What Is Concert Hall Acoustics And How To Improve It?

Concert hall acoustics

What is concert hall acoustics?

As a special field of acoustic room treatment, concert hall acoustics focuses on the spatial design of live music events, and it is a performance viewing building with high sound quality requirements.

There is a close relationship between music, acoustics, and architecture, and the integration of acoustics and architecture affects the difference in our senses.

A qualified concert hall must provide music with a good sense of space, surroundings, clarity, richness, loudness, and intimacy.

Why are they important?

Most concert halls are special halls for symphonic and vocal performances, and most of them rely on natural sound during performances.

Therefore, in addition to the design of the concert hall, the most important thing is the acoustic design, if the acoustic design of the concert hall is not reasonable, then the function of the concert hall is also ruined. Especially the location of the concert hall performance, if there is no good acoustical design, then the feeling of different locations of the audience is a world of difference.
 

3 basic concert hall shapes

 ●  Shoebox shape

The shoebox shape is a rectangular room, one of the best shapes for concert hall performances, so the basic design is simple.

The seating area is narrower in width compared to the performance area. This allows sound energy to bounce off the left and right walls, making the sound from the stage fuller. However, if not dealt with carefully enough, a concert hall of this shape may have problems with dither echoes.

 ●  Fan shape

In some early theaters, this fan design increased the number of people the concert hall could hold while maintaining a frontal view of the performers. However, without sidewalls that can reflect sound waves, reverberation suffers, and the sense of space and grandeur is reduced from the listener's perspective.

 ●  Vineyard shape

Vineyard concert halls maximize seating capacity and bring the audience closer to the orchestra. The seating area of this type of concert hall resembles the slope of a vineyard and is visually interesting, with an irregular pattern that helps avoid chattering echoes and focus. The disadvantage is that the design is complex and expensive.
 

 

Acoustics design of concert hall

 ●  Seat quantity controlling

The auditorium of a concert hall should preferably be controlled within 2000 seats. Usually, less than 2000 seats concert hall intimacy and loudness are easy to meet the requirements, easier to achieve excellent sound quality.

 ●  Even sound distribution

In a concert hall or theater, it is obviously very important that everyone can hear good sound.

Uniform sound distribution depends on how many sound absorbing panels are installed, but also on the distribution of acoustic sound panels (acoustic wood ceiling panels or soundproof wall panels) and whether reflectors are used, etc.

For the distribution of acoustic absorbers materials, the acoustic sound-absorbing panels do not have to be concentrated on the ceiling but rather distributed over multiple surfaces.

 ●  Reverberation time controlling

The reverberation time must be compatible with the room and function, and the reverberation time spectrum should be reasonably flat and uniform.

Concert hall seats are the main sound-absorbing objects in the concert hall. In order to appropriately extend the reverberation time in the hall, it is best to strictly control the sound absorption of the seats to prevent excessive sound absorption and increase the decoration height of the concert hall as much as possible.

 ●  Sound diffusion

The purpose of sound diffusion is to make the sound field evenly distributed in the hall, which is particularly important for concert halls. The main approach to diffuse design in the hall is to rationally arrange the wooden acoustic diffuser panel of the ceiling and wall.

 ●  Reflector/Acoustic Reflector

The use of reflectors is a common means of providing early reflected sound in concert halls with framed stages. The reflection hood makes the sound in the reflection hood fully integrated with the hall. Attention should be paid to the construction of the reflection panel to suppress its effect on low-frequency absorption. When designing the reflector, attention should be paid to whether the storage space of the reflector is equipped.
 

 ●  Low-background noise

When talking about background noise, it usually refers to external noise sources(traffic noise, noise from technical installations, etc.)

Background noise can spoil the acoustic experience in the room. In very demanding venues such as theaters and concert halls, the requirement for low background noise is one of the important acoustical criteria. If ignored, this can be a costly problem.
 

Best acoustic panels commonly used in concert halls

Concert halls and theaters have very high acoustic requirements. The sound field of this environment needs to be suitable and not too sound-absorbing. Therefore, pay attention to the scale when using sound-absorbing panels.

There are many kinds of sound insulation materials that can be used as a sound-absorbing treatment in concert halls. Here are a few commonly used soundproofing materials.

 ●  Grooved acoustic panel

The acoustic groove ceiling panel uses the structure of slotting on the surface and perforation on the back to change and control the sound emission to achieve a good sound absorption effect. Different textures and colors are available for the finishes, and the high-end appearance can be used for ceiling and walls.Fabric acoustic panel

 ●  Sound absorbing plaster system

This type of sound-absorbing panel can be directly mounted, which is made of crystal sand and glass fiber cotton. It is suitable for direct installation on the surface of the wall and roof structure, saving space and convenient and quick construction.
 

 ●  QRD diffuser

QRD diffuser

The environmental performance of the QRD diffuser reaches the E1 level, and it has a sound diffusion performance. Through multi-dimensional and multi-directional diffusion of sound energy, it has a great effect on improving the brightness, clarity, and fullness of the sound.

 

Conclusion

The concert hall may relax you and learn a certain amount of knowledge, but music that has not been acoustically processed may greatly reduce your experience.

There are many types of decorative acoustic panels used in concert halls. Tianjie Acoustic Materials produces related acoustic products including soundproof acoustic panels, sound diffusers, and other related acoustic products. Choosing appropriate acoustic insulation materials will give you a more perfect music world.