About a year ago, I started carefully evaluating the different things that we needed to do in regards to our audio visual performances. I was in charge of creating presentations for the school, and it was a lot harder than I had initially anticipated. Fortunately, a friend of mine helped me to understand what I was doing wrong, and it made a big difference. Within a few short months I was making better progress, and I was really happy with the difference it made in my life. This blog is all about understanding audio visual performances and making things easier.
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What Are The Potential Causes Of Audio Problems In A Room? 4 January 2022
Understanding Audio Visual Performances
What Are The Potential Causes Of Audio Problems In A Room?
Alyssa Gutierrez
People often install audio systems only to discover there are problems with the room. They can end up trying different audio acoustic solutions without much success because they're not zeroing in on the specific list of potential problems. If you're at a loss for why the sound just isn't right in a space, an acoustics solutions provider will tell you to check these four possible issues.
Angles
Sound reflects and bounds off walls, floors, ceilings, and objects in rooms. Frequently, a sound will bounce of several surfaces, creating chaos in the final audio product. One sound wave might bounce off one wall, and another wave might hit another wall a split second later. This can cause reverb or noise in the sound.
Audio system services technicians sometimes have to study spaces to determine which angles might cause problems. In extreme cases, they may need to use software to sample the sound and even model the issues. Once they have a sense of where the bad angles are, they can recommend changes to improve the acoustic performance.
Materials
Some materials are highly reflective, and others can be extremely absorbent. If you've ever stood in a recording studio, you've likely noticed pyramid-shaped padding on the walls. Audio system engineers use padding to deaden a room for recording purposes. This is great if you're trying to isolate a vocal track, but it can kill the sound in a home theater.
Oftentimes, people accidentally use deadening materials. If you have an entertainment room, you might use a soft material to cover the walls to provide the feel of an old-time movie theater. Conversely, a conference room might have large windows that are highly reflective. In both instances, the audio may have to fight dampened sounds or echos coming from bounces off the materials.
Component Quality
The problem may be closer to the source. Thin cables, for example, might absorb electrical noise from the surrounding environment. The noise travels with the signal to the speakers, and it can ultimately manifest in the audio quality. Similar issues can arise from amplification and equalizations systems that are appropriate for a setup. If a system has too much amplification, for example, it might blast artifacts into the sound.
Dimensions
Every room operates as a piece of sound equipment in its own right. If the room is the right size for the audio systems in it, this creates rich sound. When the dimensions are too small, things can get loud. Likewise, too large of a room can spread the sound thin.
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