Concert Hall Acoustics | A hidden reason some halls are loved & others fail that nobody talks about
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- Опубликовано: 11 июл 2021
- Would it surprise you that two concert halls share the same size and shape but one hall is loved and the other is not? Or would you find it odd to learn that an American banker was responsible for the acoustics of the much loved hall in Boston?
This video looks at the physics behind the acoustics of Musikvereinssaal, Vienna; Boston Symphony Hall; Tonhallesaal, Zurich; Gewandhaus, Leipzig; Queens Hall, London; Town Hall, Birmingham; Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary; Philharmonie, Berlin; Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; and the Royal Festival Hall, London.
It dives deep into why reverberation time misses a significant part of the acoustic experience that makes performers and concert-goers fall in love with a space, and the role that binaural hearing plays in our experience of the music. It also looks at how sightlines play a significant role in the acoustic signature in a hall-and not in the way you might expect. With clear animations and overlays, world-renown acoustic designer, Nicholas Edwards, puts a complicated science in layman’s terms so that viewers can see the difference in the experience of orchestral music in some of the most loved concert halls on the planet.
Thank you for your wonderfully clear and easily understood explanation. You are a treasure..
i would love to see the new model proposal for the ideal concert hall! thank you for the video, it is amazing!
And when it's finished , i know for sure that when a band is playing live it sounds just like every concert
Not powerful
The best sound i ever whisnessed was in: Theater Heerlen in the room "LImburgzaal"
I had goosebumbs from the live power
Great talk!
There may be an additional element in comparing old halls to new. The great Decca recording engineer Kenneth Wilkinson has written that the use of just brick, wood and old horsehair plaster contributes a lot to the great acoustics of old halls, whereas in modern halls made of concrete and modern plaster and wood, good acoustics are hard to achieve. Hence Decca (whose recording style includes much more of the acoustic signature of the hall than most other labels) extensively used Kingsway London, Sofiensaal and Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw, and Walthamstow and Watford in London, Snape Maltings etc. Wilkinson never recorded in modern concrete halls unless unavoidable. Sadly, Kingway and Sofiensaal which had probably the greatest recording acoustics in the world are gone. I’ve been in some old brick wood and horsehair plaster halls with quite steep rakes and large balconies and some fanning that have great, visceral acoustics, so the materials have a significant impact. And the Berlin Philharmonie is the only concrete modern hall I’ve heard that has reasonable acoustics, although it isn’t great compared to old halls. Modern computerised design modelling offers a lot of new possibilities though. The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall was poor for its first 50 years (ok for pianissimo, but fortissimo was confused and incoherent and lacking punch) but the recent renovations by German engineers have completely transformed it. Interestingly, they lowered the stage and tiered it, and added more reflective dimpled wooden walls and height adjustable wooden reflective panels in the large space above the orchestra. It’s now probably as good as a large 3000 seater modern hall can be, with great sight lines right to the back of the orchestra, as well as fine sound. The smaller size of some older halls also contributes to differences.
Wow, you have an extensive knowledge of acoustic properties in concert halls. What do you think of the Tokyo City Opera Hall, which is made almost exclusively from oak wood? Im trying to design a theatre myself for school with optimal acoustics.
What software was used for the lateral reflections and shadowing at 14:55?
Acoustic properties of a room tend to be detectable in recordings that use quality equipment, of course. It's surprising when producers of various concerts made available for public listening aren't more conscious of that fact.
Amsterdam, Vienna, Boston, Dallas all have these qualities.
To those I would add the Sala São Paulo, Brazil.
Well , , , having a good conductor is advised. Instead of having sections of instruments, (that are numerous), perhaps could be better distributed amongst the entire orchestra seating. And having good disk jockeys in radio stations would help out so that the audience could already be thinking 'music' as they enter the hall. Sure would be nice for there to be sonatas, trios, quartets, etc., octets ALREADY performing AS the doors open so that the audience can know that they're in a different environment (other than the noisy world outside) as they take their seats . . . only to cease their performance when 'the evening's performance' is called to order by the 1st chair . . . and then the "tap, tap, tap of the conductor's baton" on the stand holding the "evening's score".
The thing is that maybe they're not listening. People that complain. Maybe they're not listening. They're not in the moment . . . yet.
Please reserve for March 24
I've been to halls with flat or relatively flat floors. Hate them. I want to SEE the symphony as well as hear it. So far I love the Disney hall in Los Angeles.
But only the hall itself. Not the rest of the building. The rest of it is the worst important architecture I've ever experienced.
So, a tube amp over a transistor amp?
Considering "tube" or thermionic valve amps seem to be regressing as the years go by, that is : Futterman-> untralinear pentode -> push pull triode -> single ended, a sort of unwinding of technology while the source is being ever more technologically advanced (pity about the recording engineers, probably not enough drugs 😗), I can't understand why people bother.
The only valve equipment I have are my hybrid Stax Electrostatic Earphone drivers ( I also have some transistor version which are fairly close to the valve hybrids apart from the output stage), and these have been modernized to eliminate the horrible distortion at high drive levels. I built some valve equipment for other people. I have formed my view partly based on a rather unfair trick i pulled on some of them. The inherent harmonic distortion of valves will give you "warmth" in some circumstances, but almost always compromises the clarity. Pianos are rather good at showing this, people who have not previously listened to a concert grand in a good room have difficulty with how sparse the sound is, especially for a Steinway, you just can't have it all.