Acoustician Bruce Black joined us this month to share the single best thing we could do to improve our room’s sound. Bruce discussed the four basic elements of acoustics: absorption, diffusion, vibration, isolation. The main issue is that early reflections can cause smearing of the sound field image and can also create a phenomena called comb filtering.
The #1 way to improve your sound is to disperse early reflections. A great tip that Bruce recommended requires two people. One person sits in the mix position and then a friend moves around the space with a mirror. When the individual in the mix position can see themselves, this is a critical reflection point that must be dealt with.
He described the differences regarding absorption vs. diffusion and various types of absorbers and diffusers. He also went into detail regarding room nodes as well as bass trapping. Some of this information was quite detailed and shed light on the importance of the room’s effect on the playback audio. His presentation was followed by a vigorous question and answer session with our membership.
