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[Ryan Rife]

Greetings all,

I am currently assigned to a shop responsible for setting up and running sound systems for events on a USAF installation. One of the main problems I run into is that most of the larger events are held in hangars which if you didn't know, are giant concrete, steel, and aluminum boxes. Hardly the ideal acoustic enviroment.

The hands down biggest problem I have when trying to provide an audience sound is the amount of echo/reverb that occurs. Being that the space and crowds are so large I have to really crank the volume , yet I'm worried that if I add more speakers to the equation I am going to get even more signals bouncing off all the walls.

Does anyone have any experience with these enviroments that could offer some tips on how to optimize the set up? I usually have one mixer, two power amps, and up to 8 speakers available to me. I do have a feedback suppressor running, so that is not normally an issue.

Any help would be most appreciated.

[Robert Weston]

You may be out of luck on that type of environment.  There are some portable "sound absorbing" walls that can provide some relief; they are used to line the parameter walls of a reflective area (usually in 4' x 8' sections).  Adding more speakers to get "power" may work, but to have any noticeable amount of power would require the doubling of the number of cabinets you currently have.  If you are running 8 speakers, you will need 16 to get a noticeable amount of "power".  Though, the more people that fill the area should help with keeping reverb down.

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

Greetings all,


Any help would be most appreciated.

Use speakers with pattern control which goes as low as possible.

Point them at the listeners.

Do not let them bounce sound off any walls, ceilings or flooring.

[Don Davis]

Point them at the listeners.

This.
We do a lot of events in helicopter hangers and the acoustics are terrible. If you have speakers with angled pole sockets get them up high and point them down at the crowd. The rest you just have to do the best you can with.

[John Roberts {JR}]

The good news is you have a low bar to clear. You don't need to make great sound, just better than the last guy.

The problem as you correctly identified is operating inside a highly reverberant space due to the reflective walls. The goal as others have mentioned is point sound at the meat in the seats since it won't reflect much off them. More speakers closer to and pointing down at the audience will put more sound energy into the audience and less into the room reverberation.

Simple to describe the problem, not so simple the solution.

JR

[Mike Reigh]

What kind of material will be reinforced?

[g'bye, Dick Rees]

What kind of material will be reinforced?

Concrete?

[Bob Leonard]

Back in my navy days we would cycle from Vietnam to Guam, Japan, PI, etc., put the band together and party hardy. Everyone was invited, sailors and crabs alike, and the event was always in a hanger, and usually a very large hanger.

We didn't have anything more than our amps and a PA, usually a Vocal Master, and never once worried about the sound, reflections, or anything else as long as the stage mix was correct and not too loud. The ambience was great, the sound was great, and people had a good time. Get a good mix with what you have and you'll be fine.
 
 
PS - Nice one Dick. LMFAO

[John Roberts {JR}]

Music with extra reverberation is not a show stopper (and probably helped Bob's sound), but if it's a comedian telling jokes, articulation and intelligibility is useful.

The big boys work to make the sound appear like it is coming from the stage, so delay a limited number of audience fill speakers to keep up the illusion. For good speech intelligibility I'd forget about the delay compensation and just throw as many small boxes as I can get my hands on, close and pointing directly at the audience. For music it's nice to have it seem like the pretty girl on stage is making the sound.

JR

[Doug Fowler]

Greetings all,

I am currently assigned to a shop responsible for setting up and running sound systems for events on a USAF installation. One of the main problems I run into is that most of the larger events are held in hangars which if you didn't know, are giant concrete, steel, and aluminum boxes. Hardly the ideal acoustic enviroment.

The hands down biggest problem I have when trying to provide an audience sound is the amount of echo/reverb that occurs. Being that the space and crowds are so large I have to really crank the volume , yet I'm worried that if I add more speakers to the equation I am going to get even more signals bouncing off all the walls.

Does anyone have any experience with these enviroments that could offer some tips on how to optimize the set up? I usually have one mixer, two power amps, and up to 8 speakers available to me. I do have a feedback suppressor running, so that is not normally an issue.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Speaker model(s)?

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