The Skinny On Surroundings

Room Surfaces

Have you ever been in a concrete room (parking garage)? How about a room full of ceramic tile or a room where you’re surrounded by glass? These hard surfaces have a very identifiable sound or sonic signature. They are often referred to as having a very reflective, hard & “skippy” sound.

For purposes of this discussion let’s use our voice as a sound source. Let’s assume your driving in your car having a nice conversation with a friend, you enter a parking garage and after parking you exit the car. Continuing your conversation, you immediately notice the cavernous echo and extended reverberation time. You also notice that it is very difficult to distinguish what your friend is saying as the acoustic surroundings have clouded or “muddied” up the sound.  What you are hearing is your new surroundings (concrete). Your voice is taking on the characteristics of the concrete surroundings, just as your voice was taking on the characteristics of your cars’ interior. In your car there is a blend of hard surfaces i.e. glass, plastic, hard rubber and soft surfaces such as carpet, leather etc.

As it relates to the performance space, every surface contributes as an acoustic product of sorts. Sheetrock has a very specific sonic signature as do heavy theater curtains or an oak stage floor. Let’s now think of our sound source being a cello… It doesn’t matter to the surroundings, remember the source WILL take on the characteristics of it’s surroundings. If our room is lined with painted sheetrock walls which are constructed with metal studs and are insulated with loose batt fiberglass, from an audience members perspective our cello will have a sonic signature which is unique to that room and it’s makeup based on these walls and other surroundings. This includes the impact of walls, floor coverings, ceiling (acoustic clouds or not) seating type and even you the listener.

Nearly 2 decades have been spent researching and pursuing the perfect choice of materials and construction methods to provide optimized acoustic surroundings for theaters, halls and performance spaces. We are continually striving to improve on our discoveries but we are pleased with the progress we have made to this point.

In our combined 45 years of intensive effort to understand how sound waves move and interact with its space, we have re-discovered what Antonio Stradivari did in the 17th century – Natural lightweight materials, used in a careful, well planned manner produce or support a warm, clear musical sound. Combine this knowledge with a clearer understanding of how sound waves move within the confines of a given space. We have developed a method of controlling the response and reverberation of the space giving the listener a truly emotional experience – in effect, a higher “resolution” sonic image.

We have ventured far beyond the acoustic how-to manuals in order to discover what it takes to give you the best acoustic/musical experience of your life.

 

 

 

Laminar Flow

The term Laminar Flow is typically found used in the field of Fluid Dynamics wherein a fluid of higher viscosity flows smoothly along a channel. The fluid flowing near the center of the channel moves with the highest velocity, and predictably decreases as it approaches the channel walls.
During our thirty years of research and development we’ve discovered that a very important aspect of sound wave behavior is that it, when left to freely develop, will travel along wall surfaces in laminar flow patterns or tendency. As sound waves of varying frequencies impact a surface the wave’s natural response is to reflect back into the space and if it’s a singular sonic event it will do just that. However, if there are multiple sustained sound waves continuously impacting the surface the oncoming waves force reflected waves along the wall surface creating laminar flow conditions for a large portion of the energy. At laminar flow conditions, there is a linear relationship between pressure drop and flow velocity. This is true in fluid dynamics and partially true in sound wave behavior however, across the sound spectrum frequencies differ in physical size and also travel at rates through the air or along surfaces at different rates. This means, as it relates to drops in pressure, it does happen in the laminar flow of sound energy but not always at a constant rate.
We have determined that depending on the sound pressure levels we’re able to control and contain the laminar energy in specific areas or pressure zones with a proprietary technology known as Halo Barricade Control. This approach or method of acoustic control is very effective and provides us the opportunity for custom solutions specific to a client’s surroundings or decor giving us the ability to hide or build in the control in such a way as to be less noticeable or hidden entirely in some cases. Another key element to the end result of Halo Barricade Control is that it controls the excess energy without over dampening the space or leaving it unnaturally dead. This is often times the end result when utilizing the direct dampening method of control.