2. ranked, praised, and vilified accordingly by musicians, scientists, media, and audiences9
.
Modern analysis of the foremost halls has produced numerous quantifiable traits which
characterize a hall’s acoustics.1
Primary sources from critical and audience perspectives have
established opinions on present halls. Through the select compilation of historical
documentation, commentary, and modern digital analysis, we attempt to illuminate how fallen
opera halls were perceived and how they actually sounded. In doing so, we gain a new
perspective on how music was enjoyed in its era.
The comparison of Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall best represents the high level
of scrutiny halls are examined. Due to an increase in seating to increase revenue, the
dimensions of Fisher hall were altered, creating numerous acoustic issues that have plagued
the hall since its inception.9
According to Beranek (who worked on Fisher Hall), “the original
hall was opened in 1962 and suffered such criticism that a series of renovations were
performed over the next several years.”1
In 2004, the executive director of the New York
Philharmonic Zarin Mehta sought to relocate the orchestra from Fisher Hall to Carnegie Hall,
which ironically was supposed to be replaced by Fisher hall in the 1960s.11
In Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound, Beranek seeks to qualitatively
determine what traits describe the most favorable acoustics for a hall. He defines 18
characteristics with which to qualitatively analyze hall acoustics. Of these, the most salient are
incorporated in the final calculation of a hall’s acoustics into a letter grade ranging from “A+”
to “C” (the scale does not go below C because all halls included in the study were of a certain
caliber.1
The reverberation time “is the number of seconds it takes for a loud tone to decay to
inaudibility after being stopped.”1
The preferred value is 1.82.0 seconds.1
The spaciousness
or apparent source width is defined as when music performed appears to the listener to
emanate from a source wider than the visual width of the actual source.1
It is measured by
5. you hear it from a box close to the orchestra it sounds much better than from the gallery.”1
Although this may not have always been the case, by gathering historical information on the
halls and analyzing them scientifically, we may be able to compile a contemporary consensus
on each of the halls and produce calculations that bolster them.
Since I have no calculations currently, I cannot make any conclusions just yet.
However, I can present the numerous historical leads I have found in the contemporary
opinion and characteristics of these halls.
Freihaus, also known as Theater auf Der Wieden and Wiednertheater, was where
Mozart composed and premiered Die Zauberflote. Emanuel Schikaneder, who constructed
the theater in 1781, produced numerous singspiels at Freihaus in its brief lifespan. Directly
linked pieces include “The collaborative operas Die zween Anton (1789), Der Stein der
Weisen (1790), and Der wohltatige Derwisch (1791), Mozart's Die Zauberflote, Johann Baptist
Henneberg's Die Waldmanner (1793), Franz Xaver Susmayr's Die Spiegel von Arkadien
(1794), Franz Anton Hoffmeister's Der Konigssohn aus Ithaka (1795), and Jakob Haibel's Der
Tiroler Wastel (1796).”2
Scores of operas performed at Freihaus, which may contain markings
specific to the hall, are listed in the following excerpt:
2
In 1923, the Theater an der Wien donated its archive to the Musiksammlung of Vienna's
6. Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek (henceforth AWn). This collection was given the shelf
mark Fonds 116. Although Otto Erich Deutsch indicated that some of the performing
materials from the Theater auf der Wieden made up part of that archive, no attempt was
made to identify the specific materials from Schikaneder's first theater.2
Additionally, three
important Viennese scores of Wiednertheater operas survive in AWgm. These are Johann
Schenk’s Das Singspiel ohne Titel, Der Spiegel von Arkadien by F.X. Susmayr 9 (shelfmark
IV 7237), and Liebe macht kurzen Prozes, as adapted by Joachim Perinet.2
Significantly, in
1997 Hungarian National Library acquired manuscript of the first act of Die Zauberflote.2
Singer Johann Hubsch performed in “Verzeichnis” by Seyfried.2
Freihaus was in operation
until 1801 when it was demolished and replaced by the Theater An Der Wieden, which was
also built by Schikaneder in hopes of furthering the quality of his productions. This short life
span and desire to improve fits Schikaneder’s penchant for the best. Anonymous report from
Allegemeines Theaterjournal, bolsters this claim saying:
“One must give Hr. Schikaneder credit for sparing no expense with his new
productions of works, and, where necessary, for having new sets and costumes
made. The expenditure on Mozart’s last opera, Die Zauberflote Mozart’s
swansong is said to have amounted to 5,000fl.,but he is in return well repaid,
for only by satisfying the desire for beautiful sets and appropriately grand
costumes of those who bring their eyes rather than their feelings into the
theater, and by sparing no expense, can one perform the works more often.” 8
Teatro Regio Ducal was the exclusive home for opera in Milan. It was built in 1717 and
lasted until a fire destroyed the structure in 1776. During this time, it hosted Carnival which
was the most important season for serious opera. This lasted from December 26th and lasted
until the end of February. Mozart debuted 3 Italian operas: “Ascanio in Alba”, “Mitridate, re di
Ponto”, and “Lucio Silla.”6
According to Alfred Loewenberg, the operas “were successful, but
not successful enough to be taken up by any other stage.”6
He came to Milan in 1770, 1771,
and 1772, writing an opera for each visit. Leopold Mozart, who accompanied young Mozart,
7. alluded to possible modification of the theater in a 1771 letter to his wife in Salzburg:
“The whole of Milan is astir, not least because many, if not most, of the
preparations were postponed till the very last minute, with the result that everyone
is now hard at work, some at the theatre , others for His Royal Highness`s
reception for the apartment and rooms etc. for fencing off and lighting the
cathedral for clothes the servants’ liveries carriages horses etc. balls etc.,
painting and renovating the whole theatre etc. etc. in short, a hundred things
that don’t occur to me”
The theatre was heralded as one of the most beautiful in Italy; It was 56 meter long and 12
meter high rectangle. The ceiling was decorated by Paolo Camillo Landraini.4
“The new
theater was larger, with four tiers of boxes and a gallery, in the shape of a horseshoe. The
design was commissioned from Francesco Galli Bibbiena, who employed his pupils
Giandomenico Barbieri and Domenico Valmagini.”7
The first opera performed there was
Constantino by Gasparini.7
Theater in der Leopoldstaadt was a suburban theater in the second Viennese district
and was built in 1781. Its first director and builder was Karl von Marinelli. Acts during its run
included local and magic acts. From 1789 to 1830, Wenzel Muller was the kappellmeister
(head composer) of the Leopoldstaadt theatre, save for a brief hiatus from 18071813. His
works included 224 operas, operettas, musical comedies, cantatas, symphonies, and other
stage works. Named works include Der Fagottist oder die Zauberzither, Das Neue
Sonntagskind, Das Sonnenfest der Braminen, Pizzichi, Die Teufelsmühle, Die zwei
Schwestern aus Prag, Der Grobschmied, and Der lebendige Sack.10
Interestingly, Marinelli
was Schikaneder’s rival. Marinelli successfully staged Kaspar der Faggotist which played
while Die Zauberflote was being played at Freihaus. Anna Gottliep was a successful singer
and actress at Theater in der Leopoldstadt “for many years after 1791.”3
While the data above is unprocessed, in the future we will seek to use the historical
leads to develop educated evaluations on each of the theaters. Referring to leads from
8. secondary sources, we aim to find contemporary opinions on each theater. Acoustical
evaluations via AutoCad simulation of the theaters will either validate, qualify, or contradict the
contemporary opinions and in doing so, provide a stronger conclusion on the acoustics of
each hall, and therefore the music and culture of the time. Reporter Edward Rothstein aptly
characterizes the duality of acoustics as both an art and science in an article on Avery Fisher
Hall’s acoustic problems.
“The missteps in Fisher Hall, however, may also reflect a deeper confusion
about the nature of concert halls and the role acoustics plays within them. This is an
artistic issue, not a scientific one. For a great hall not only determines how music is
heard, but also helps determine what music is written. Halls don't just present
culture, they shape it.”9
It should be noted that, “all knowledge of a musical phenomenon must arise from experience
it, and judgements can only be communicated to those who have also experienced it.”1
We
must therefore qualify our statements, primarily because we lack access to a live performance
in any of these former venues. Our analysis of fallen theaters can only be so similar to the
analysis of current halls because of their inherent lack of current access or observation.
9. Works Cited
1. Beranek, Leo Leroy. Concert and Opera Halls: How They Sound. Woodbury, NY: Published
for the Acoustical Society of America through the American Institute of Physics, 1996.
Print. pp. 4, 2238, 53, 507521, 555.
2. Buch, David J. “EighteenthCentury Performing Materials from the Archive of the Theater an
der Wien and Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte." The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 84, No. 2
(Summer, 2000), pp. 287322.
3. Deutsch, Otto Erich and Hatch, Christopher. “Some Fallacies in Mozart Biography.” The
Musical Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Apr., 1956), pp. 187192
4. "La Scala La Visita Virtuale Teatro Regio Ducale." La Scala La Visita Virtuale Teatro
Regio Ducale. University of Milan, 1998. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
5. "Leopoldstädter Theater." Leopoldstädter Theater. Encyclopedia of Austria, n.d. Web. 08
Dec. 2013.
6. Loewenberg, Alfred. “Some Stray Notes on Mozart: III. Opera at Milan, 17701773.” Music &
Letters, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Jan., 1943), pp. 4850
7. "Milan Sights: A Travel Guide to the Top 30 Attractions in Milan, Italy." Google Books.
MobileReference, 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
8. Radice, Mark A. Opera in Context: Essays on Historical Staging from the Late Renaissance
to the Time of Puccini. Portland, Or.: Amadeus, 1998. N. Print. pp. 126141, 338.
9. Rothstein, Edward. "If Music Is the Architect." The New York Times. The New York Times,
22 May 2004. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
10. Stadler, Peter, and Joachim Veit. "Carl Maria Von Weber Gesamtausgabe." Wenzel Müller –
Biographical Information from the WeGA. Akademie Der Wissenschaften Und Der
Literatur, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
11. Tommasini, Anthony. "MUSIC; The Philharmonic's Double Challenge." MUSIC. The New
York Times, 11 June 2006. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
10.
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5/1/14
Hsu Lab
The Acoustical Analysis of Fallen Opera Halls
Contemporary performance halls are scrutinized over the sound they produce and are
ranked, praised, and vilified accordingly by musicians, scientists, media, and audiences.
Modern analysis of the foremost halls has produced numerous quantifiable traits which
characterize a hall’s acoustics. Primary sources from critical and audience perspectives have
established opinions on present halls. Through the select compilation of historical
documentation, commentary, and modern digital analysis, we attempt to illuminate how fallen
opera halls were perceived and how they actually sounded. In doing so, we gain a new
perspective on how music was enjoyed in its era.
The main focus of this semester was to explore each theater in detail and identify
salient trends represented by these theaters. Literature review has proven fruitful. I focused
my energies on Mark Radice’s Opera in Context and the following is compilation of my study
of the text. In the future, I need to examine other resources in order to improve my
perspective on these theaters, complementing my depth in this text with breadth in studying
others.
Opera began its formative years during the late Renaissance in the mid1580s. It’s
early aesthetic was claimed to be a kind of, “competition between the audience and the
architect in which the former tried to figure out the means by which the stage effects were
carried out, while the latter endeavored to hide them.” 1
. The audience came to the opera to
be deceived and carried away into an illusion. This was achieved primarily through the use of
machines, maraviglia, to quickly change sets from one scene to another, promoting a
phantasmic immersive world for the audience to enjoy.
11. Creating an environment for a such an escapist experience was an integral part of
early opera. Since there were no dedicated opera houses in the 16th century, a wide variety
of spaces were temporarily or permanently transformed in order to stage the opera. Il Corago,
a theatrical journal described that, “in the same room in which a prince was received with
public ceremony, including religious observances during the morning, within the space of four
hours, while the prince lunched elsewhere, a stage with this scenery could be made to appear
so that the play could be given to the admiration of the visiting prince and of all who
attended.”1
“The ease with which stages could be built allowed for the flexible use of rooms
making it possible for even the lesser nobility to mount productions that, “while not lacking in
costly splendor, must have been relatively miniature.”1
This led to the proliferation of opera in
many different temporary halls. Between 1590 and 1656 alone, 145 events were staged and
of those, 87 locations are known. 38 occurred in private residences and 28 were performed in
the Palazzo Pitti’s Salla delle Commedie most notable of which was Peri’s L’ Erudice, the
second work of modern opera. The diversity of early opera venues included religious settings;
Giulio Parigi, the private chapel of archduchess, staged religious productions in both 1619
and 1620.
The salone grande, translating to ‘large living room’, at the Uffizi in Florence is one
such example of a room transformed into theater and is thus representative of early 17th
century operatic theaters. It was in continuous use for theatrical productions for at least 50
years starting in 1586. Duke Francesco specifically requested that the room be used to stage
Giovanni Bardi’s L’amico Fido and had the architect Bernardo Buontalenti outfit the room
accordingly. So while not an example of a temporary theater, the Uffizi theater is
representative of an operatic theater developed from a standing structure formerly
12. undedicated to opera. Evidence of maraviglia machines installation is indicated by observer
Joesph Furttenbach.
“At the end of the act the whole scene changes into a pleasure garden, a sea, a
wood, or some other place, with such dexterity that those who are watching can not see the
change and think that they have lost their sense.. such changes of scene often are made
six or seven time in the same play. How the clouds appear to accompaniment of lovely
music, and the Dii are let down to earth in the many forms traditional to poetry, would take
too long to tell.”1
According to Bastiano de’Rossi, the Uffizi theater measured 180.7 feet long, 66.6 feet wide
and 45.7 feet high.1
The floor sloped toward the stage from a height at the far end of
approximately 4 feet 4 inches to give spectators at the end of hall a clear view of the stage. It
is unclear, whether the slope was part of the room before its modification for theatrical use
and it is inferred that Buontalenti added the sloped floor over the original flat floor. The main
entrance is located in the middle of the back wall, at floor level beneath the court platform. I
have inferred that Callot’s painting is framed from the court box. This accounts for the
elevation gap. The stage was 38 ft deep and 9.5 ft high at proscenium end (1586). In 1589,
the stage was elongated to be 47.5 feet deep. Nine feet was double recommended stage
height at that time. (While i can draw little from this now, it could prove interesting to analyze
in future.) Notably there was little wing space and no designated space for musicians who
instead occupied seats in the theater. An offstage choir sang from the balcony above the main
entrance at the back of the hall. It is estimated that theater seated 3000 men and 800 women.
The large audiences proved to be a great dampening factor and this lead to the music to be
deemed inadequate for the theater’s size. Furthermore, this sound dampening from the
audience and the sets made visual and aural contact between singers and instrumentalist
difficult. Side and back walls had wooden bleachers for audience members to sit on and seats
13. curved in a half oval were specifically reserved for women. The orchestra area doubled as an
area for extra seating or a dance floor when stage action required it. The court’s reserved
areas was designed for, “a single patron around whom the entire event was choreographed
was the one feature of court entertainments that most distinguished them from those
produced in the public theaters of the later seventh century.”1
The duke and entourage sat on
a square platform 23 feet long and wide, 22 inches high in the middle of the orchestra area,
57 feet from the stage, providing the optimal viewing location for all action occurring onstage.
Il Rapimento di Cefalo was a salient production at the theater at Uffizi that was
contemporary to L’Erudice. Massimo Osi claims that the billing for Cefalo was the same as
that of other early operas. Its novelty rested on the fact that it was sung throughout its
production. It was unconventional because it blurred the distinction between the stage and
spectators, having scenes and stage effects spilling far out into the audience.
Il Rapimento’s exceptionality is problematic because the production was not
representative of the majority of productions during the time and those specifically staged at
the Uffizi. Ossi goes so far as to characterize its production as a dead end; Florentines, under
the direction of Giulio Parigi returned to the format of the play with intermedii, a spectacle
played onstage in between acts, for all following spectacular entertainments. L’Erudice, which
followed in the tradition of the sung pastorale, a genre focus on outdoor shepherd lifestyle,
idealized for urban audiences. The dramatic pastorale became the model for other early
operas, most notably Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo.
17th Century French theaters were temporarily set up, as in the first Italian theaters,
only that by this time, Italy had theaters built and designated for opera. French settings
typically had no more than three levels because of the height of the rooms in which the
theaters were installed. By contrast, in the mid17th century, most Italian theaters of this time
14. contained 45 rows of boxes.
The theater in the Palais Royal is thought to be the most important and busiest hall of
the 17th and early 18th century France. It housed performances for 125 years beginning with
its opening in 1641 under Cardinal Richelieu. It is described as having six steps to the stage,
and two balconies, each holding a single row of seated spectators, flank the sides of the
stage. The room was 115 feet long and contained a 6570 foot amphitheater and a 4550 foot
stage. 27 rows of stone steps measuring 5.5 inches high and 22.6 inches front to back ran
parallel to the back wall and made for cramped seating.
In 1674, the theater was remodeled and designated a home for public opera, signaling
a reorientation of musical theater, and a new focus in theater architecture on the opera hall.
For the first time, amateur nobleman players were replaced by professionals, creating a
greater emphasis on quality and musicianship. Jean Baptiste Lully, the remodeler, sought to
transfer the theater into the respectable home for the Academie Royale de Musique. Under
Lully’s oversight, Carlo Vigarini built the remodeled Palais Royal with the goal of developing
the best visibility and acoustics. He rounded out loges on all three levels at the rear of the
auditorium, and removed pillars to create more moving space for scenery and seats onstage.
Standing room was allocated for in a 24.5 foot by 42.5 foot parterre. Two rows of lodges, 15
boxes each and with each box holding 23 benches allocated for seating area. Capacity was
estimated to be 1300 people, 600 of those seated. The stage was also enlarged to 56 feet
deep and 30 feet wide at the proscenium. “A legitimized physical structure helped establish
the viability of the new artistic institution as well as the new genre of opera it sustained.”1
As a
consequence of the emergence of this national home for opera, court productions diminished.
Early English opera is most clearly represented by the Restoration theater and the
works of Henry Purcell. They were considered dramatick opera, which contained the spoken
16. Theater Royal, the predecessor to Dorset, was developed by Christopher Wren and
built by Thomas Killigrew. While the actual plans of Dorset have not survived, we know that
Dorset was based off the dimensions of Theater Royal. “With the addition of the sceneroom
on the rear, the width of the new theatre was the same, but the length was increased to 140 ft.
The size of the sceneroom is therefore seen to be 58 feet by 28 feet ...the scene room was
provided with a cellar perhaps for the storing of “machines”.1
The Royal theatre was 112 feet
long and 59 feet wide. The forestage was flanked by doors and balconies through which
characters could enter on stage. The stage behind the proscenium sloped gently, aiding the
scene painters in creating perspective within the scenes (which were placed behind the
proscenium arch).
The theater had numerous trap doors, which could allow sets or characters to rise or sink
from the stage onto the set. This allowed for Restoration theater to uniquely emphasize
supernatural phenomena. Dorset had the most elaborate and extensive trapdoor machinery
out of all Restoration theaters. Below the stage lay room for an orchestra that would play from
underneath the stage. This was regarded as being highly ineffective. Samuel Pepys, diarist,
sums up the opinion of the general public saying that, “Only, above all, the music being below
and most of it sounding under the very stage, there is no hearing of the bass at all, nor very
well of the trebles, which surely must be mended.”1
Pepys sentiment resonated and
represented the public’s taste and this caused a remodeling in 1666 for the creation of a
special “musick” room that would sit the orchestra either above the scene or above the
proscenium arch, as in the Dorset Garden Theatre. The “musick” rooms were permanent and
were also exclusive to English theaters.
The above is all drawn from a detailed study of the Opera in Context. In addition to
developing my autoCAD diagrams, I need to verify or qualify the above findings by exploring
17. different source materials. Using the above information qualified with further literature review
will give me a more concrete impression of what made these theater’s so special and what
they sounded like. Qualifying these impressions with the results of the autoCAD simulation
will then allow me to produce our first conclusions.
Works Cited
1. Radice, Mark A. Opera in Context:Essays on Historical Staging from the Late Renaissance to
the Time of Puccini. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1998. Print. pp. 1194.
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Keshav Venkat
Dr. Hsu
12/7/14
Fall 2014 Research Report
Contemporary performance halls are scrutinized over the sound they produce and are
ranked, praised, and vilified accordingly by musicians, scientists, media, and audiences.
Modern analysis of the foremost halls has produced numerous quantifiable traits that
characterize a hall’s acoustics. Primary sources from critical and audience perspectives have
established opinions on present halls. Through the compilation of historical documentation,
commentary, and modern digital analysis, we attempt to illuminate how fallen opera halls
were perceived and how they actually sounded. In doing so, we gain a new perspective on
how music was enjoyed in its era. Analysis will also include computer models and acoustical
simulations of these fallen opera halls.
This report focuses primarily on the process of developing a method for modeling
halls. I have documented my progress in addressing this step in the project.
I first decided upon modeling the Freihaus theater, which is where Mozart’s Die
Zauberflote premiered. From the Opera in Context book:
18. Total Length 98’
Auditorium Length 47’
Auditorium Width 49’
Stage Length 39.5’
Stage Width 33.56’
Proscenium 31’
Orchestra Pit Depth 7’
Certain measurements were lacking in the description, including the depth of boxes, the
height of boxes, and the auditorium height. I chose to make assumptions for the absent
measurements. Should I find more information about these details, I can go back and update
the model. The options for producing measurement assumptions were:
1. Use the given height of the Burgtheater. (Burgtheater was a contemporary to the
Freihaus theater).
2. Generate an estimate for the height based off an image of Freihaus (shown below).
In the image below, from Opera in Context, it appears that the ceiling begins where the
booths end. We chose to pursue the second option. Assuming that each of the three
balconies (a third balcony was added in 1794) was 10’ high, the Freihaus is 40’ tall. The
standing audience appears to be taller than the stage, so we estimated the stage height to be
5’. 4
24.
EASE models should only incorporate faces that are exposed to sound. No structural
elements should be included in an AutoCAD diagram. These collective faces should be drawn
in 2 dimensional planes. Instructions for constructing these 2D faces into a theater model for
import into EASE follow:
1. Click on box in the right corner of the drawing area. This will move your drawing
area from a 2d to 3d workspace.
2. Use the PLINE command to begin a polyline. Polylines are collections of line
segments whose dimensions and quantity can be specified by the user.
Type: “PLINE” *enter*
3. Click once to begin a polyline. Click again to create one line segment.
4. Repeat the process until you have three sides of rectangle. If you mess up, hit
ESC or Undo (cntrl + z) and start from step 1.
5. After making the 3 sides of a rectangle using PLINE, type the word “close” to close
the polyline into a rectangular plane. It is important to note that EASE treats these
closed polylines as faces.
2D faces in all planes xy, yz, and xz must be created in order to fully render a 3d
theater’s interior. AutoCAD permits the user to draw only within the xy plane.
Circumvent this problem by modifying the coordinate system such that the desired
plane is assigned to be the xy plane. This is implemented using the UCS (User
Coordinate System) command. In assigning a different plane to plane xy, AutoCAD
shifts from the WCS (World Coordinate System) to the UCS.
6. Type: “UCS” *enter*
7. Click to specify origin of new axis.
8. Click again to align the x axis.
9. Click again to align the y axis. Note the z axis changes automatically, in
accordance with the right hand rule.
10. Repeat steps 14 using the new coordinate system. Planes yz and xz in the WCS
are accessible once they are redefined as the xy plane in the UCS.
Notes:
All faces must come together to create a closed object. Otherwise, holes will persist in
your EASE model import.
When creating closed surfaces facing into a room, draw the polyline clockwise. This
will orient that face inwards (towards you, coming out of the screen) (and save you the
hassle of inverting faces in EASE later).
_____________________________________________________________________
As part of developing a model, I noted the following from the EASE manual:
25. Follow this procedure for audience areas:
1. Insert 4 new vertices
2. Create a new Face. This face should be smaller in dimensions than the face it coats
3. Check off ‘Is coat of’ and select the face the audience area coats
4. Check off ‘Two fold’ to give the face two sides
5. Right click on Face> Area above face, and then click OK, 3.94 above area will be the
audience areas.
It should be noted that audience areas only work above a face having four corners. Theater
reverberation time can be found by right clicking anywhere on the Edit Project Data page and
then selecting Room Data, and then Room RT. Typing [l] produces a loudspeaker. F9 allows
you to change the speaker cone. Aiming a loudspeaker can be done by right clicking on it and
selecting properties.
I realized that every plane in EASE has only one acoustically ‘live’ side available for
calculations. Should I accidentally enclose an acoustically inactive side inside a model, EASE
will be unable to perform any simulations. To fix this issue, I redrew my model ensuring that
all of the walls of the theater were acoustically live. After fixing this issue, AutoCAD was then
determined to be cumbersome and I developed a document for modeling in SketchUp for
seamless import into EASE. This was then shared with students in Dr. Hsu’s MUSI 8903 class
where I presented for a second time.
__________________________________________________________________________
10/6/14
Import/Export And Sketchup Modeling
1. Hope: EASE imports 3D Sketchup objects as faces. This makes our lives significantly
easier. We can use extrude and other tools (cube, polygon, etc.) to produce objects
that translate easily (haha) into EASE.
2. Reminder: Create faces that will only be facing the interior of a model. Faces can have
only one acoustically ‘live’ side. Therefore, models should only include one side, never
both, of any face. This is a review from the AutoCAD handout.
3. Sketchup cannot create 3dimensional curves on its on. To do so, create a curve.
Connect the curve to a plane. Extrude the plane (0.25 ft) and a curved plane will be
produced. The result is shown in Figure 1.
