Resident who tracked down source of ‘incessant’ electronic music in California city will receive $500 reward

After a loud noise disturbed residents of Richmond over the weekend, mayor Tom Butt decided to act

A view of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (Getty Images)

After an “incessant bass tone” kept hundreds of residents of the Bay Area town of Richmond up on Saturday night well into the daylight hours of Sunday morning, Mayor Ted Butt sprung into action — offering a reward of $500 to the person who could lead him to the source of the disturbing noise.

“Complaints came in from all over Richmond, San Pablo and El Sobrante,” Mr Butt wrote in a blog post on the issue. “People were so upset that many were driving around in the early hours of the morning seeking the source. There was much speculation, none of which has panned out.”

But Mr Butt and frustrated Richmond citizens made, apparently, short work of the case. After exploring a number of possibilities, including that the noise was coming from an event at the Craneway Pavillion event center or even the Golden Gate Bridge, Mr Butt was alerted to an event that took place in a vacant lot along Richmond Parkway.

The event, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle, was an all-night Brazilian electronic dance music enhanced by high-powered sound equipment. Mr Butt was able to track the noise to a specific point: the intersection of Richmond Parkway at Parr Boulevard and Goodrick Avenue in North Richmond.

The result was a loud, ceaseless bass beat that sent hundreds of people to their neighbourhood pages and social media feeds to try to figure out what the sound was and where it was coming from.

“It turns out that this was an event that was put on by the afficionados of this particular cultural thing,” Mr Butt told the Chronicle. “I don’t know how many people were doing it, but apparently enough to wake up everybody in West Contra Costa County.”

Mr Butt said that he has identified the person who will recieve the $500 reward for their provision of information, though he has not yet disbursed the money. The case is not a high priority for the Richmond Police Department, though Mr Butt said that he has contacted the owner of the vacant lot where the party took place.