AUDIO
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT / ROOM TUNING BASICS , PART 1 | Jeff Hawley
One of the most engaging portions of the presentation I gave at the 2023 Christian Musician Summit was around the acoustic treatment of a performance space as a key element in producing an ‘ immersive ’ experience . After a historical review of the various techniques used throughout the design of ancient amphitheaters up through venues such as the MGM Sphere , the case was made that the room itself will inevitably play a key role in how the sound is perceived — no matter how fancy your mixing console and PA system may be . Spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the fanciest ‘ surround ’ system without taking into account the room acoustics is not going to turn out well . In this ‘ Audio with Jeff Hawley ’ article , let ’ s dive a bit more into just what room tuning involves and why it is so important in optimizing your audio experience .
RIAA EQUALIZATION For the last 16 years in a row , vinyl sales have increased year over year . According to the Recording Industry Association of America ( RIAA ), 41.3 million records were sold in the U . S . last year , up more than 45-fold compared to 2006 when the vinyl comeback began . This is a substantial increase yet equals about 5 % of total music sales — with streaming and downloads still making up the lion ’ s share of total music consumption . So records are growing in popularity again , but they are still not the primary way that most people listen to music these days . No surprise there .
Going back in time to the mid 1950s , the picture was much different . The post-war boom in the purchase of records ( 375 million records sold in 1947 for reference ) brought about a variety of new record formats and technologies . One of these technologies was the RIAA Equalization Curve . In short , this was a specific equalization curve that was applied during recording ( preemphasis ) and during playback ( de-emphasis ) to account for the high-frequency hiss and clicks that were part of the mechanics of the recording medium and the low-frequency rumble that was inherent in the playback of records on consumer record playback equipment . Put another way , recordings were made with the low frequencies purposely reduced and the high frequencies purposely boosted , whilst on playback , the opposite occurred . The RIAA specified this equalization ( and other slightly tweaked variants existed at the time ) in order to account for the tendencies of the recording gear ( microphones and vinyl cutting machines , etc .) and the playback devices ( record players and speakers ) to aim for a sort of ‘ sweet spot ’ in the final listening
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