Sound Reinforcement for Designers

Sunday, June 14 – Wednesday, June 17

8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Room W312B-C

Pat Brown, Syn-Aud-Con

Integrates the art and science of room acoustics with sound system design.

This course is designed to emphasize the co-dependence of room acoustics and sound system design.  Our mantra for this course is Listen – Measure – Predict.  Watch this five-minute video to get a detailed description of the course outline.

Although Core Principle of Audio and Sound Reinforcement for Technicians are not required course prerequisites, they do provide a beneficial structure to build upon.

Days one and two cover the measurement and prediction of the acoustic performance of enclosed spaces. The course is built around the acquisition and interpretation of the impulse response, using it to derive all of the room metrics of interest to sound system designers. Topics like convolution demonstrate how to integrate listening into the evaluation process. A wireless personal listening system is used for demonstrations and exercises.

Days three and four are devoted to a Sound System Design process that is based on the room's acoustics. This part of the course builds on days one and two by teaching how to manipulate the sound field ratios in a space by loudspeaker selection and placement. The attendee leaves with a good exposure to the underlying theory behind what we hear when we listen in a room and how to manipulate it by understanding the radiation characteristics of loudspeakers and arrays. Regardless of what measurement and prediction tools are used, this course will help you get more out of them.

Attendees need to bring a personal computer to do the exercises (click here for software requirements). The room measurements are distributed on CD, and can be opened with any measurement program that supports .wav files.