Hello all,
Today I want to give you a few acoustic tips to follow when either designing a space or remodeling a space.
1) Use a professional: Not every professional is a professional... Ask for credentials...past jobs, education... this can tell you a lot about a persons qualifications. Also, regardless of what a website says, there are NO 'one size fits all' acoustic packages. There is actually a great deal of math and physics that goes into an acoustic design. Of course, there is a great deal of art involved. Acoustics if often described as the perfect blend of art and science. Without using a professional (with real credentials), you could end up spending thousands of dollars on an acoustic package that leaves your room still sounding terrible.
2) Dimensions matter: Room modes are the resonances that exist in a room when the room is excited by an acoustic source such as a loudspeaker. Each room has a modal distribution and dimensions directly relate to this distribution. It is ideal to have a distribution where all modes are no closer than 5Hz and no further than 20Hz to each other. Even moving a wall or a ceiling just a foot can change this distribution.
3) Absorption coefficients: Each product has a number that is associated to a frequency. This is usually the absorption coefficient in Sabines. When the number is 1, it means perfect absorption... When it is 0 it means perfect reflection. If you see a product with a number that is much greater than 1, such at 1.8 or so, this usually means that the numbers are bogus. Usually I tolerate, but take with a grain of salt, numbers that are as high as 1.2. My reason for this is a little more in depth than this post allows...
4) Rerverberation: A great deal of items fall under this idea of reverberation. A big one however is intelligibility. To much reverb will cause words to blur together and become indistinguishable from each other. To little reverberation and it will seem dry and lifeless. Reverberation is based on the properties of the room such as materials on the walls, floor, and ceiling.
These are just a few tips when considering a new space. Consider acoustics, and consult a professional!
Tom
Friday, December 21, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
An Idea About Audio
Hello all,
This post is more of a 'get you thinking' kind of post...
When I was in school at Columbia College Chicago, I had 2 distinctly different professors. I must first say that I really enjoyed having classes with both of them.
The first professor was extremely smart, a quick thinker, and someone that I really looked up to in the college. He had a way of taking a complicated situation and making it seem so simple. We would work on vibration, HVAC, environmental, or architectural acoustics every day. We would have all the equations and approximations that made everything quantifiable. He posed to us that regardless of our problem, we would have the tools to solve any problem after school if we just think critically.
The second professor was also a deep thinker, and to be honest, we never really accomplished much in class. He would get on rants about issues or problems he encountered during his time in acoustics. See, this professor was self taught. He worked in the field for many years and eventually became very respected and published. He seemed to teach us that regardless how much we knew, audio and acoustics is as much an art as a science... He did this by taking us to different buildings around Chicago. We would go to some that were designed with and without the sience of acoustics. He also taught us that we need to make sure that we enjoy the finest audio to remind ourselves what we are working for.
While both professors seemed to teach primarily different things, they often taught the same ideas with a different world view.
The thought that I wanted to put in your heads as you read this is simple. What is audio/acoustics? What does it mean to have great sounding audio? Have you ever heard a concert hall that when you walked in, you felt a sense of awe from the first note played?
I firmly believe that audio and acoustics are as much sience as they are art. I believe that analysis is important and you need to do the best you can scientifically when considering audio and acoustic design or treatment. I also think it is important to have a good answer to all of these questions before completely understanding what audio is and what it means to have good acoustics.
Both professors really hammered on one side more than the other. However, because I had both, I was able to have a very well rounded view of my craft.
This post is more of a 'get you thinking' kind of post...
When I was in school at Columbia College Chicago, I had 2 distinctly different professors. I must first say that I really enjoyed having classes with both of them.
The first professor was extremely smart, a quick thinker, and someone that I really looked up to in the college. He had a way of taking a complicated situation and making it seem so simple. We would work on vibration, HVAC, environmental, or architectural acoustics every day. We would have all the equations and approximations that made everything quantifiable. He posed to us that regardless of our problem, we would have the tools to solve any problem after school if we just think critically.
The second professor was also a deep thinker, and to be honest, we never really accomplished much in class. He would get on rants about issues or problems he encountered during his time in acoustics. See, this professor was self taught. He worked in the field for many years and eventually became very respected and published. He seemed to teach us that regardless how much we knew, audio and acoustics is as much an art as a science... He did this by taking us to different buildings around Chicago. We would go to some that were designed with and without the sience of acoustics. He also taught us that we need to make sure that we enjoy the finest audio to remind ourselves what we are working for.
While both professors seemed to teach primarily different things, they often taught the same ideas with a different world view.
The thought that I wanted to put in your heads as you read this is simple. What is audio/acoustics? What does it mean to have great sounding audio? Have you ever heard a concert hall that when you walked in, you felt a sense of awe from the first note played?
I firmly believe that audio and acoustics are as much sience as they are art. I believe that analysis is important and you need to do the best you can scientifically when considering audio and acoustic design or treatment. I also think it is important to have a good answer to all of these questions before completely understanding what audio is and what it means to have good acoustics.
Both professors really hammered on one side more than the other. However, because I had both, I was able to have a very well rounded view of my craft.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)