JdB Sound Acoustics – Kingston Road United Church in Toronto .
wall can breathe and eliminate humidity problems .”
Beyond providing an acoustic solution that also preserves aesthetics , that approach could extend the need for future restorations from between 30-40 years to 70-80 years .
Hosbach has also faced substantial challenges over time – an inevitability , given he ’ s worked on over 1,000 projects in his career , 90 per cent being HOW projects and roughly 60 per cent of those being traditional spaces . The challenges aren ’ t always about how to create a solution , but rather in communicating that the solution needed is more complex than the clients initially thought .
He recalls work on a Catholic church in Northern Minnesota , which had massive issues with the clarity of speech and music . The initial discussion with the client centred on the sound system , “ But I had to tell them , while their sound system needed work , unless they fixed the acoustics of the space first , the coolest , most esoteric sound system in the world would not work in the space .”
The building was traditional in design , but only five years old . “ They didn ’ t heed the acoustical advice they ’ d gotten initially , so we did some major work on the acoustics and a fairly major renovation on the sound system . By the time we were done , people walked in and said , ‘ We have a church now .’”
He explains that , in that case , “ It wasn ’ t so much , ‘ How are we going to deal with this ?’ It was , ‘ How can I tell these people who poured their hearts and souls into building a church just five years ago that there were significant mistakes that had to be fixed ?’”
A solution is always possible , Hosbach adds , but regardless of the project , “ You cannot walk in with a cookie-cutter approach . As a designer , I have to be honest with the client and develop a relationship where they ’ re going to trust what I ’ m suggesting is what they need to do . Every system needs to be developed from the ground up . The Word , whether it ’ s spoken or interpreted through music , has to be communicated clearly and each space dictates how we do that .”
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
So , do advances in audio technology make the job easier and the solutions more cost effective ?
“ We ’ re still dealing with the laws of physics ,” Hosbach says . “ If acousticians do their job right , logic tends to dictate , say , for a loudspeaker system , how much directional control do we need ? What kind of physical limitations are there ? Technology certainly comes into play here .”
On the acoustics side , there are obviously many products available to treat a room and address specific issues , De Buglio says , but often , those solutions primarily address high frequency issues – “ and 90 per cent of the time , when I walk into a church , it ’ s a low frequency problem .” It ’ s that kind of awareness that he says isn ’ t taught and , thus , is some of the most important information he provides to clients when taking on their projects .
The acoustic fix , he continues , doesn ’ t always have to employ expensive materials to be successful . “ I ’ ve come up with a method that , as a consultant , is easy to sell ,” he reveals . That solution often relies heavily on Sonotubes – the kind available at your average big-box home improvement store . “ They have a broad range of uses – recording studios , live theatre , home theatre … When you can go to the hardware store , cut a Sonotube in half , and put it on the wall , you wind up with two pieces from a 12-dollar item , so by the time you finish , put in your labour and everything we ’ re talking , say , 15 dollars a unit .
“ Part of the reason I do so many projects is because my solutions are cheap ,” he continues . “( Flat panels ) are a lot more money . Even if you go out and buy high density mineral wool , put it into a wood frame , and stretch a decent quality cloth over it , cost per square foot is still going to be four or five dollars versus 50 cents per foot . With flat panels , you often have to cover 30 to 50 per cent of the wall space to get meaningful results . With the Sonotubes , you never have to cover more than 15 per cent and get 10 times the performance . As a result , often flat panel installations cost $ 30,000 and up for a 500- seat church , whereas a Sonotube-type fix would be a fraction of that .”
De Buglio says many of the acoustic problems that have plagued these kinds of spaces for centuries remain the same , “ And the way to fix them is always going to be passive . A few companies have come up with systems creating electronic , artificial reverberation for sound management . They seem to be a great short-term solution , but they ’ re not turning into long-term solutions ,” he explains , citing the sheer expense of purchasing and installing such a system , which can run to hundreds of thousands of dollars – clearly not viable for a church with a limited budget . “ If they do it passively , it ’ s meant to be up there for the lifetime of the building .”
As for game changers in terms of technological advancement – steerable arrays , small , powerful digital consoles , and the ability to
Joseph De Buglio
PROFESSIONAL SOUND • 31