Acoustic Sciences News

The design and construction of Bruce's studio,
Sound, rooms and microphones,
MATT testing monitor playback performance,
The midfield wrap-around Awall Bruce uses for mixing,
How he uses sound fusion and QSF for gathering full bodied "direct" signals in the live room,
The difference between and uses for coherent and incoherent diffusers,
How signal masking or clarity in the mix depends on the reverb setting.

This was the 4th of Bruce's present series of mentoring workshops: "In The Studio with Bruce Swedien" is a comprehensive one week "reprogramming" course for recording engineers who come from all over the world. They hope to discover and take home some of Bruce's technical tricks but who they meet is an engineer who does not even use compressors, limiters or EQ and who never even tries to fix it in the mix. He's a sound recording artist who does his mixing at the mic. And that's just the beginning. Bruce's mentoring classes are a rare, life changing opportunity for studio engineers to relearn how to approach their work in recording from one of the true and great Master Engineers in recording history.

Project designer Jim Logan of Logan Productions, brought in ASC's Arthur Noxon to come up with an acoustics plan that would retain the existing brick look. It was one of Mr. Noxon's most challenging assignments, as dozens of ideas were considered, then rejected by Miller. They insisted on an exact replica of what was already there. Project manager Michael Adams had his hands full as the ASC Design Team pushed the acoustic envelope.

ASC has been asked to provide the acoustic control package for the upcoming live production of The WHO's Tommy, the ground-breaking rock opera composed by Who guitarist Pete Townshend in 1969. It will be presented for the first time in sonic 3-D via headphones for each and every audience member. Acoustic Sciences Corporation, home of the TubeTrap, is proud to be a part of the excitement. Recording Studio expert and top sales producer Ty Moyer will be managing ASC's contribution of the world's best acoustic enhancement for the 3-D show. A huge shout-out needs to go to ASC's factory techs who dropped everything, showed up early and worked late to get the rush order out to LA.

The L.A. Times rates this show as This Summer's Best in Theater. Here's what they're saying. "A new mounting of the "The Who's Tommy" opened at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre on June 20 for a two-week run. The marvelous Alice Ripley, who was in Des McAnuff's original Broadway production, joins a cast that includes Nona Hendryx as the Acid Queen and Aleks Pevec as Tommy. But what might make the experience unique is the use of 3-D Sound, a new audio system that suggests what really cool Sensurround might be like -- plugged directly into your body."

June, 2008-

ASC was recently called in to help fix a persistent noise issue caused by the building's water heater exhaust vents. The vents, which were quite noisy, had somehow been positioned less than 100 feet away from neighboring residences. When the heating system turned on, the vents created a noise nuisance, and a call was placed to ASC for help.

ASC Provides Acoustic Engineering and Custom Products for Miller Brewing

May, 2008-

ASC's ace special projects guru Michael Adams is the Project Manager working with ASC President Arthur Noxon to create a custom acoustics package for Miller Brewing. Miller is converting a storage cave at the brewery into a visitor center and museum that will also be used for hosting dinner events. Jim Logan of Logan Productions is designing the project in close consultation with ASC.

How do you make a cave sound great? It's not easy, but the great team at ASC dreamed up a unique absorption panel that looks like the original bricks lining the cave walls. When we're done, the cave will look the same, but it will have the intelligibility and the acoustic qualities able to handle dinner guests.

ASC Church Acoustics Featured in March 2008 Church and Worship Technology Magazine Article

March, 2008-

ASC TubeTraps Featured in March 2008 Home Theater Magazine Article

March, 2008-

ASC's own Richard Johnson helped Gary Altunian in part two of an article in the Audio Video Interiors "tear out guide" in Home Theater Magazine, covers the ASC TubeTrap in detail. The name of the article is "Unlocking the Best Audio Performance From Your System". We'll post a direct link when one become available. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

"The speakers seemed to virtually disappear, replaced by a three-dimensional sonic image of the recording with a soundstage I've only heard on the finest audio systems. Details I've never heard in some recordings were suddenly there, as if I were playing a different version of the same performance. Separation of multiple instruments and vocals was obvious and stunning. The TubeTraps produced a remarkable difference."

ASC's Art Noxon Featured in February 2008 Home Theater Magazine Article

February, 2008-

Arthur Noxon recently shared his acoustic expertise with Gary Altunian for an article in the Audio Video Interiors "tear out guide" in Home Theater Magazine. The name of the article is "Unlocking the Best Audio Performance From Your System". We'll post a direct link when one become available. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

"The dimensions, shape, and features of a listening room can have a profound effect on sound quality, starting with the bass. Based on its dimensions and shape, every room has resonant modes or standing wave resonances that either reinforce or attenuate bass frequencies. The most common malady is boomy or heavy bass. And if the bass isn't right, nothing sounds good. Room-resonance modes are present in frequencies from 20 hertz up to about 300 Hz, and they first occur when a sound's wavelength is twice the length of the room. They also occur at twice, three times, and four times the first or fundamental frequency. For example, if a room resonance exists at 48 Hz, a second resonance will exist at 96 Hz, a third at 144 Hz, and so on. The room's width and height also create the own room resonances, and where these resonant frequencies combine, they cause peaks and/or dips in the bass response. Art Noxon, president of Acoustic Sciences Corporation, a manufacturer of acoustic treatment products, describes the best bass as individual pulses followed by quiet, or intersonic silence. Each bass note should sound distinct; nonetheless, room resonances tend to blur the bass and make all bass notes sound the same."

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose rapid decline into an abyss of drug abuse shocked fans last year, won five Grammy Awards on Sunday after taking a break from rehab to perform at the show from London."

Khaliq Glover, aka Khaliq-o-Vision, travelling studio engineer for Herbie Hancock, swears by his ATTACK Wall and QSF.

"But jazz veteran Herbie Hancock was the surprise winner of the coveted album of the year award for the all-star Joni Mitchell tribute "River: The Joni Letters," preventing Winehouse from enjoying a historic clean sweep of the top four Grammy prizes."

Cry-Baby is a musical based on the movie. They are developing the play in San Diego area and then will take it to Broadway. They contacted us about orchestra pit acoustics and we developed a cost effective package for them. We were ready to ship the system but because of the firestorm down there, shipping had been shut down. Still, when it comes to show business, it’s always the same: The show must go on. As previously announced, Cry-Baby will have its world premiere at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse from November 6th through December 23rd. Visit www.lajollaplayhouse.org for more information on Cry-Baby showtimes.

"It’s amazing, much better than we could imagine. There is clarity, both inside the pit and outside, on stage and in the seating area. Everyone is hearing it right. Monitor levels and usage are way down. Who’d have guessed? The 13 piece band hears each other really well, with minimal to no monitor use.

The pit is always a crowded place but still, the acoustic panels and traps fit right in. They were easy to setup and adjust. And they don’t seem to take up any room or be in the way. We had to put the sax way out to one side, near the pinched down far end of the pit. He sounded so far way. We added one Studio Trap in each corner and rotated the reflectors towards the sax and now the sax sounds like he’s in the middle of the band.

Something else, the band can now hear each other, unusually well. This means that even minor musical adjustments by any instrument can be instantly heard and incorporated into the rest of the band. Thank you guys very, very much."

Design credits include: Ragtime (West End) Olivier Award nomination – Best Sound Design, Children’s Letters to God, Laughing Room Only, Chef’s Theater, Dora the Explorer – Live! (US National Tour), Scooby-Doo Live! (US National Tour), Ovations! Concerts of Great American Musicals (Chicago Auditorium Theater), Blue’s Clues – Live! (US National Tour), Exactly Like You (York Theatre Company), Spoleto Festival U.S.A. (1999 - 2002 seasons), and Niketown (NYC).

What can we say. We’re proud to be allowed in the pit, let along to help voice it. We had to invent a great little self-standing super thick sound panel, with built in diffusion that loves to stand stable against the wall, that is low cost. We used an old technique we used to use for getting half round TubeTraps to stand up against walls. We also sent over 2 sets of StudioTraps. They were going to use them at one end for the drums but we’re glad they learned quickly how to mess around with the Studios to be able to fix the Sax, who got stuck at the other end of the pit.

We are sorry to hear that Porter Wagoner passed on yesterday. His name and sound are so familiar. One song in particular from his last album, Wagonmaster, is getting lots of airtime right now. It is “Committed to Parkview” by Johnny Cash and was recorded with Marty Stuart at OMNIsound in Nashville. In the video of the song, he is surrounded by ASC Studio Traps and they are also in photos from the actual recording session. We are very proud to have played even the smallest role in helping to record his voice.

They were actually more like "ears-on" demonstrations, as we showed the unique damping features of WallDamp. This was a side-by-side wall assembly, one with WallDamp, one without. Participants were invited to tap each assembly with a rubber mallet to hear the difference, which was dramatic to say the least. One side sided like a boing, the other like a dull thud. We'll leave it to you to figure out which was which.

"As far as the sonic performance of the ASC TubeTraps goes, I won't equivocate—the full ASC TubeTrap treatment in my room made a bigger improvement in my system's sound than any component upgrade I've ever made. I noticed the improvement before I even fired up the stereo. Speaking voices possessed a natural timbre and effortlessness that I've not experienced in such a small space. Flutter echo was banished, but the resultant acoustic was not in any way overly dead or unnatural."

Engineer and ASC founder Art Noxon custom designed this product to fit a pair of Tannoy Ellipse 8 monitors. It's much more than a simple nook, because these active tri-amped monitors can pack a punch across a huge bandwidth (40 Hz to 50 kHz). Because of that, the bridge, which spans the lower TubeTrap Monitor Stand and the twin upper TubeTrap tops, has to be acoustically transparent. In addition, the Ellipse 8 includes a top mounted tweeter which has to fit comfortably in the bridge.

Bruce Swedien recently moved and of course, he's building a new Westviking Studio. He's using a steel building that came with his new property as the base structure, and adding a "room within a room" concept to achieve good sound isolation. ASC WallDamp is being used extensively throughout the project to damp low frequency sound and calm the walls. Bruce has retained his good friend Art Noxon for all the acoustic engineering and approval of the plans.

"The ASC SubTrap works as advertised. It reduces vibration transmission through the floor, improves the frequency response in the mid and upper bass regions, reduces low frequency reverberant decay times, and it locates the subwoofer closer to the height of the main speakers. Not surprisingly, this unique combination of engineered performance features results in an audible improvement in the bass quality."

AVRev.com's Top 100 of 2003

December, 2003

Acoustic Sciences Corporation was honored in the 2003 AudioRevolution.com Top 100 Awards for ASC TubeTraps™. Even with the emergence of many new products in the audio-video world, TubeTraps are still an indispensable part of any critical listening environment.

AudioRevolution.com publisher Jerry Del Colliano made final rankings, and ASC TubeTraps were given a #90 spot, as the description credits TubeTraps to “quickly solve evil acoustic problems in your room.” TubeTraps are essential components of any critical listening setup, be it professional recording, music playback, or home theater.

“Think we’re kidding,” says AudioRevolution.com, “try removing them from your room and then do some critical listening."

TubeTraps are available direct from ASC, and come in a variety of sizes and fabric styles. Contact ASC by calling (800) ASC-TUBE, or through this website.

To see ASC’s Top 100 ranking, click here. A full review of TubeTraps is also available on the AudioRevolution.com website by clicking here.