We live in a world of sound reflections.  We hear is a combination of direct sound, coming to us directly from its sources, and reflected sound, that reaches us after bouncing off the objects and surfaces around us.  These reflections define the acoustics of our environment.  They are important to our perception of sound and the spaces we are in.

Our recordings also include a mix of direct sound and sound that captures the acoustics of the recording venue. This latter sound may consist of real reflections, captured in the recording process, or it may be created in the studio using delays, artificial reverberation and other studio techniques.  This combination forms the sound experience that the creators of the recording intend us to have.

When we play the recording this intended sound is altered by:

• Imperfections in the playback system, producing direct sound from our speakers that is different from what is on the recording.
• The acoustics of the listening room, which produces reflections that are not part of the original recording.

We generally expend a lot of effort, and often also a considerable amount of money, to address the imperfections we perceive in our audio system.  And well we should.  However, sound reflections in the listening room can also cause a number of problems, like:

• Uneven bass response, with some bass frequencies being emphasised and others missing. The quality and quantity of bass also varies from place to place in the room.
• Long reverberation, with reflections of earlier sounds obscuring later ones.
• Ringing in the midrange and treble, as reflections bounce back and forth in the room.
• Imprecise imaging and a small soundstage.

Often, little or no attention is paid to the acoustics of our listening space.  This is unfortunate because:

• Most listening rooms have some acoustic problems.
• Addressing room acoustic problems often provides a greater improvement than an audio system upgrade.
• Room acoustic problems prevent us from getting the full benefit of any system upgrade we do make.
• It typically costs less to correct room acoustic problems than it does to upgrade the audio system. In fact some acoustic solutions are available at no cost at all, requiring only some thought and effort.

Sound reflections are an inescapable consequence of listening to sound in rooms.  Our challenge is to craft a listening room whose reflections create a natural listening environment and don’t detract from the sonic experience of our recordings. This requires an understanding of acoustics, how sound behaves, and psychoacoustics, how we perceive sound.  These are both complex subjects, but, fear not.  We don’t need to be experts in these disciplines.  There are general principles that we can apply that can reliably yield improvements and guide our tuning efforts.

Ultimately is comes down to understanding sound reflections, the problems they can cause, and the approaches available to reduce or eliminate their negative impacts.

© Wayne Butcher