acoustics

Mic to Monitor Presentations

AES was happy to host Prism Sound’s Mic to Monitor workshop, an exciting night of presentations on every aspect of professional audio. Topics ranged from acoustic treating for listening spaces to life as a producer to A/D conversion. It was a truly educational evening with lots of information and engaging speakers. Thank you to Prism Sound, Audio-Technica, GIK Acoustics, PMC Speakers, and J.U.S.T.I.C.E League for running this event!

Prism Sound's Graham Boswell, Audio-Technica USA's Steve Savanyu, GIK Acoustics's Glenn Kuras, Ruairi O'Flaherty for PMC Speakers and The J.U.S.T.I.C.E League's engineer Edward J. Nixon

GIK Acoustics’s Glenn Kuras, Ruairi O’Flaherty for PMC Speakers, Prism Sound’s Graham Boswell, Audio-Technica USA’s Steve Savanyu, and The J.U.S.T.I.C.E League’s engineer Edward J. Nixon

Mitchell Graham, Jeremy Edwards, Takumi Ogata, Kevin Allswede, Jason Corey, and Emma Azelborn

Mitchell Graham, Jeremy Edwards, Takumi Ogata, Kevin Allswede, Jason Corey, and Emma Azelborn

Bose Car Audio

Presented by Jeff Vautin and Joe McCabe of Bose Automative Systems

On Monday, January 21st, Jeff Vautin (PAT Graduate) and Joe McCabe from Bose’s Automotive Systems division visited the University of Michigan chapter of AES to give a presentation about designing acoustic system for vehicles. A car is one of the harshest acoustic environments for an audio system; it has simultaneously very reflective and very dry material, and the small space introduces harmful standing waves. Mr. Vautin and Mr. McCabe talked about the techniques Bose uses to get around these challenges to produce the best audio quality possible, ranging from optimal speaker placement to the different digital signal processing methods used for different speakers throughout the car.

bosetalk1

Fundamentals of System Design, Implementation, and Optimization

We are welcoming all who are interested to our last AES event of the year. We will meet in McIntosh Theatre where Meyer Sound will be giving a seminar on the fundamentals of system design.

The Fundamentals of System Design seminar encompasses a variety of topics in sound system applications. Practical information about AC power, grounding, hum, gain setting and polarity are presented in a real-world context to provide useful background. Theory and practice of line arrays are discussed, along with tools for system optimization, including equalization, delay, loudspeaker management systems and measurement with the SIM 3 audio analyzer system.

The seminar’s second day is dedicated to use of Meyer Sound MAPP Online acoustical prediction software as a primary tool in system design. After an extensive introduction to the program and its capabilities, attendees are walked through exercises in which they specify venues and design loudspeaker systems to cover them.

Finally, the seminar will discuss and demonstrate important concepts pertaining to the use of subwoofers and methods of deployment that obtain optimal coverage and directivity characteristics.

John Storyk: Recording Studio Acoustical and Architectural Design

U OF M AUDIO STUDIO RENOVATION STATUS

  1. Acoustics of renovated studio
    1. Live room reverb time:0.7 s at 1 kHz with panel doors closed, 0.3 s at 1 kHz with panel doors open
    2. Control room reverb time:0.4 s at 1 kHz
    3. Control has NC of 25
  2. Project turned out well, especially considering challenges:construction crew had never worked on a studio before, and a lot of long-distance communication was needed

RECORDING STUDIO DESIGN (LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS)

  1. John’s first project: Electric Lady Studios (Jimi Hendrix’s studio)
    1. One of the first independent studios, revolutionary for its time
    2. Was personalized in style, very artist-oriented
    3. Control room was much larger than studios of the past
  2. Other projects of John’s – details can be found on John Storyk’s website.
  3. Studio programming should always come before acoustics
  4. If costs need to be cut in studio construction, it’s better to do so in equipment than acoustics
  5. Studios today must have personality to remain competitive, since everyone can own their own personal studio if they so choose
  6. A large factor in studio construction costs is the degree of acoustic isolation desired – more isolation costs more, and the costs have not decreased significantly over time
  7. Acoustic reflections should be controlled, not eliminated – too much absorption is a common acoustical mistake
  8. Ear-level monitoring is ideal and can often be achieved through creative placement of monitors
  9. Symmetric rooms and parallel walls are not necessarily suboptimal acoustically – other factors are more important
  10. Useful acoustic tools:
    1. Plaque diffuser – the best currently-known method for reducing HVAC noise
    2. Helmholz resonator – low-frequency absorber, high-frequency diffuser
    3. Membrane absorbers
    4. Perforated wood paneling