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!
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
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.
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.
Live room reverb time:0.7 s at 1 kHz with panel doors closed, 0.3 s at 1 kHz with panel doors open
Control room reverb time:0.4 s at 1 kHz
Control has NC of 25
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)
John’s first project: Electric Lady Studios (Jimi Hendrix’s studio)
One of the first independent studios, revolutionary for its time
Was personalized in style, very artist-oriented
Control room was much larger than studios of the past
Other projects of John’s – details can be found on John Storyk’s website.
Studio programming should always come before acoustics
If costs need to be cut in studio construction, it’s better to do so in equipment than acoustics
Studios today must have personality to remain competitive, since everyone can own their own personal studio if they so choose
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
Acoustic reflections should be controlled, not eliminated – too much absorption is a common acoustical mistake
Ear-level monitoring is ideal and can often be achieved through creative placement of monitors
Symmetric rooms and parallel walls are not necessarily suboptimal acoustically – other factors are more important
Useful acoustic tools:
Plaque diffuser – the best currently-known method for reducing HVAC noise