Pretty good racket

As long as there's somebody threatening legal action over sound ordinance violations, somebody's gonna have to gather some evidence.

What had been Buffa’s bathrooms are now just studs and pipes as crews work to build additional soundproofing onto the bar’s lakeside wall, which faces Torres’ house. While renovating those bathrooms, it became clear that there previously had been nothing to muffle the sound before it hit the metal sides of the building, Rogers said.

That configuration could have amplified the vibrations coming from live performers, he said. To prevent that, workers are installing new walls of gypsum and plywood inside the building that will be separated from the exterior wall by a dead zone to further dampen the noise, he said.

While still incomplete, those efforts have already paid off, Rogers said. Earlier this month, the bar hired Dave Woolworth, an acoustics expert who works as a consultant for the city, to take readings from Torres’ property as the Royal Rounders played at Buffa’s. That test, conducted with Torres’ permission, saw the band play normally before steadily amping up the volume, eventually breaching the bar’s self-imposed limit on how loudly bands can play — roughly 90 decibels, enough to force patrons to shout to be heard — 41 times, Rogers said.

Must be the only game in town.