AUDIO
UNDERSTANDING ACOUSTICS | Bill Gibson
A room that ’ s acoustically live contains a lot of hard , flat surfaces that reflect sound waves efficiently , causing substantial ambient reverberation . A room that ’ s acoustically dead contains a lot of soft surfaces that absorb most of the reflections . Live acoustics are good when they ’ ve been designed to enhance the acoustic properties of a musical performance . However , uncontrolled acoustical reflections are virtually always destructive and must be managed .
There are many acoustic principles and treatment products you can apply to your situation . Let ’ s take a look at some factors that affect the way sound interacts with the acoustic environment .
THE ROOM It is possible to build a room that sounds great without much acoustic hocus-pocus . The way sound waves interact as they reflect between major surfaces and as they ’ re diffused around the room is influenced by the dimensions of the room as well as by absorption and material density .
If you construct the room from scratch , you can choose dimensional relationships that work together to create an even and consistent frequency response and coverage in each space . Creating an acoustic space that inherently sounds good is fundamental to the presentation of excellent sound . Most of the time , we ’ re forced to deal with and compensate for existing acoustic flaws . This is always difficult , but it ’ s not insurmountable .
In any room designed for music reproduction , it is best to avoid parallel surfaces . A rectangular room , although common and cost effective to build , provides us with three sets of parallel opposing surfaces : two sets of side walls and the ceiling and floor .
Typically , more randomness is better in an acoustical environment . Designing rooms with non-parallel opposing walls often accomplishes this in the construction phase . Study any excellent acoustical environment . You ’ ll notice interesting angles and unique shapes . These are designed to randomize the reflections of