Skip to main content

Performance and Worship

“Silence is golden” is more than just an aphorism.  Silence is the blank canvas on which the experience unfolds, be it musical, dramatic, or liturgical.  Wise implementation of noise control features early in the design gives the best results.  Buildings can be retro-fitted for quiet, but usually with incomplete success and high costs.

By contrast a noisy room reduces intelligibility, obscures reverberation, reduces envelopment, destroys intimacy, and forces reliance on a sound system.   It is analogous to trying to watch a performance through thick fog.

Reverberation is another important consideration.  The room volume and surfaces should be selected to foster an appropriate balance between music and speech.  Opera and worship share many desirable characteristics; whereas organ music and lecture formats require very different approaches.

Discrete echoes and reflections can play havoc with speech and music.  These can be anticipated and managed.  Nelson Acoustics has also developed tools for troubleshooting spaces that are already in use.

Nelson Acoustics provides consulting services for design, testing, troubleshooting, and retrofitting performance- and worship spaces.

concert hall noise
church acoustics
error: Content is protected.