Studio recording design
For the design of the acoustic of the room, there are theories that have been put in place to ensure that the quality of the final sound was superb. The sound acoustic methods that analyze the effects of sound sources that are present in the room can be described is the geometrical, the statistical and the adulatory theories.
The geometrical theory
This theory is used to determine the points of incidences of the rays at the bounding room surface. It is paramount since the theory is also used to determine the losses of energy that is caused by the absorptive materials that cover the quantified surfaces. This always applied on the condition that the statistical theory cannot be appropriately applied
The statistical theory
This theory assumes that the field of the sound that is generated in the room is a diffuse sound field, and so the density of the reflection can always be considered to be high enough besides the phases of the standing waves which are normally distributed randomly. It is important to note that it is key in the understanding of the approximation to the real field of sound (D'ARCY, 2011, pg 18). The statistical theory is mainly applied in the determination of the energy at every point of the studio room.
Some of the most important aspects of sound that have been considered for this particular design are;
The sound power
This is the acoustic al energy, which is not always affected by the environmental factors. It is the measure of the acoustical energy that is emitted by a source of the sound.
The sound intensity
The intensity of the sound is calculated using the formula:
Sound intensity =power/ the surface area. The sound intensity can, therefore, be defined as the acoustic or sound power per unit area, and the SI units are W/m2.
Sound pressure
The surrounding conditions and the general distance from the source and to the receiver influence the intensity of this atmospheric disturbance pressure. The sound pressure, therefore, is defined as the Force (N) of the sound on the surface area in M2 that is perpendicular to the sound direction. The SI units of the sound pressure are given regarding N/m2 or Pascal (Pa).
The mathematical calculations of the prediction of the room
The calculation was done using the Helmholtz Resonator Formula:
f=2160√rd*D+(r+w)
Where:
w = slat width.
d = effective depth of the slot. (1.2 X the actual thickness of the slat)
r = slot width.
D = depth of the box.
F = resonant frequency in Hertz (Hz)
This implies that f =2160* (8.7/ (4.5*3) + (10.5*4.5))1/2
F=31.38Hz
The dimensions are
13.5m long by 10.5 m width by 4.5 m depth
DESIGN PRINCIPLE OF THE CONTROL ROOM
The control room has a number f design factors that are supposed to be put in place to ensure that the sound quality of the studio is wonderful. The type of the control room that was designed is the non-environment control room.
The design principle
This kind of a studio is designed to minimize, by the means of the total absorption, the effective influence of the room so that the conditions of listening to the room could be repeatable. The reflections are avoided by the use of preventive colorations together with the reverberations that are deemed to be non-existent because the sound that has always been produced has no reflective surfaces to bounce on (GALLAGHER, 2007, pg 132). .
The design procedure
The proposed design of the studio is that of the absorptive system. This is bases on the Hadley's bass traps that are installed in the ceiling of the room. The trapping system of the room comprises the abortion for the whole of the range of frequencies. For the high and the middle frequencies, the sound has been made to be absorbed by the use of porous materials whereas the lower frequencies are have been made to have quite a complicated absorption mechanism. The figure below is the plan view of the typical non-environment control room
Figure 1.1 a non-environment control room
The all trap absorption system
The main components of the system include the following
The slant panels
The flanking panels
The design is such that the flanking always hung close parallel to the walls, which covers close to all the surfaces of the walls.
For this particular design, the largest dimensions of the flanking panel influence the design and the dimensions of the half wavelength which is effectively absorbed. For example, to make it possible to absorb a sound wave of 20Hz, and then the largest dimension of the panel that must be installed would be approximately 8.7 m.
The mechanisms for the absorption of the low frequencies are shown in figure 1.3. When the sound is driven in one particular direction, then the arrangement of the design, therefore, forces the waves to flow in a path that is complex before entering the room again. This, therefore, helps to improve on the efficiency and the effectiveness of the reflective suppression of the studio room. The medium and the high frequencies absorption in this particular design is arrived at by the use of the convectional materials that covers the slant and the flanking surfaces of the panels of which the porosity, the density and the thickness of the materials used determines the effectiveness of the studio control room (HOWARD, 2008, pg196).
Condition of the room before treatment
The room is located inside a business centre. Before treatment the noise from the outside environment is 50 decibels (dbA). The problem encountered is how to overcome the noise due to vibration and provide a sufficient dumping for the room. Before treatment again, there is a lot of diffraction of sound waves and reflection from the walls and hard surfaces. The effect of temperature on sound is so adverse. This implies that the room before treatment is not fit for a studio. The room cannot be a studio without the treatment.
Size Requirement
This design shall use the following Dimensions:
Before treatment
Room 15.4 m long *11 m width *5.5m depth.
Door dimensions are 2.3m by 1.3 by 0.3m thick. The room has one door.
The room is fitted with 0.8m *0.5m *0.025 thick
The door is wooden and the widow is made of Perspex and the total numbers of the windows are three.
After treatment: 13.5m long* 10.5 m width *4.5 m depth to effectively absorb the low frequencies
After the treatment of the room, the widow dimensions are creased by 03m thickness. An example of the graphic images of the window during and after treatment is as shown
Figure 1.22
Figures 1.22
Images retrieved from: http://www.soundcontrolroom.com/design-considerations-for-recording-studios.php another example of the studio before and after the treatment is as shown belowfigures 1.31 before treatment 1.132 studios after treatment
Images retrieved from: https://www.houzz.com/signup/u=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ob3V6ei5jb20vcmVjb3JkaW5nLXN0dWRpbw==/d=web/m=13/t=201/s=cGhvdG9z
Treatment details
The side walls are treated by the use wooden cardboard that are reinforced with some cotton to minimize the effect of reflection of sound during the recording time .This is also to protect the studio from the influence of the external environment. The widows are wooden and covered with Perspex from the outside. Through this, the noise outside the studio room is 50dba and the treatment controls the sound to 20dba inside the studio room.
The reflective surfaces
As opposed to the anechoic characteristics of the ceiling and the rear wall, the sidewalls, the rear walls and the floor is always made to be reflective. The material that shall be used for the buildings of the control room and the studio room is a hardwood that is laid over a concrete slab. This implies that it must not necessarily resonate in the audio bandwidth. Therefore, the application of the suspension system is normally suitable to obtain a resonance of the frequency of 10Hz or a value that is less than this.9n addition, the path of the reflection is normally blocked by the use of the mixing console that is fitted with by an absorptive material.
The front wall of the studio is constructed to be hard, reflective and irregular so that it can be able to return the specular reflections to the persons who are operating in the control room. The finishing has the loudspeakers mounted on the front wall so that it can enhance the radiation of the lower frequencies and, to help in the elimination of the back wall reflections and to minimize the diffraction hence preventing coloration (LONG, 2014, pg 364).
Specifications and Limitations
Principle; to eliminate the influence of the room out of the reproduction chain
Methodology: Applications of the wide frequency absorbers to avoid and to minimize the reflections from the loudspeaker radiations.
Design target: the time of reverberation ought to be that which does not exist and the modes of the room to be controlled by the lower frequencies that range from 20 HZ- 35HZ.
The front wall design: it should be an irregular reflective surface
The studio floor: it is made of a hardwood reinforced with the concrete slab with a suspension system and a resonating frequency that is a maximum of 10Hz
The ceiling, the sidewalls and the rear: these are made by the use of some special and distinct trapping systems of which the panels have absorptive covering and a solid core.
The shell: this is where all the trapping system is built by the use of diaphragmatic walls that are separated a given distance and allowance from the structural walls.
The size of the room is 3.6m length, 3m width and a height of 2.5m
The monitoring systems: these systems are made in such a manner that the front wall prevents the coloration and thus enhance the bass radiation (MORTON, D. 2006, and pg 13).
WORK CITED
GALLAGHER, M. (2007).Acoustic design for the home studio. Boston, Thomson.
D'ARCY, R., FLYNN, H., & WAVING, N. (2011).RA, the book. The Recording Architecture book of studio design [Volume 2] [Volume 2]. London, Black Box Limited, an imprint of M-Y Books. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1057623.
HOWARD, D. M., & MURPHY, D. (2008).Voice science, acoustics, and recording. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=991929.
LONG, M. (2014). Architectural acoustics. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10835971.
(1985). Electronic musician.Oklahoma City, OK, Polyphony Pub.Co.
MORTON, D. (2006). Sound recording: the life story of a technology. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Univ. Pr.
