Hi everyone, Dennis Foley from Acoustic Fields. Today we're going to talk about fractal thinking.
What's a fractal? Well I'm sure you've all heard that word. It's a small part of a whole and
that's really the part of the definition. There's geometry and stuff involved but for purposes
of this discussion it's going to be part of a larger system, right? So when you're talking
about room resolution, it requires you to think at a micro level, not a macro level. first.
You want to start small and work up. You want to look at each wall, floor, ceiling as a part,
but also as a whole. And that's how you get to resolution. When you treat the part the
same as the whole. Now what does that mean? Okay, so we have to look at each floor and
system as a part. We know there's the three sound fields, right? Floor, ceiling, sidewall,
front to rear. Each fractal or each of these surface areas has a different frequency and
amplitude of issue. So when we view each surface area as a system onto itself, so to speak,
even though it's a fractal, a part of the whole room, that's how we get resolution. And that's
why you're always hearing me say rate and level of absorption are important. Because I know
what it takes to get resolution in middle frequencies. I figured that out, took eight years, but I
figured it out. And it's, you know, there's a linearity involved in the absorption curve
for music and voice. Music and voice are different. One size does not fit all, okay? So we add
up all the fractals, surface area, and what do we get? What do we get with pressure and
reflections? Because now we got a box, a container, and that's subject to the laws of physics.
So each fractal, each wall surface area has different levels that we need to treat, and
we want to keep the rate, if we use an absorption, the same. So we want to go to the level that
the surface area requires. but then we want to keep the rate uniform on all surface areas.
That's why I always harp on rate of absorption. Anybody can build a box to go to 40 Hertz.
How much per square foot are you getting at 40 Hertz? There's the challenge. There's the
challenge and look at our data for that. So the goal for the system obviously is pressure
and reflection balanced. Now the only way to get really good pressure balance, oh, we also
have the modal pressure. course and then we got direct versus reflected energy room sound.
But the CAW is the only way to get the room pressure balance because you turn the whole
wall into a pressure balancing absorber and you absorb every 14 and a half inches. So you
know if you're framing out on a wood stud you're going every 14 and a half inches you're gonna
put treatment or carbon technology. So we can control the frequency and the amplitude of
the problem at that surface area every fourteen and a half inches. That's why you get such
good control. That's why you get such a beautiful room. That's why we can guarantee frequency
response on new builds. So there's part of a whole, part of a whole, fractal part of a whole.
You have to start thinking like that. The only way to achieve room resolution, we try to get
80% or higher, is to think like this. You have to look at each part as a whole system and
each part as a part of another system. Fractal thinking. Hope this helps. Thank you.
So please do that because we offer special price discounts to only those on our newsletter.
And then don't forget about our forum. We have started a forum on our own website where people
ask questions and I usually get a chance every couple days to look at it. There's an interchange
between people on the forum and we'll give you real answers on a regular basis so that'll
help you. Thank you.