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SE MusicLab - variable room acoustics, direct sound experience at 5m listening distance

napfkuchen

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Mar 9, 2022
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Location
Germany
Saw this video about Jürgen Strauss recently. It's in German (with minimal signs of Swiss dialect), but subtitles are available:


Mr. Strauss builds loudspeakers (passive studio monitors, but recently also loudspeakers for the home: https://strauss-elektroakustik.de/) and also realizes recording studio projects.
Several very interesting rooms are featured/mentioned in the video:

1. A recording studio with variable room acoustics: different acoustic elements can be manually (de)activated and the reverberation time can be varied in different frequency ranges between 500 and 1,200 ms.

2. A mastering studio with massive acoustic damping (bass absorber in the floor... wtf) and line sound sources for the ultimate direct sound experience at 4.7m seating distance, Mr. Strauss calls it the “open window.” The intention behind this is to eliminate the acoustics of the studio as a variable in the music.

3. A one-person cinema that tries to put aside any compromises and create ideal audiovisual experience for one person.

I think these are fascinating approaches and I would probably have to be pulled out of this experience like a little child out of a sandbox. I don't want to judge the different approaches to room acoustic measures. It would be the ultimate place to test out the advantages/disadvantages (or personal preferences when just listening to music) because of the ability to experience rooms with such different (sometimes flexible) sound characteristics.
 

jacobacci

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Jan 3, 2018
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I visited SE Musiclab in Wabern on 20th Feb in a small group of 6. Extremely impressive. The sound is totally immersive and completely reproduces the soundspace of the mix. It really shows the differences in 3D mixes. Some classical mixes are 'realistic', giving an illusion of sitting in a concert hall, with all the right spacial cues, some give you the impression of sitting in the middle of the orchestra. Others (like yello) are sonic fireworks with sound coming from all sides.
It strikes me how easy it is for multichannel reproduction to convey a 3D sound experience. Stereo can use only two sources, so it has to convey the spacial cues much more time accurate than multichannel to give the same illusion.
A big thanks to Jürgen Strauss for building this tool.
 
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napfkuchen

napfkuchen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2022
Messages
348
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Location
Germany
Wow, I am jealous. :D
 
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