Professional Diploma in

Sound Engineering
Lesson 5: Real vs Digital Acoustics
Real vs Digital
acoustics
 Distinguish between early and late reflections
Know the difference between reverb and delay
Understand using reverb and delay
Add delay for musical and non-musical effect

Objectives
Lesson 5
 Echo in the
How sound bounces
mountains

Acoustics

Reverberation the Understand our

kitchen environment
 • In an ideal setup, vibrating
sphere = free field
Propagation • Sound waves propagate
and reflection omnidirectionally
• Sound waves lose power over
distance
Free field
Imagine hanging in the air

No objects/surfaces
for sound reflection

Only hear your own

voice in your head
Anechoic chambers

Simulate free field environments

Absorb all sound

Most quiet rooms in the world

(Animations for Physics and Astronomy, 2020)
Wave
propagation
Spring model

Air molecules push and pull

Compression and rarefraction

Reflection
Sound bounces off surfaces

Tiles and walls vs couches and pillows

Cinema vs parking garage

 Sound reflects Wavelength =
Wave + reflected
between two distance between
wave = phase sum
surfaces surfaces

Standing
waves
116 Hz = 3M wavelength
• Two walls 3m apart
• 116 Hz tone = 3m wavelength
• 332 Hz = 1.5m wavelength
• Peaks coincide = wave amplify
 Standing Waves
Two waves with the same frequency, wavelength, and amplitude travelling in opposite directions
will interfere and produce a standing wave or stationary wave.

(Treci, 2012)
In your studio

Standing waves have higher amplitudes

We hear them louder than the original

sound wave alone

If there are standing waves in our

studios, we will make mixing mistakes
Diffusion
Standing wave has constant pressure
nodes

The nodes don’t move and create a

standing wave

Break the standing wave through diffusion

Diffuse 6 surfaces
Every room has thousands of modes

Diffuse sound to spread energy evenly

Disrupts pressure nodes

 Avoid reflections!

Reflections mix with

In studio we prefer We need to minimise
direct sound and
direct sound from reflections to hear
monitors changes how we hear the mix correctly
the mix
Diffuser panels
• Each block mathematically determined
• Design depends on room dimensions
• Every diffuser is unique to the room it is
built for
Unique diffusers
Reflected sound and direct sound mix

We hear the mix wrong

 Address reflections

Build
Software to perform calculations
your own

Diffuse standing waves

and other sound
Absorption
Improve sound quality of a room

Reflections have a lot of power

Absorption to reduce
power of reflections
Absorption panel
= sound airbag
• Absorbs some sound
• Reflects sound – with less power
• Acts as an airbag to absorb most of the power
Reverberation

Early reflections Late reflections

Early reflections
• Reflections take less than 100ms
• Many fast reflections
• Reverb: used for sonic
enhancement
RT60
Reverberation time of a room

Time taken for sound power to drop with

60 dB
Reverberation time
• Material, dimensions of surfaces
• Direct sound vs reflected sound
• Compare rooms in your house: clap and listen
 • Digital models are practically
endless
Reverb • Blend instruments and other
in a DAW sonic elements
• Adjustable parameters:
Decay, feedback, wet/dry
mix, HP/LP filter
Reverb: decay
Sound reflects many times

Thousands of reflections in a sound

How quickly will reflections stop?

That’s the decay setting

Types of reverb • Indoor vs outdoor ambience
• Direct vs reflected signal
 Direct vs reflected Wet is more Dry is more direct
sound ratio reflected sound signal

Wet/dry mix
 Sounds like an
Late reflections After 100 ms
echo

What is delay?
Reflections

Early reflections Late reflections

indicate space sound like a echo
In a DAW
Copy of original signal played a little later

Contributes unique features to music

Time delay
• Two main delay settings: time and beats
• Match tempo to blend instruments and vocals
• Set in ms to highlight an element
 High pass filter = HP

More controls Low pass filter = LP

Ping pong delays

 Delay out of sync with tempo
Stereo highlights
Time in ms
Blending delays
Related to tempo

16th notes faster delays and more

stutter effect

¼ note – whole note delays for

smoothing out
 Blending with filters

LP filter = HP filter = Vocals =

warmer delays brighter delays go try it for yourself!
 Conclusion

Earl reflections Late reflections

Acoustics = reverb = delay
Early reflections
• Gives sense of space
• Enhance acoustics with reverb
• Podcast – no or very little reverb
• Pop Vocals – probably more
• Add width to stereo field
Late reflections

Sound fullness Smoothen melodies

 Listen with
Use with caution Small amounts your ears, not
your eyes!

Reverb vs
Delay
Completed lessons

1 2 3 4 See you
soon for
5 6 7 8
Lesson 6