Are you getting the sound right?
Have you ever set-up your system and had it sounding so fantastic you have spent the rest of the night patting yourself on the back - yet the next venue you do it sounds awful!
When you install a sound system in a venue - the venue plays a significant role in determining the sound generated by the sound system. A sound system will deliver the expected results only when the sound system users understand the acoustic environment they are in and arrange the sound system in the environment correctly and accurately.
If you move your equipment from one location to another, it's no surprise that a percentage of your customers may complain about the sound of your equipment. If you happen to have occasional poor karaoke show results, do not blame the sound system right away! Some adjustment of your sound system arrangement to fit the acoustic environment may be the answer.
What is a Karaoke system?
A karaoke sound system is an electrical unit for amplifying the voice from one or more people and the music stored is delivering the amplified sound to a desired area where the audience is. The location of the speakers are the sources of the amplified sound. As the amplified sound transmits out to the audience it is reduced the further it travels. How much loudness and clearness of the amplified sound at a certain location is entirely dependent upon the sound pressure/quality delivered by the speakers and the surrounding environment.
What's the venue/ place got to do with it?
The general acoustic characteristic factors include the ambient temperature, time of a day, humidity, air composition, wind velocity (speed and direction), wind velocity variation, ground configuration, ground material, and the material and configuration of all the objects above the ground.
Knowing how sound works can help you set-up your system correctly
Sound travels at the speed of about 1,100 feet per second. The sound speed will be increased if the ambient temperature is raised. When the ambient temperature is lowered, the sound speed will be reduced. Therefore, sound emitted from a sound source located on an area with the ground temperature warmer than the air temperature will be bent upwards as the sound speed at the lower air layer is higher than the sound speed at the higher air layer. When the ground temperature is cooler than the air temperature, sound emitted from a sound source in the area will be bent downwards. Based upon the above observation, the speakers are better to be placed higher than the audiences in karaoke shows to be held in the early morning, late at night or whenever the ground temperature is lower than the air temperature.
What if the ground temperature is higher?
If the ground temperature is higher than the air temperature, such as at noon with clear sky and burning sun, the speakers are better to be placed at the lowest ground of the show area and let the audiences be seated at the higher ground area. Since the audiences may block the sound transmitted from the speakers, it may be a good practice to have the speakers higher than the height of the audiences sitting on the first few rows. Sound will be attenuated by the air and the degree of attenuation depends upon the relative humidity of the air. The higher the sound frequency is, the higher the sound will be attenuated. Also, the higher the relative humidity is, the lower the sound will be attenuated.
The ground plays the role of sound absorbent.
Some ground material, such as carpet or grass, tends to be better sound absorbent than others, such as concrete. If your karaoke show is to be held on a ground with good sound absorbent material, the advantage of reflecting sound from the ground will be greatly reduced. Do pay extra attention to the seats at the farther sides away from the sound system. Rearranging the locations of the speakers may be a solution to any problem you may encounter thereon.
What about objects?
Objects above ground include the audience, plants, furniture, personal belongings, food stands, supporting equipment and building structures. Sound can be reflected or diffracted by any of these objects. An object larger than ten feet in diameter will reflect all the audible sound. An object with the size between one inch and ten feet will partially reflect the audible sound. A higher frequency sound tends to be reflected more often than the lower frequency sound. The portion of the audible sound that is not reflected is either absorbed or diffracted around the objects. Every venue will be different!
The reflected, diffracted and absorbed sound, cooperating with the direct sound from your speakers, shape the overall sound characteristics of that particular show. One of the most important characteristics is the forming of a reverberant sound field, which may muffle or reinforce your overall sound results depending upon the objects on the ground and your sound system setup.
Remember . . .
The sound system and the acoustic environment are two subjects that need to be combined together in order to achieve controllable and satisfactory sound results. While the sound system involves mainly the electrical engineering field, the acoustic environment involves quite a few differential equations and some degree of architecture. Next time you set-up your equipment take into consideration how your system sounds.
Try your speakers at different levels in different venues. Walk around the venue and listen to what your customers will hear. Turn the volume up and see how clear it sounds in different parts of the venue. Do your adjustments to suit the venue (write them down for future reference) or make a check list for each venue. You don't need to know the science around sound if you just trust your ears and listen to what your customers tell you. If they say your system sounds bad. Ask them why - ask them to tell you what they hear. This way you will be able to correct your system set-up, level of sound and position of your speakers. A little time spent going through a system/venue checklist will ultimately improve the sound of your show.
