Blooloop’s latest Innovation Session, presented in partnership with Buro Happold and Vanguardia, a Buro Happold company, looked at acoustic and sound system design.
Ben Burgess, Jim Griffiths and Daryl Prasad spoke about acoustic design, experience, atmosphere and immersive experiences.
The webinar also featured an interview between Jim Griffiths and Joe O’Herlihy, the fifth member of U2. O’Herlihy spoke about the importance of sound and acoustic in performance venues, using his experience of touring with U2 to inform advice he has given to Vanguardia during the design and commissioning phases of many projects.
Acoustic phenomena and design
Ben started the webinar by discussing acoustic phenomena and considerations for design. These include noise break-in, noise break-out, sound insulation and room acoustics. All of these phenomena have to be considered carefully when in the design process to ensure the best acoustic atmosphere within a venue.
Other key factors to take into consideration when looking at acoustic design are services noise and AV & SoundSystem Design.
He spoke about the work Buro Happold has done at various locations, such as HOME in Manchester and the BBC Concert Studios in London, which used a 1.5-metre thick piece of glass.
Experience and atmosphere
Jim then spoke about aspects of a venue that are key to experience and atmosphere. He used the example of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They created the ‘Atmosphere Wheel’ to understand what Tottenham wanted from the sound and experience, and then looked at design elements that will help create the desired atmosphere.
Clients often want an ‘intimidating’ atmosphere, and Jim explained that the design element is understanding what this means and how it can be created, whilst still adhering to regulations like BS Standards. A designer must balance sound and acoustics within the space. This will affect the type of sound system put in and where the sound system is put in.
He then explained that the sound system is very important. There are several types of systems, such as a rotating delay speaker, sub bass speakers and line array speakers. The rotation delay speaker, for example, can be rotated into different positions based on if a sporting event is taking place or a concert.
Jim then spoke about the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. This will use some unique Holoplot speakers to create an immersive sound experience.
In conversation with Joe O’Herlihy
Jim then spoke with Joe O’Herlihy who spoke about arenas he has experience with from an end-user point of view. Joe emphasised the importance of considering the end-user when designing a venue’s sound, especially as most venues are designed to be multipurpose.
Some venues are very difficult for artists to play as the sound and acoustics are not designed for music concerts, and are instead designed purely for sporting events, for example. Joe explained that once a venue has then been designed to be multipurpose it is a much better experience for the artist and for the audience.
AV trends for design
Daryl then spoke about audio-visual trends and considerations for design. One of the biggest trends he is seeing is the inclusion of immersive experiences. Stereo is the default audio for immersive experiences, however, it only works when you’re on the direct centre line between the two speakers. If you go to a gig, for example, it’s impossible for everyone to be standing on the direct centre line, so you get no benefit from a stereo system.
Instead, you want to localise sound to the exact position of the performer on stage. There are several ways to do this in spatial audio, and these formats are gaining traction recently. These tools are now able to allow creative people to create exciting content using this technology.
Loudspeaker technology is also changing, and they’re creating plain wave loudspeakers. Holoplot and EDC Acoustics are doing this, and these loudspeakers have a large number of drivers within them which allows for interesting digital processing meaning you can send sound to exact locations. This means you can give people an immersive experience much more easily.
Daryl, Jim and Ben then answered some questions from the audience. The entire conversation is now available to watch on-demand here.
