Amplified music and variable acoustics—Controlled low frequencies and envelopment at high

Abstract

Subjective ratings from 25 professional musicians and sound engineers were obtained to assess two Danish rock venues of similar size and similar low frequency reverberation times, but different high frequency reverberation characteristics. The musicians rated one hall outstanding and significantly better than the other, substantiating a hypothesis that pop venues can have a longer reverberation time at mid to high frequencies at least in the empty condition with no seats installed. Possible causes for this is an enhancement of the musicians’ ease of expressing dynamics as well as of their ability to sense the audience for whom they are playing. It has formerly been shown, that what characterizes the best halls for amplified music is a relatively short reverberation time at low frequencies. However, in this study, a fairly long reverberation time in the 63 Hz octave band is found to be acceptable, especially in the hall with the longer mid-high frequency reverberation time, pointing towards a tolerance for longer reverberation in this band in general. Further, this hints at the possibility that mid-high frequency reverberation can mask, at least 63 Hz band challenges. The 125 Hz octave band RT, which thereby remains the single most important to control for amplified music, is app. 1 sec in the two venues that hold some 700 standing audiences