Room Treatment
"We’re all generally used to acoustically untreated rooms, so we don’t even realize what a difference they can make. But when sound bounces off walls before reaching the listener (or microphone, in the case of the studio) it gets muddy. The short delay in the reflected sound causes a subtle echo effect that greatly reduces clarity and distinguishability. I see quotes around this. So did you write it? Or cut and paste? Either way, its one tiny little facet of a complex problem. Absorption is easily overdone and should be used sparingly to avoid a "dead" room. The short delay reflected sound you quoted, we can get a good deal more precise. There is a window of around 3 to 7 ms in which sounds arriving in that time frame will do as you say and muddy the sound and reduce the clarity of the sound stage. Definitely. But beyond that, sounds delayed a lot more will actually add to or reinforce the sense of space we are trying to achieve. Duke is the master of this, builds speakers designed around this philosophy, and has this down to a science. Me, I know just enough to be dangerous. But I do know you can achieve the same improvement in clarity by having speakers 3 to 5 feet or more out from side walls, because then that first reflection is delayed enough. See here- https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 no side panels, just distance, and the imaging is superb. Also it is in general a better approach to scatter or diffuse sound and not just absorb it, and for the same reason, diffuse decay is heard as spaciousness. I need to build some diffusers. You can indeed just pay someone to tell you what to do. Its very expensive and you will find very few who after spending all that money turn around and say it was a waste. But this is also an area where a little understanding and experimentation goes a long way. A very, very long way. So whether quoted or written you are definitely onto something. Which is good. Keep at it. |
