Andrea Farnetani

A Note on the Acoustics of Orchestra Rehearsal Rooms

The acoustical conditions of rehearsal rooms are of primary importance during the training process of an orchestra. Therefore these spaces should be specifically designed to allow the musicians to clearly hear themselves and each other. At the same time an appropriate sound level should be maintained to avoid extensive exposure to high pressure levels. Despite the peculiar role of these rooms in the musical production, the criteria for their acoustical design are not still sufficiently clarified. This paper deals with a description of a design process which, starting from simple formulas of a reverberant field, leads to investigate the relevance of geometrical and acoustical parameters on the final performance of a rehearsal room. The influence of the values of the ratio V/N (Volume/Number of musicians), S/N (floor surface/number of musicians), W/N (Sound power/Number of musicians) on objective acoustic parameters such as STEarly (Early support) will be described. A guideline for the acoustic design of an orchestra rehearsal room will be finally proposed. Some specific case histories of rehearsal rooms will be discussed.

The acoustical design of rehearsal rooms for orchestra and choir in the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari

The acoustical conditions of rehearsal rooms are of primal importance during the training process of an orchestra or a choir. For this reason these spaces should be specifically designed to allow the musicians to clearly ear themselves and each other. At the same time an appropriate sound level should be maintained to avoid extensive exposure to high levels, which is a risk seldom lamented among musicians. Notwithstanding the peculiar role of these rooms in the musical production process, their acoustical requirements are still not sufficiently clarified. In particular the most effective parameters to employ and the best ranges to adopt need further investigations. This work reports the final acoustical optimization of the orchestra and choir rehearsal rooms in the Teatro Lirico in Cagliari (Italy). The comparison between the acoustical parameters before and after the refurbishment will be shown and discussed, with a focus on the difference between the sound level generated by the performer himself and by the others.

An Ambiophonics system for the study of intelligibility in the virtual classrooms

In recent years the investigations on the intelligibility has profited by the increasing efficiency of the simulation and rendering technologies of virtual acoustics. In particular the latest systems are well suited to reproduce sound fields whose tridimensional characteristics are quite close to the real ones both objectively and subjectively. In this framework the Ambiophonics system, consisting of the merging of a double stereo‐dipole and of an first order Ambisonics system, has gained particular attention. In the configuration used in this work the system employs twelve loudspeakers and is fed either with measured binaural and B‐format data or by simulated ones. Based on this apparatus listening tests have been prepared in the Italian language to investigate the acoustics of classrooms and to focus on the effect of the directional characteristics of noise (i.e., fan‐coils or tapping from the upper floor) on the intelligibility of words. The whole apparatus is driven by a Labview application which has ...

On the use of ancient theatres for modern performances: a scale model approach

Ancient theatres are widely used today for modern performances including drama, music and ballets. Despite the state of conservation of the stage, the scenery is seldom designed with little care about its acoustical efficiency. Moreover, depending on the specific venue, a sound system can be employed in the performance. To clarify the acoustical impact of all these elements in ancient theatres, different stage settings and a sound sytem were investigated by means of scale model measurements. The scale model is a 1:20 scale reproduction of the ancient theatre of Siracusa (Italy). It is conceived as modular structure so that different configurations of the cavea and of the stage can be reproduced. To investigate the stage‐set effects different groups of reflecting panels were arranged on the platform and an orchestra shell was tested too. Then, to simulate the sound system, two directional high frequency sources were assembled and optimized. The interplay of stage, sound system and theatre architecture was ...

Acoustical measurements in ancient Roman theatres

The Greek and Roman theatres are among the most precious and spectacular items of cultural heritage in the Mediterranean countries. The theatres are famous not only for their impressive architecture, but also for the acoustic qualities. For this reason it is important to consider these theatres as an acoustical heritage and to study their sound field. Within the activities of the ERATO (identification Evaluation and Revival of the Acoustical heritage of ancient Theatres and Odea) project, acoustical measurements were taken in well‐preserved ancient Roman theatres at Aspendos (Turkey) and Jerash (Jordan). Roman theatres have an impressive stage building that forms a back wall in the orchestra area, and it was found that, from the analysis of the acoustical parameters, the reverberation time (e.g., 1.7 s at middle frequencies in the theatre of Aspendos) is quite long compared not only with other open‐space theatres but also with closed spaces. Contrary to modern halls the clarity is high and this fact, toge...