Professional Acoustical Analysis Questions

DDev · Post by **DDev** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:22 am

This is not for my studio but I thought someone here might have some experience with this.

My church is bringing in an acoustical consultant to analyze our sanctuary next week and I want to make sure that I fully understand what he is doing and can discern whether he is blowing smoke at us or giving us a fair analysis. Any pointers or things I need to watch for?

As a bit of my background, I am a professional audio/video systems designer for aircraft, church sound guy, a home studio owner and amteur designer, and bass player (don't hold that against me!!), so I understand system functionality, but I am only an amateur who hangs out here learning about studio design and acoustics. I think I have a basic handle on things but I'm in no way capable of designing a room the size of our sanctuary and making it work acoustically (it is a room that seats about 1200 people).

Any thoughts are welcome on this.

Thanks,
Darryl.....

AVare · Post by **AVare** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:35 am

My church is bringing in an acoustical consultant to analyze our sanctuary next week and I want to make sure that I fully understand what he is doing and can discern whether he is blowing smoke at us or giving us a fair analysis.

Last one first. If you are afraid that he will "blow smoke" then get a consultant that you will trust.

As a very shallow start into the dpeths of acoustics, read and conmprehend the info in Everest's "The Master Acoustics Handook". Also read newsfroups like the churh install group at prosundweb.com.

Andre

DDev · Post by **DDev** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 7:33 am

I guess I should qualify my question a little bit. The "blowing smoke" comment was due to the fact that until you personally work with someone you never know what you're going to get. The guy who is coming is highly recommended, but so was the guy who designed our sanctuary acoustics and systems, and we have real issues which he won't even return our calls about. Once burned, twice shy as they say.

I have been reading stuff in other places, like the ProRec forums (although I don't post over there). I guess I'm just more familiar with folks around here (I don't post much but have been around since this forum started, and have been a regular reader of stuff from Mr. Sayers and Knightfly since their days of frequenting the HR BBS), so I was more comfortable asking questions here than somewhere I don't know the people at all.

I haven't picked up a copy of Everest's Master Handbook yet (I do have a copy of his Small Studio Design [or something like that] book). I keep meaning to get a copy but never seem to find it (I just need to breakdown and order it online, but I hate doing that).

Anyway, thanks for the response.

Darryl.....

Jedanor · Post by **Jedanor** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 8:14 am

DDev

Selecting a consultant that is right for your church could prove difficult. You should seek a consultant that not only listens and demonstrates the capacity of understanding your needs but also asks commonsense questions.

For new designs, most professionals prefer designing using a 3D model of the sanctuary to quickly evaluate acoustical conditions such as sound distribution, early reflections, ray tracing, reverberation times, etc. for a variety of design schemes. I prefer E.A.S.E 4.1 but there are additional software packages on the market (ODEON, CATT, etc.) that other consultants swear by. Just because the consultant uses analysis software does not necessarily mean you are getting a good design, i.e. "garbage in garbage out". It is just useful to hire a consultant that has this capability.

My ex-boss was an old school acoustician that designed using tracing paper at a drawing board. His designs were practical and he clearly understood the different "styles" of worship and what that meant to a design. He could convey complex ideas to the church in layman's terms and I felt that always fused a good working relationship with the client.

In my opinion, at a minimum, you should seek answers to the following:

1. References on similar sized projects.
2. Does the consultant demonstrate an understanding of your style of worship?
3. Does the consultant provide A/V consulting or just room design?
4. If you are using a separate A/V designer, does the consultant demonstrate knowledge of properly designing the room to accomodate the sound reinforcement system? (This is a two-way street.)
5. If you are near transportation noise sources, did the consultant address exterior noise control? HVAC analysis and design? etc.
6. Does the consultant demonstrate an understanding of the project budget?
7. Can the consultant meet your timeline?

In the end, you will know what you are comfortable with but I'd make sure minimum concerns are addressed before a contract is signed.

DDev · Post by **DDev** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 1:04 am

Thanks for the note. Since this was your first post I am assuming my post title caught your attention somehow, so welcome to our forum. Hopefully there are other topics of interest to you around here as well (and we are always appreciative of inputs from industry professionals that directly relate to recording studio design in particular).

I have already done some of the items you listed and will definitely be researching and asking questions related to some of the other applicable items. Our situation is that we have a 2.5 year old facility that was designed by a renowned church consultant that has major audio quality issues. We are brnging this guy in who has a long list of church credentials (including fixing rooms designed by the aforementioned consultant) in the hopes that we can nail down specifically what is wrong, either with the room or the systems or the operators, and then develop a corrective action plan. I know enough to carry on an intelligent conversation and understand what someone is saying, but this will also be my first dealing with this type of consultant, so I was trolling for things to watch out for just in case this guy turns out to be a snake oil salesman.

Thanks again,
Darryl.....

Jedanor · Post by **Jedanor** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 1:43 am

Thank you for welcoming me here. I certainly find these boards interesting since I am also a musician and writer.

AVare · Post by **AVare** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 3:13 am

The forum I was refering to is Prosoundweb, Church Sound

You will find several threads with similar questions and concerns.

Good luck!
Andre

edit:changed several groups of letters to words

Pennywizz6 · Post by **Pennywizz6** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:35 am

Check this out, http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html it has just about everything you would want to know.

Fill