Articles: background music for venues

The same venue needs one kind of music at nine in the morning and another at eight in the evening. Breakfast takes quiet, unhurried backing; later in the day the music can be denser and louder. A single playlist running from open to close usually suits neither.

Where to start

• Time of day - the simplest split is three blocks: morning, afternoon and evening.
• What guests are doing - vocals get in the way of someone working on a laptop, far less so over dinner.
• Volume - the music should be audible without making anyone raise their voice.
• Playlist length - too short and it loops within a single shift, which wears the staff down first.
• The formal side - playing music in a public space follows different rules from listening at home.

Clinics, salons and waiting rooms

Where people are waiting or anxious, music does a different job than in a restaurant. It should lower the tension and mask the sounds coming from the treatment room without sending anyone to sleep. Calm instrumental backing with no obvious peaks works best.

If you are putting music together for the first time, start with one block - the busiest part of your day - and build the rest around it later.