Meeting Topic: Room Acoustics
Moderator Name: Roberto Klein
Speaker Name: Roberto Klein (telecommunications engineer and sound technician), José Javier López (telecommunications engineer and professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia), José Almagro (professor at the University of Granada and specialist in acoustics) and Mikel Krutzaga (music recording engineer and sound technician)
Other business or activities at the meeting: Conference
Meeting Location: Online
Within the online activities carried out during the mandatory confinement as a consequence of COVID-19, AES Spain organized an interesting debate developed by Roberto Klein (telecommunications engineer and sound technician), José Javier López (telecommunications engineer and professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia), José Almagro (professor at the University of Granada and specialist in acoustics) and Mikel Krutzaga (music recording engineer and sound technician): Can recording rooms be made differently from current ones? Current recording rooms tend to be neutral to comply with the multifunction for which they are designed, but close miking techniques do not allow us to take advantage of the acoustics of the room in which the performance is produced or the development of more experimental microphonic techniques. The evolution of recording studios and new business models have considerably reduced the size of recording rooms and the acoustic approach to the rooms as conceived, for example, in auditoriums, has been lost. In the words of José Almagro, having a large place is very important for recording: "in acoustics, air is the most expensive". The reverb is directly related to the volume of the room and is especially relevant in certain situations such as in the recording of sacred music. Interesting concepts have been raised in the debate such as Blesser's 'aural caffeine': that which gives the reverberation of the room and awakens you as a listener, which makes you feel uneasy. José Javier López recommends Kuttruff's 'Room Acoustics' to analyze the parameters that influence the human perception of the acoustics of a room. The approach is to define why a room sounds good or sounds bad to us, what things are suitable and what are they suitable for. A room for the recording of a symphony orchestra is not the same as for the recording of a jazz quartet. José Javier also insists on the importance of volume based on the Interaural Cross Correlation (IACC). You can watch the full meeting through our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/B0IyVM-wtz8
Written By: Marco Antonio Juan de Dios Cuartas
