Analysis Of Useful Acoustic Treatment Equipment In Studio

I would describe Studio A is a mid-sized room with flat walls, some of which are parallel to each other. The room has lot of acoustic treatment equipment to achieve the best sound and level of reverb when practicing or performing with an instrument. This acoustic treatment includes an array of acoustic panels meant to absorb sound. Acoustic panels are generally considered better at absorbing mid to high range frequencies. These panels are offset from the walls at different angles. This way, sound can get behind the panels so the back of it can also help aid in absorption, particularly improving low frequency absorption. The room also features diffusers (hanging from the ceiling at an angle), which are acoustical boundaries that reflect the sound wave back at various angles that are wider than the original incident angle, thereby breaking up a standing wave, which could be created by parallel walls, which are present in Studio A.

Another piece of useful acoustic treatment equipment present in Studio A is an acoustic gobo, which functions as a moveable acoustic isolation panel. These can be used as a portable vocal booth to treat unwanted reverb or to acoustically isolate musicians from each other so that they can be mic'd separately within the same tracking room. All of these different pieces of equipment, particularly the acoustic panels and the diffusers, make studio A a nice neutral acoustic space with not a lot of reverb or echo. It isnt a dry room, seeing as when the snare drum was struck there was a level of reverb that was at least noticeable. However, this reverb was not overpowering and the reverberation time was not very long. If I had to guess, I would estimate that the room has an RT60 of around .75 seconds. This means that the room isnt very dry or live and is more neutral.

In the stairwell, there was concrete, metal and glass. The reverb was significant because these materials are reflective. About 2 seconds RT60. This is a live room. (Mid size) In the smaller theatre, the floors are wood with some give. Blue cloth lines the walls, these are acoustic panels. We get some early reflections. This is a live room around 1 second RT60. Not as much reverb as the stairwell. (Large) The larger theater has wood floors similar to the smaller theater. The room is much bigger. Lots of cushioned seats. Wood on some walls.

There are also drapes with folds covering some wood walls which are sunken in. This reduces reverb time. The intention is that the drapes could be rolled up and down to control the level of reverb, but as of now they are static. There are also hard reflective panels hanging from the ceiling which reduce reverb time. Longer wavelengths (lower frequencies) reverberate more because it is a larger room (Small) The larger stairwell has more metal than the smaller one and is obviously larger. There is also no drywall (which is aborbative) there is also less glass which means lower frequencies are reverberated more. This increases reverb time to about 5 seconds (Mid size). The dance room floors are hard wood, one wall is mostly curtain (abrorbative). This room also had 2 parallel reflective walls, creating a flutter echo, which is bad. This can be changed by drawing the curtains.

Outside in the parking lot, we have concrete floors, one wall relatively close and some far away buildings. A very distinct echo was created when the drum was struck, it sounded like there was another person hitting a drum in the distance. This is because the sound is reverberating off of a faraway surface. Google the haas effect.