Space needed for sound waves to develop

[Loudthud]

I am wondering if something is going on having to do with how feeling the bass interacts with hearing it. When you stand next to the source, you feel the high SPL and that lessens your ears perceived loudness. A microphone reacts more inline with the laws of physics but your brain doesn't. You certainly don't have to mic a bass amp at 28 feet to record 40Hz.

 

[Sub5ound]

"Those that can, do. Those that can't....teach."

 

[Sub5ound]

Honestly, this all sounds audiophile geek sludge to me. It takes one gig in a medium room shaped like a rectangle to figure out that YOU WILL NEVER HEAR YOURSELF WITHOUT GOOD IN EAR/OUT EAR MONITORS GOOD LORD I HAVE PLAYED TOO MANY SMALLBANY GIGS TO NOT COMMENT URG IT IS AGREAT FRUSTRATION. Which is why experimenation is good. In lay man's terms.

 

[calebbarton]

it varies room to room, speaker to speaker. i like what i hear standing 6 inches from my amp and 6 feet from my amp. and really, the point is if i like it, thats all that matters.

 

[JimmyM]

Honestly, this all sounds audiophile geek sludge to me. It takes one gig in a medium room shaped like a rectangle to figure out that YOU WILL NEVER HEAR YOURSELF WITHOUT GOOD IN EAR/OUT EAR MONITORS GOOD LORD I HAVE PLAYED TOO MANY SMALLBANY GIGS TO NOT COMMENT URG IT IS AGREAT FRUSTRATION. Which is why experimenation is good. In lay man's terms.

Funny, I played in a rectangle room today with no in ears and I heard myself plain as day and it kicked much ass. I wonder if it has anything to do with all this audiophile geek sludge I've been trying to learn over the past year or so? Well, part of it is I'm a musical genius , but the sludge has definitely improved my tone and made me happier with my sound in more situations than ever. So it's not impossible to hear and love your sound without in ears.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

Honestly, this all sounds audiophile geek sludge to me. It takes one gig in a medium room shaped like a rectangle to figure out that YOU WILL NEVER HEAR YOURSELF WITHOUT GOOD IN EAR/OUT EAR MONITORS

No, it's the classic conflict between those who undertake the effort required to understand how things work and those who don't. As for why any and every speaker sounds different not only in every different room but also within the same room depending on not only where the listener is but also where the speaker is placed, that's explained here:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

And also in a few hundred other places, like this one:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Not to mention good old fashioned books.
The truth is out there.

 

[Mark Reccord]

Wow. The quote in the first post is complete and utter bunk.

If they're actually teaching people that, it's no wonder that there so many incompetent "audio engineers" out there. Sound wave propagation is fairly basic physics and is not up to debate or interpretation. If they're teaching that wrong, what else are they doing wrong?

This is another pervasive myth though. I've had plenty of arguments about this in various forums (Oh God, I need a life!). In 95% of them, the person arguing that sound waves need space to "develop" cannot be swayed by reason or physics.

 

[Crockettnj]

It could also be confused on coherence in multispeaker cabinets. stand up close and you hear the one speaker you are directly in front of maybe the mid or tweeter... move back a few feet and you hear all of them blending as they were designed, thereby giving the perception that the bass, which was at your knees up close, have "developed". what'd'ya think?

BUt yeah, thi "room to develop" drivel has been adequately served up a dose of "false" that its disheartening to hear tis being taught.

Oh well.

 

[slyjoe]

...

In 95% of them, the person arguing that sound waves need space to "develop" cannot be swayed by reason or physics.

To paraphrase another quote,

"Those who don't arrive at a position by reason will not be talked out of it by reason."

But we can try

 

[SuperDuck]

Not to mention good old fashioned books.

I've had to go through many acoustics books for my degree and for work - most of them are incredibly dense books that aren't much fun to read.

HOWEVER - it would behoove any musician to learn the fundamentals of acoustics, and one book stands out to me as an "acoustics book for people that weren't physics majors":


Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest

It's not the most technical reference available, but it should be more than sufficient for anyone to get the correct information regarding the fundamentals of acoustics.

 

[chadds]

"Those that can, do. Those that can't....teach."

Lee Iococca said, "In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something else."

 

[Ric5]

The idea that certain frequency needs 40 feet to develope doesn't seem right to me.

Link Removed

I think the truth is that you can hear the 40hz sound at 90, 180, 270 and 360 equally well.

 

[billfitzmaurice]

The idea that certain frequency needs 40 feet to develope doesn't seem right to me. .

No frequency requires any distance to 'develop'. Those who insist wavelength has any bearing on this lack a basic understanding of what a wavelength is.

 

[bgavin]

If distance was required, headphones would not work.

 

[JustDavid]

If people are going to rewrite the Laws of Physics, any way I can get them to also make my cab weigh less?

 

[JustDavid]

"Those that can, do. Those that can't....teach."

That slanders those that are great teachers.

Clearly the OP's teacher isn't one, but your statement has me put you in the same class as that teacher.

 

[Jack]

Those who insist wavelength has any bearing on this lack a basic understanding of what a wavelength is.

Its taken one of TBs best engineers to say something that anyone who paid attention at school should know. Good to see we're all in agreement.