Main entry:

Beranek, Leo L. (Leo Leroy), 1914-2016, author.

Title & Author:

Music, acoustics & architecture / by Leo L. Beranek.

Publication:

New York : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [1962]
©1962

Description:

586 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
1. Musical acoustics: science or myth? -- 2. Sounds and listeners -- 3. Acoustics and music -- 4. Subjective attributes of musical-acoustic quality -- 5. Interviews and measurements -- 6. The fifty-four halls -- 7. Size, use, and age -- 8. Categories of acoustical quality and a numerical rating system -- 9. Acoustical intimacy and liveness -- 10. Warmth, loudness, clarity, and brilliance -- 11. Diffusion, balance and blend, ensemble, attack, and texture -- 12. Echo, noise, distortion, and non-uniformity -- 13. Validation of the numerical rating scale -- 14. Some considerations in the design of concert all and opera houses -- 15. Philharmonic Hall, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts -- Appendixes. 1. Audience and seat absorption in large halls ; 2. Collected tables of acoustical and dimensional data ; 3. Terminology and conversion factors.

Summary:

Acoustics is one of the youngest classical sciences, with the theoretical foundations being formulated by Lord Rayleigh in 1877. In the period between 1898 and 1905, Wallace Clement Sabine advanced the application of acoustics to architecture. But it was the development of the vacuum-tube amplifier, loudspeakers, and noise-free microphones in the second quarter of the 20th century that allowed the amassing of enough accurate data to make acoustics an effective engineering science. Before electronic equipment was invented, acousticians lacked both the means to produce specific types of sounds and to then measure the strength of them. Before these tools existed, designers of music halls could learn about acoustics only by observing other halls, speculating about which factors were responsible for glorious sonorities in one place and muddled cacophony in another. The information herein applies to any concert hall or opera house, the result of hundreds of interviews with opera and symphony orchestra conductors, performers, and music critics; of listening to music in some sixty different halls; of collecting precise acoustical measurements, accurate architectural drawings, and photographs of said halls. The story of the acoustics of many of the world's greatest halls is told as simply as possible, while maintaining technical accuracy.

ISBN:

0471068675
9780471068679

Subject:

Architectural acoustics.
Music Acoustics and physics.
Music-halls.
Theaters.
Acoustique architecturale.
Musique Acoustique et physique.
Salles de concert.
concert halls.
Ruimte-akoestiek.
Concertzalen.
Acustica, Vibracao E Ultrasons.
Music-halls Architecture.
Concert halls.

Added entries:

Music, acoustics and architecture

Holdings:

Location: Library main 9869
Call No.: 0006894; ID:85-B5779
Status: Available