county where we work together not against one another.
Great point Marianne! I think that’s exactly it. It was a bad combination of how the concert sound was set up and maybe how the sound traveled based on geography and wind. I think if they do the outdoor festivals Friday -Sunday afternoon with better engineering there could be a good compromise. I can definitely back up what everyone in the Tustin hills area is saying. It was a loud bass and vibrating. Stuff like that doesn’t bother us though as we know it’s temporary and in the spirit of fun. Glad the city is listening though and hopefully there is a good fix so we can have more great events in OC!
My 17 year old daughter text me to turn down the TV. It wasn’t our TV, but the music from Honda Center. We live in Tustin Foothills in Panorama Heights and for whatever reason, the decibels traveled to us so easily. I have the text to prove to anyone at City of Anaheim that needs confirmation of the level of noise we heard. I am the last person to complain about music or parties. I never complain about Angel games or house parties. This was louder than any of that combined. When your car shakes with the bass of a car next to you at a traffic light. That was my home Saturday and Sunday. Hard to believe but absolutely true.
The noise from the outdoor concert went till 11:30. Why aren’t there ordinances on concert promoters & venues to stop at 10:00 PM out of respect for the broader community? The FAA regulates noise for planes flying to/from John Wayne airport, doesn’t make sense reasonable restrictions don’t seem to apply to entertainment events.
What a bunch of BS. I’m a Ride-sharing driver and I was in that area both nights and two miles away at my house or down Katella at my mom’s house and it wasn’t that loud at all! I’m amazed people are claiming they heard it on the other side of the hill up Chapman!! Get a life people.
I love more than 4 miles southeast of the Honda Center and heard the bass quite clearly. We do have double pane windows and the low frequency sound went right through them.
I’m in Tustin, heard it as well, quite clearly. I had no idea where it was coming from, other than the direction. Now that I know where it was coming from, makes perfect sense. Thats exactly the direction it was.
So for those calling it nonsense… sorry, but it was not.
I remember that night real well. Waking up at 10PM to loud bass. I would’ve normaly gone out to see where it was coming from but I cycled to servings of MagTech hours before and was so relaxed from the L-theanine I just didn’t care.
To those who think we should have just enjoyed the music, it wasn’t ‘t music, just loud thump, thump, thump. It was horrible in Cowan aheights, even with all the doors and windows closed on a lovely summer evening. If you tried to watch television, you had to turn the sound up. It was noticeable, but not as bad on Friday and Sunday as it was on Saturday. I was almost climbing the walls and seriously considered calling the sheriff’s office, but hesitated since I wasn’t sure who was having the party. Parties are fun and music is often part of that, but many bands today and/or DJ’s believe loudness makes their music sound better. The rest of us shouldn’t have to pay the price for that.
All these jack holes claiming that the noise wasn’t bad because it wasn’t bad for *them* personally…talk about self centered millennials.