Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/03/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Steve Add bespoke shoes to your list Joseph Low -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg at leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Steve Barbour Sent: Friday, 6 March, 2009 5:45 AM To: Leica Users Group Subject: Re: [Leica] Acoustics - more than you wanted to know On Mar 5, 2009, at 1:19 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > > On Mar 5, 2009, at 11:01 AM, Gary wrote: > >>> Hi Jan - Beautiful violins! Just yesterday I was at our local >>> theater, comparing its acoustical qualities to a Stradivarius. >>> Check a photo of it at: >>> http://www.northcoastphotos.com/Lympa_2007_07_05.htm >>> It was built as a vaudeville theater in about 1920 when someone >>> really knew how to design un-amplified acoustics. While the theater >>> was recently being restored, I did the photo-documentation of the >>> project. A simple guitar solo or small orchestra without >>> microphones sounds wonderful there! But put a loud amplified band >>> in there and it all turns to mush. > > > The good acoustics of older concert halls owes more to the type of > construction than to careful design. Older buildings featured a beam > and masonry construction that was both massive and reflected sound > well. Further, the ornamentation schemes were fussy and provided a > number of angled and rounded surfaces that reflected sound to all > portions of the hall. The acoustics of some halls were fabulous, > although mostly created by accident. The old Carnegie Hall, the > Milan Opera House, the Mormon Tabernacle, and Harvard's Sanders > Theater were praised by musicians and audiences alike. In contrast, > recent concert hall construction with stronger but lighter materials > and modern design, flat surfaces, and austere decoration often > reflected sound in unusual patterns, producing dead spots in the > hall. A number of these halls have had to have extensive acoustical > reengineering before the sound was up to the old standards. > > For a number of years I had an office and lab in the Gramercy Park > Stables, a building owned by the City Univ. of New York. True to > it's name, the building was constructed around 1880 to house the > horses and carriages of rich Gramercy Park area residents. It was > constructed very solidly to bear the weight of the horses. A large > riding paddock was on the ground floor to exercise the horses during > bad weather. By the late 60s, when I worked there, the horses had > moved out and the stalls converted to offices. The riding paddock > became an auditorium. Both the RCA Symphony orchestra and the NY > Symphony orchestra used the auditorium as a recording studio because > its acoustics were exceptional and could not be duplicated modern > New York buildings. Similarly Sanders Theater, built in the decade > following the Civil War, was used as a recording venue by the Boston > Symphony. Many of the great musical records were created in antique > concert halls. In a similar sense, many great photographs were made > by antique Leicas and lenses. They had a signature that can't be > duplicated by modern equipment. Alas, they don't make cameras or > concert halls like they used to. totally agree Larry...great science does not make great art... true of lenses and halls... and violins :-) to the halls, for concert accoustics, I recall the Academy of Music, Philadelphia...and Severance Hall, Cleveland... Steve > > Larry Z > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information