The Studio SOS Book

Chapter Two

Sound Absorbers

The ideal recording or monitoring room is one where the reflections and reverberation of all frequencies decay fairly quickly and at a similar rate, so that the sound remains tonally balanced. In a room with a lot of hard, reflective surfaces – wood, glass, tiles, polished concrete, etc. – the high frequencies bounce around a lot longer than the mid and low frequencies, and we perceive the space as being ‘bright-sounding’. Conversely, a room with a lot of carpet and soft furnishings, where the high frequencies are absorbed and therefore decay more rapidly than the low frequencies, will tend to sound warmer or perhaps even rather dull. The fundamental aim of acoustic treatment, therefore, is to try to control the sound ...