Let's Talk Music-What is Acoustics?

     Thanks for stopping by to check out todays Blog.   What does acoustic mean to you? What do you think of when you hear that term?  I have always just thought of acoustic meaning with no instruments plugged into anything or nothing electronic producing sound. That is one way to think of it; but acoustic also has three different meanings when you are talking about how the sound travels not just how it is produced.  Acoustic also means...the qualities that determine a room or a places ability to reflect sound waves in such a way that it produces a distinct hearing pattern.  That is totally not what I think of when I hear someone say acoustic.  
     I have several bands and or people I love to listen to unplugged.  Which is how they present the music that makes it acoustic. I love to go to outdoor venues also but that is a different form of listening and sometimes the sound is not very good and this is why. There are actually three types of acoustics:  outdoor acoustics,indoor acoustics and isolated acoustics.
Outdoor is open environment and that just means that the only thing that effects the path is distance; indoor means putting the source and receiver (performer and listener) in the same room and try to understand the effect the room has on them; isolated is where we will put the source and the receiver(performer and listener) in separate rooms and look at how intervening walls and other elements affect how much around gets into a room or gets out of a room. 
     I love open air concerts as long as I am not way out in the back forty....meaning as long as I am not in the very back because you cant hear or see anything.  That to me is totally a waste of money and time.  If the outdoor area has sound panels for the sound to bounce off of.....you can hear better.  This is an example of the only thing affecting the path is distance.  Less the path the better the louder the sound or the sound travels better, it has something to bounce off of instead of traveling into infinity.  Indoor is great.....you are right in the room with the performer and the sound has a shorter distance to travel. I have often heard musicians or singers comment that a certain place has great acoustics. The place may have great vaulted ceilings or out curved walls, whatever the design is to carry the sound better. I think that is why most people enjoy live performances better than studio productions, raw and unfiltered...you get the exact sound of the performers. Isolated acoustics is important for recording studios,  they  have rooms designed for music performances and recordings.  It is also very important to keep out unwanted noises like traffic, airplanes and anything that can interfere with the recording.  So, whichever you prefer, I hope this has been informative and helpful to you.  Until next time... Rock on!!   Oh, don't forget to check out my YouTube channel and enjoy videos, playlists and soon to be interviews and Podcasts. 
www.youtube.com/@lisaowens7629
 some Info taken from: takenote,Inspiration for Music Makers....online.berklee.edu

Lisa Bailey-Owens🤘