Rock and Pop Venues: Acoustic and Architectural Design
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About this ebook
This new edition of this standard work adds several new information the book, so that sound engineering and architects can better assess the acoustic value of a Rock and Pop Venue. In particular, new insights to the influence of sound absorbers in reflected and important ISO standards are included into the new edition.
Based on the first ever scientific investigations on recommendable acoustics for amplified music conducted by the author, this book sets forward precise guidelines for acoustical engineers to optimize the acoustics in existing or future halls for amplified music.
- It Gives precise guidelines on how to design the acoustics in venues that present amplified music
- Debates essential construction details, including placement of sound system and use of possible building materials, in the architectural design of new venues or the renovation of old ones
- Portrays 75 well-known European Rock & Pop venues, their architecture and acoustic properties.
- 20 venues were rated for their acoustics by music professionals leading to an easy-to-use assessment methodology
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Rock and Pop Venues - Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen
Book cover of Rock and Pop Venues
Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen
Rock and Pop Venues
Acoustic and Architectural Design
2nd ed. 2021
../images/186726_2_En_BookFrontmatter_Figa_HTML.pngLogo of the publisher
Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen
Flex Acoustics, Copenhagen, Denmark
ISBN 978-3-030-62319-7e-ISBN 978-3-030-62320-3
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62320-3
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
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This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
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Very useful book and clearly laid out. I recommend.
—Thomas Scelo, Acoustician
Excellent book, I used this as a reference for designing a very large show theatre in China, where the audience are on moving platforms. Definitely recommended reading. Many thanks!
—Kito Sousa Coutinho, Acoustician
Niels’ excellent book adds significantly to our Marshall Day library. There are many, many books written on the acoustics of classical music venues and also on recording studios etc. and as far as we are aware, this is the only one written specifically for amplified rock and pop venues. The text provides very helpful objective and subjective analysis of a number of venues. The importance of low frequency reverberation and design criteria align with our experience. We use this text during both our design work for amplified music venues but also in the training of our graduates.
—Christopher Day, Acoustician, Principal
For me, the acoustics of a room are of primary concern for a concert, secondary only to the quality of the musicians and their instruments. Amplified music is much harder to manage in spaces with longer reverberation times, especially at faster tempos and with denser instrumentation. The loss of definition in the bass frequencies really blurs the groove and feeling of music that depends on amplified bass and drums.
—Ben Surman, FOH Sound Engineer
The book was very helpful for me in the design of the Arena Petry in Brazil which holds several thousand audiences. Some issues arose when contractors wanted to change some building materials during the building stage; however due to the book we ended up with a much better RT curve compared to what was first planned for the benefit of musicians and audiences. Thanks!
—Juan Frias Pierrard, Acoustician
Acoustics are important within pop and rock venues to ensure a great experience for audiences and performers. This book fills an important gap of knowledge on the acoustics of venues. It will be of value to sound engineers as well as building owners and operators and building design professionals.
—Rob Harris, Acoustician
Niels’ efforts to gather and analyse data and make this available for others, is highly appreciated and will lead to better sounding concerts in future. The book presents among other things data on the acoustic qualities of many existing venues including information on the crucial low frequencies. This is important knowledge for future research, improvement of existing halls and design of new venues. Designing the acoustics for halls for amplified music takes some knowledge that was not written in books prior to this one.
—Martijn Vercammen, Acoustician
Everybody thinks they know about acoustics, very few people actually do. Books like this can and should make a difference, and will make the world a better sounding place. For anybody who cares about what they hear in a live setting, it’s essential reading.
—Simon Honywill, FOH Sound Engineer
Preface
My interest in acoustics for performance spaces originates from some 1200 concerts as a former jazz and tribute band rock drummer and a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering that I began right after finishing high school, with a thesis on acoustics in music studio control rooms. While still touring, performing about 80 concerts a year, I took a few courses in acoustics at the Technical University of Denmark. I was immediately drawn deeper into the field, and my master’s thesis is in many ways the basis of this book. Ironically, after defending my thesis, I got kicked out of the band. Then I began designing music halls rather than playing in them. This book, which I was asked to write in 2008, is dedicated to the memory of my engineer and freedom-fighter father, Knud W. Larsen (†2017), for passing on to me a sense of courageousness and curiosity, as well as to my musical mother Therese Adelman Larsen, who gave me the loving ballast needed to employ these attributes.
The 9½ week 2010 tour around Europe, during which the 55 music halls presented in Chap. 7 in this book were measured, was financed by d&b audiotechnik, Flex Acoustics, Oticon Fonden, Cowi Fonden, Brødrene Hartmanns Fond.
Apart from these companies and foundations, the author would like to thank (in random order) all the great people in the halls visited who opened their doors and made me feel welcome; Teis Schnipper, Leo L. Beranek, Marshall Long, and Michael Barron for inspiring research, illustrations etc., Bård Støfringsdal, Jens Jørgen Dammerud, Magne Skålevig, Rasmus Rosenberg, Christoph Baumann, Finn Jacobsen †, Hugo Fastl, Eric R. Thompson, Jan Voetmann, Jens Holger Rindel, Per Brüel †, Cheol-Ho Jeong, Jens Cubick, and Ando Randrianoelina for their direct and profound contributions. You have made this book better. Special thanks to the great crew at d&b audiotechnik. Many more, friends and family (you know who you are), have supported me during this time too—thank you!
Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen
Copenhagen, Denmark
Introduction
Please imagine an outdoor rock concert. Visualize a flat field, a stage with a band, a crowd listening to the music mainly coming from PA speakers placed at the stage front. That’s a rock concert without any room acoustics. Imagine then a huge box being placed around the whole event—a hall. Surely the whole atmosphere changes, but what effect should it have on the sound? Should the inside surfaces of the building reflect or absorb the sound? How much and at what frequencies?
What is good acoustics
? The present book answers this question with regard to pop and rock music performances on the basis of the author’s research that has been conducted in the field. The knowledge gathered originates from studies based on interviews with some of the best professional musicians and sound engineers in Denmark.
Of course, such terminology as good acoustics
makes sense only in referring to the use of a particular room. The acoustic demands of a room to be filled by children in a kindergarten must be very different from those favoring a musical choir. The noise aspect of room acoustics is employed in factories, offices, and institutions where the sound is regarded largely as unwanted or simply too loud and therefore to be attenuated by acoustic means. Other sounds, in other rooms, with other purposes, are indeed wanted and must be affected by the acoustics of the room in a positive and enhancing way. This desired sound contains a message that must come across to the listener. The room must therefore carry, or transfer, this message to the receiving persons, such as an audience, in a favorable way. But preferably, also the person sending the message, such as a speaker or a musician, should be content with the way the room affects the sound as he or she perceives it. A musician and his/her performance can certainly be negatively affected by undesirable acoustics as well as being inspired by suitable acoustics.
For pop and rock acoustics, in halls larger than club size, acoustic absorptive materials are not used to correct the sound level of the music. The level is predominantly controlled by the sound engineer sliding faders on the mixer boards. The frequency content of the music that meets the ears of the audience originates of course from the instruments, and is then controlled and enhanced by the sound engineer by electronic equalization means, etc. However, part of the sound perceived by the audience does not come directly from the loudspeakers, but has first bounced off surfaces in the room. Acoustic absorption should be employed predominantly to control the speed at which these sound reflections decay—the so called reverberation—of the room and to shape the frequency content of these reflections.
Pop and rock concerts are unique in that they depend heavily on amplification of the sound that the band produces. A significant ingredient in the music is often a highly amplified and well-articulated bass line supported by a more or less syncopated staccato bass drum rhythm. The precise timing of both, down to few hundredths of a second, is what professional orchestras depend on in order to make hard grooving music not only satisfactory to the orchestra itself but also, most notably, to the audience. Many other instruments are active in the bass frequency domain. The room’s acoustics should enable this message to be transmitted to the audience with a high degree of intelligibility. It is evident that if a hall allows the bass tones to last for a long time, then this rhythmic backbone of the type of music we are describing is easily lost. The starting and stopping of bass sounds is converted rather into a long, dull, legato continuum that can hardly be identified as rhythmic
by performers or audience. What was expected to be a musical experience is transformed into sound with little sense, sometimes close to noise.
Unlike speech, the bass level at rock concerts cannot simply be turned down in the overall mix in the PA system in order to achieve intelligibility. Then it would no longer be perceived as a pop or rock concert. Loud bass sound is a prerequisite of amplified music. It is part of the excitement of the performance and simply sounds right. Since the low-frequency sound cannot really be aimed or directed at the audience like higher-frequency sound, and the audience does not absorb nearly as much bass as higher-pitched tones, the largest share of the audience will suffer from the legato-like bass sound if the reflected low-frequency sound is not well controlled and thus allowed to last too long. This undefined reverberant sound will partly shadow, or partially mask, the defined, direct bass and higher-frequency sound, significantly reducing the understanding of the content of the music. While the level of the direct loudspeaker-based sound decreases with distance, the reflected and later arriving sounds remain more or less constant throughout the venue. This is one reason why considerations regarding the shape of a room are critical in early phases of the design process of a pop and rock venue in order to achieve perfection.
On stage, the musicians use open monitor speakers and/or in-ear monitoring systems to hear themselves and their colleagues. The audience listens to the music mainly through a public address (PA) system operated by a sound engineer. These two sound systems depend on each other to some extend and on the acoustics in the two environments of stage and audience area.
So what are good acoustics for such concerts?—and according to whom? Who should determine this? The audience? The musicians? The sound engineer? Do the three groups agree on what kind of room acoustics they can accept and maybe even find recommendable? The sound engineers, for instance, of course want the audiences to get value for money and experience the incredible ambience and moods of a concert. They feel obligated to present the audience with a clean and transparent sound. This can lead them to ask for an acoustically very dead stage area that does not allow the unprocessed sound from instruments and monitor speakers to be reflected to the audience or to be picked up by irrelevant microphones on stage. However, this may contradict the needs of the musicians and the audience.
As we shall see, the investigations among people attending thousands of pop and rock performances have led us to understand that appropriate acoustics for pop and rock, rather than facilitate only a high-fidelity sound experience, also support the concert as a social event where people meet to obtain a sensation of being together and share an experience in sound. It is not only audiences, but also musicians who need to be involved and therefore to be in the same acoustic climate as their audience. The musicians, too, want to experience togetherness with their audience as long as they are able to clearly hear what music they are creating for themselves as individuals and as a group. And that cannot be obtained through use of monitors alone but also requires some reflections from stage surroundings as well as from the space of the audience.
Which acoustics will fulfill these different demands? And how are rock intelligibility and togetherness achieved at the same time? What effects must be avoided? Strangely, before the research paper Suitable reverberation times for halls for rock and pop music
from 2010 by the author, no proper research had been carried out in the field. Yes, acoustics for pop and rock is regarded a science. It must, more specifically, be treated as the science of quantifying the fine sensations of people as encountered in the ecstatic moments at pop and rock concerts around the globe. And these sensations must, through an understanding of sound and general room acoustics, be translated into practical recommendations for the building of venues. That is precisely what this book does. The material in this book should be easily understood and is equally informative for sound engineers and rock aficionados as well as acoustic consultants and architects, who are often, at the end of the day, the ones responsible for the acoustics in new and renovated venues. There are chapters on the basics of sound and room acoustics, the actual recommendations resulting from research as well as specific comments on 20 rock venues and why they received the ratings they did from musicians and sound engineers. As further examples, 55 European venues, some of them world famous, from tiny basements to enormous arenas, are presented with acoustic measurement results, architectural drawings, and photos. With a couple of the basic guidelines from this book having made it into for instance the Norwegian Standard and the book itself onto the bookshelves of numerous acoustic consultancies, the book’s impact has quickly become significant. It is the hope of the author that it will lead to even better musical experiences.
Contents
1 Principles of Acoustics and Hearing 1
Sound Propagation 3
Sound in Rooms 5
Human Hearing 10
Acoustic Defects: Echo 13
Scattering 13
Acoustic Vocal Sound 14
Absorber Types 15
Audience Absorption 18
Air Absorption 19
Critical Distance and Level of Reverberation 20
Reverberation Time Design 21
Background Noise 23
Sound Levels and Amplified Events 23
2 Auditorium Acoustics: Terms, Language, and Concepts 27
Objective Parameters 32
EDT, Reverberation Time, Liveliness, and Reverberance 32
C 80 , D 50 , Early Reflections, Clarity, and Intimacy 33
LF, Envelopment, and Lateral Reflections 33
G, Strength, and Room Gain 34
Bass Ratio, Warmth, and Bass Response 35
ST, Support, and Ensemble 35
3 Reinforcement of Sound Sources 37
The Sound of a Rock Band 40
Providing Amplified Direct Sound from Loudspeakers 42
Single Point Sources 42
Virtual Point Sources 43
Directional Subwoofer Arrays 44
Split Mono Systems 46
Line Arrays 47
4 Assessments of 20 Halls 53
Amager Bio 54
Forbrændingen 57
Godset 61
Lille VEGA 64
Loppen 67
Magasinet 70
Palletten 73
Pumpehuset 76
Rytmeposten 79
Musikhuzet 82
Skråen 85
Slagelse Musikhus 88
Stars 91
Store VEGA 95
Sønderborghus 98
Tobakken 101
Torvehallerne 104
Train 107
Viften 110
Voxhall 113
5 Recommended Acoustics for Pop and Rock Music 117
The Basis of the Recommendations 119
Results of the Interviews 121
The First Page of the Questionnaire 121
PA System Versus Omnidirectional Source Measurements 122
General Ratings of the Halls 123
Musicians’ Preferences 124
Sound Engineers’ Preference 128
Debate 128
Spectral Analysis of the Survey Data 129
Recommended Reverberation Time for a Given Hall Volume 131
Investigation on Acceptable Reverberation Time at Various Frequency Bands in Halls That Present Amplified Music 133
The Use of Spectral Tolerances Around T30 in Pop and Rock Venues 136
Suitable Reverberation Times in Larger Halls and Arenas 139
6 Design Principles 141
Hall Size 143
Hall Shape 144
The Stage and Its Surroundings 145
Surface Materials 148
Balconies and Overhangs 149
Floor 150
Stage 150
Seating 151
Platforms 151
Sound Insulation 152
Interior Noise Sources 152
Multipurpose Halls 152
Music Schools 154
7 Gallery of Halls that Present Pop and Rock Music Concerts 157
Ancienne Belgique (AB) 157
Materials Used 162
Audience Area 162
Stage Area 162
State of Hall When Measured 163
L’Aeronef 164
Materials Used 167
Audience Area 167
Stage Area 167
State of Hall When Measured 167
Alcatraz 170
Materials Used 173
Audience Area 173
Stage Area 174
State When Measured 174
Apolo La [2] 177
Materials Used 179
Audience Area 179
Stage Area 179
State of Hall When Measured 179
Apolo 182
Materials Used 185
Audience Area 185
Stage Area 185
State of Hall When Measured 185
Astra 187
Materials Used 189
Audience Area 189
Stage Area 189
State of Hall When Measured 190
Bikini 192
Materials Used 195
Audience Area 195
Stage Area 195
State of Hall When Measured 195
Cavern 198
Materials Used 202
Audience Area 202
Stage Area 202
State of Hall When Measured 202
La Coopérative de Mai 204
Materials Used 207
Audience Area 207
Stage Area 207
State of Hall When Measured 207
Le Chabada 209
Materials Used 213
Audience Area 213
Stage Area 213
State of Hall When Measured 213
Cirkus 216
Materials Used 219
Audience Area 219
State of Hall When Measured 219
Le Confort Moderne 222
Materials Used 224
Audience Area 224
Stage Area 224
State of Hall When Measured 225
Debaser Medis 226
Materials Used 229
Audience Area 229
Stage Area 229
State of Hall When Measured 230
Elysée Montmartre 231
Materials Used 235
Audience Area 235
Stage Area 235
State of Hall When Measured 235
Festhalle 237
Materials Used 241
Audience Area 241
Stage Area 241
State of Hall When Measured 241
Forest National 244
Materials Used 248
Audience Area 248
State of Hall When Measured 248
Globen 249
Materials Used 252
Audience Area 252
Stage Area: NA 252
State of Hall When Measured 252
Grosse Freiheit 254
Materials Used 257
Audience Area 257
Stage Area 257
State of Hall When Measured 257
Hallenstadion 259
Materials Used 262
Audience Area 262
Stage Area 262
State of Hall When Measured 262
HMV Hammersmith Apollo 263
Materials Used 268
Audience Area 268
Stage Area 268
State of Hall When Measured 268
Heineken Music Hall 270
Materials Used 274
Audience Area 274
Stage Area 274
State of Hall When Measured 274
Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle 276
Materials Used 279
Audience Area 279
State of Hall When Measured 279
Jyske Bank BOXEN 280
Materials Used 284
Audience Area 284
State of Hall When Measured 284
Kaiser Keller 285
Materials Used 288
Audience Area 288
Stage Area 288
State of Hall When Measured 288
Live Music Club 290
Materials Used 293
Audience Area 293
Stage Area 293
State of Hall When Measured 294
LKA/Langhorn 296
Materials Used 300
Audience Area 300
Stage area 300
State of Hall When Measured 300
Mediolanum Forum 302
Materials Used 306
Audience Area 306
State of Hall When Measured 306
Melkweg—The Max 307
Materials Used 310
Audience Area 310
Stage Area 310
State of Hall When Measured 310
MEN Arena 313
Materials Used 317
Audience Area 317
State of Hall When Measured 317
Nosturi 319
Materials Used 323
Audience Area 323
Stage Area 323
State of Hall When Measured 323
O2 Berlin 324
Materials Used 328
Audience Area 328
State of Hall When Measured 328
O2 World Hamburg 329
Materials Used 331
Audience Area 331
State of Hall When Measured 332
O2 London 333
Materials Used 336
Audience Area 336
State of Hall When Measured 336
O13 Tilburg 337
Materials Used 340
Audience Area 340
Stage Area 340
State of Hall When Measured 341
Olympia 343
Materials Used 347
Audience Area 347
Stage Area 347
State of Hall When Measured 347
Oslo Spektrum Arena 349
Materials Used 353
Audience Area 353
State When Measured 353
Palau Sant Jordi 354
Materials Used 358
Audience Area 358
State of Hall When Measured 358
Paradiso 359
Materials Used 364
Audience Area 364
Stage Area 364
State of Hall When Measured 364
Porsche Arena 367
Materials Used 370
Audience Area 370
State of Hall When Measured 370
Rote Fabrik, Aktionshalle 372
Materials Used 376
Audience Area 376
Stage Area 376
State of Hall When Measured 376
Rote Fabrik Clubraum 378
Materials used 381
Audience Area 381
Stage Area 381
State of Hall When Measured 381
Rockefeller 383
Materials Used 387
Audience Area 387
Stage Area 387
State of Hall When Measured 387
Rockhal 389
Materials Used 392
Audience Area 392
State of Hall When Measured 392
Razzmatazz 1 393
Materials Used 396
Audience Area 396
Stage Area 396
State of Hall When Measured 397
Razzmatazz 2 398
Materials Used 401
Audience Area 401
Stage Area 401
State of Hall When Measured 401
Sala Barcelona’92/Sant Jordi Club 403
Materials Used 406
Audience Area 406
Stage Area 406
State of Hall When Measured 406
Scala 407
Materials Used 410
Audience Area 410
Stage Area 410
State of Hall When Measured 411
Tunnel 412
Materials Used 416
Audience Area 416
Stage Area 416
State of Hall When Measured 416
Vega 419
Materials Used 423
Audience Area 423
Stage Area 423
State of Hall When Measured 423
Wembley Arena 426
Materials Used 429
Audience Area 429
State of Hall When Measured 429
Werk 432
Materials Used 434
Audience Area 434
Stage Area 434
State of Hall When Measured 434
Zeche 436
Materials Used 439
Audience Area 439
Stage Area 439
State of Hall When Measured 439
Zeche Carl Kaue
441
Materials Used 443
Audience Area 443
Stage Area 444
State of Hall When Measured 444
Zénith Paris—La Villette 446
Materials Used 450
Audience Area 450
Stage Area 450
State of Hall When Measured 450
Zenith Strasbourg 452
Materials Used 455
Audience Area 455
State of Hall When Measured 455
Appendix A: Measurements of the 55 Venues Presented in the Gallery in Chapter 7 459
Appendix B 469
Appendix C 475
Appendix D: Two Sound Engineers’ Statements 479
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
N. W. Adelman-LarsenRock and Pop Venueshttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62320-3_1
1. Principles of Acoustics and Hearing
Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen¹
(1)
Flex Acoustics, Copenhagen, Denmark
Niels Werner Adelman-Larsen
Email: nwl@flexac.com
Abstract
What is a sound wave? A way to visualize one can be obtained by imagining the membrane of a loudspeaker that moves back and forth. Air molecules immediately next to the speaker will co-oscillate with the speaker. These air molecules will push and pull their neighbors, which in turn will push and pull their neighbors, and so on, forming a propagating longitudinal wave of oscillating molecules. This is in essence a sound wave: tiny pockets of air, oscillating around an equilibrium position, causing small air pressure variations imposed on the static air pressure. A sound wave travels with a speed of 343 m/s in air at 20 °C. Eventually the propagating wave of these air pressure oscillations will reach a person’s ear drum and cause that to vibrate creating a listening impression in the brain of the listener.
Keywords
Standing waveSound waveSound sourceSound pressure levelSound level
What is a sound wave? A way to visualize it can be obtained by imagining the membrane of a speaker that moves back and forth. Air molecules immediately next to the speaker will co-oscillate with the speaker. These air molecules will push and pull their neighbors, who in turn will push and pull their neighbors, and so on, forming a propagating longitudinal wave of oscillating molecules. This is in essence a sound wave: tiny pockets of air, oscillating around an equilibrium position, causing small air pressure variations imposed on the static air pressure. A sound wave travels with a speed of 343 m/s in air at 20 °C, whereas in solids and fluids the speed is faster, and the total distance through which a wave can travel is longer, mainly due to the higher density of molecules.
The magnitude of the wave determines the amplitude of the sound given by a pressure maximum and a pressure minimum, as graphically interpreted in Fig. 1.1. Because the human ear is capable of detecting sound levels ranging from 1 unit to sounds one million times louder, the decibel (dB) scale has been introduced. Named after Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922), the decibel is a logarithmic unit and overcomes thereby the handling of very large numbers. The decibel is used to measure sound levels and of course therefore also sound level differences.
../images/186726_2_En_1_Chapter/186726_2_En_1_Fig1_HTML.pngFig. 1.1
Graphic representation of a pure tone. One period equals the wavelength of the tone
The quietest sound that the human ear can detect is about 0 dB, and the least