Description
In concert halls it’s desirable that the time between the arrival of the direct sound and the first reflection is not greater that 20ms. Highly reflecting parallel walls may cause undesirable flutter echo. The distance from the source where the intensity levels of the direct and reverberant sound are the same is known as the Room Radius; a typical value for a large hall is 5m. Closer than the room radius you hear mostly direct sound and at greater distances mostly reverberant sound. Room modes are particularly important in small rectangular rooms such as recording studios. Tangential modes are combinations of two axial components and oblique modes are combinations of all three. The vineyard design of concert hall gives an even distribution of sound. Seats should be designed to minimize changes in reverberation between the hall being empty and full.
In singing, air pressure from the lungs is used to set the vocal folds into periodic oscillation producing a pitched sound source at the base of the vocal tract. By changing the positions of the jaw, lips and tongue the resonances of the air in the vocal tract, called vocal formants, can be...
Published 02/14/10
The important acoustical characteristic common to members of the musical brass instrument family is not the material of construction, but the way in which the note is sounded by vibrating the lips against the rim of a mouthpiece. The lips act as a valve, open and closing periodically to modulate...
Published 02/12/10
Almost all brass instruments have air column resonances which are close to forming a harmonic series; this gives rise to the familiar pattern of “bugle call†natural notes. In the upper register the harmonics are close enough together to allow a diatonic scale to be played without modifying...
Published 02/12/10