{"items": [{"author": "Hollis", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311086632300548", "anchor": "fb-311086632300548", "service": "fb", "text": "Hanging quilts and fabric isn't all that effective, either--you need a lot of mass before you start really cutting reflections down into the frequency range where reflected sound causes problems. Most fabric isn't a very good broad-spectrum absorber at all.
Something I wish halls would do: there are tons of (free) plans for relatively cheap homemade bass traps and corner absorbers that actually work, because they're made out of the right materials. Many of them are even portable, so they can be wheeled into place and then put away after the gig. I wish more venues would invest a few hundred dollars in materials and a couple of days of volunteer labor and build themselves some permanent sound absorption capacity. All the sound-producing activities would benefit!", "timestamp": "1336662891"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311099815632563", "anchor": "fb-311099815632563", "service": "fb", "text": "@Hollis: don't they have to be big? This sounds like more heavy bulky gear that would need to be brought to the hall each time.", "timestamp": "1336664604"}, {"author": "BDan", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311102892298922", "anchor": "fb-311102892298922", "service": "fb", "text": "Just have all of your music consist of ducks quacking, since they don't echo. ;-)", "timestamp": "1336665021"}, {"author": "Hollis", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311106108965267", "anchor": "fb-311106108965267", "service": "fb", "text": "Yes, they do have to be big--but they don't have to be ugly. I'm talking about permanent installation stuff for the hall--most halls suffer from bad acoustic design, with way too much early reflection for clear sound. You can mount the quilts/etc., OVER a real bass trap and have it still work, and you get a much tighter room sound.", "timestamp": "1336665465"}, {"author": "John", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311107282298483", "anchor": "fb-311107282298483", "service": "fb", "text": "How about a system where all dancers, musicians, and observers wore wireless headphones? You wouldn't have to worry about Hall acoustics and if they were fancy ones with their own equalizers each person could make his or her own adjustments.", "timestamp": "1336665606"}, {"author": "Jeff Kaufman", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=311124895630055", "anchor": "fb-311124895630055", "service": "fb", "text": "@John: Many dancers use the direction sound is coming from to help orient themselves. [1] With wireless headphones you can't do that.
[1] I've always been curious how much this is what happens. Some time when I'm running sound in a hall like whistlestop that has speakers in all four corners of the room I'd like to switch the sound from the front to the back during a dance and see how much it confuses people and whether it's specific people or everyone.", "timestamp": "1336667619"}, {"author": "Mac", "source_link": "https://www.facebook.com/jefftk/posts/311051202304091?comment_id=312074825535062", "anchor": "fb-312074825535062", "service": "fb", "text": "Fabric by itself is, indeed, ineffective. But if you place it in front of sound deadening foam (a real product, not the dumb egg crate stuff) and put a couple of inches of space behind it, making sure it all meets flammability codes, and you put up enough of it -- yup, you can fix new plaster walls. Both in Scout House and Guiding Star Grange. (The first time I went to GSG after the new walls were put in, while walking up to the hall, it sounded like I was approaching a football stadium. Loud crowd noise.)", "timestamp": "1336794780"}]}