Sound Pressure Level

The SPL meter works by using a microphone, instead of measuring what's fed to the speakers, so it will measure the sound level of anything.

Of course it's true that the sound engineer at a concert may not use SPL meters, but his ears should be telling him what he needs to know.

Some venues have SPL meters permanently installed, with a big stripey thermometer-style gauge on the wall, and cut the power if you light up the top segment.

Anahata