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Another similar story in New York Magazine today: Why Don’t Architects Listen to Their Buildings? By Justin Davidson link: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/12/why-do-architects-not-listen-to-their-buildings.html# Along similar lines, a successful musician opened a wine bar in Brooklyn and paid extra attention to the sonics of the space: (scroll down a bit) >> http://www.bonappetit.com/restaurants-travel/article/james-murphy-four-horsemen I live nearby and have been curious to hear what it sounds like in there. On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 11:38 AM, Malcolm <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > One of the nicest, and most beautiful, recording studios I ever worked in > was in the remains of the old California Hotel (?) in San Francisco in the > late 60s/early 70s. It was south of Market, on a corner, right across the > street from what was to become the southwest corner of the Moscone Center. > You entered from an alley at the back. > Anyhow, the building had been gutted in the center to the roof and the > ceiling elevation was around 60 feet straight up from the studio floor. > Studio was probably about 25'x30' or so, plus the booth. There were > balconies on each floor, plants hanging from the skylight far above and > plenty of rococo wall decorations (which possibly helped with any standing > waves). Man, the room BREATHED! I walked into the center of the space, > clapped my hands once and got a big grin. Perfect. > The studio didn't last long. It was gone by the time the building was > razed. > Malcolm > > ******* > > > On 12/30/2015 1:57 AM, Tom Fine wrote: > >> From the NY Times: >>> >> >> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/12/29/arts/design/sound-architecture.html >> >> The worst offender as far as terrible sound-space design, seems to be >> franchised casual-dining restaurants and coffee shops. Always too loud and >> boomy for my liking. I was in a bar/restaurant yesterday in Danbury CT, a >> place built into the end of a strip mall but with surprising character. >> There were 8 of us at the table, and a bunch of somewhat raucus guys at the >> bar. Yet is was easy to hear all conversation at the table. I got to >> wondering why. Answers: the bartender didn't have music blaring too loud >> for conversation, it was just some sonic background noise; and, most >> importantly, the place's ceiling went all the way up, no tiles or other >> height-reducer. They built their decorating sceme vertical, and so took >> advantage of keeping it open up to the metal roof beams. This created a >> room for the sound to dissapate even though the space was narrow and >> rectangular. Compare this to a typical Starbucks, some of which are like >> being in echo chambers with a massive "boom bump" in the frequencies of >> loud male voices. >> >> -- Tom Fine >> >