Taming the Stone Cathedral
Church acoustics: long decay times, high ceilings, and stone surfaces that seem determined to make every whispered word sound like a foghorn. In some historic stone churches, speech intelligibility (STI) can be… well, non-existent.
Diagnosis
Impulse Response measurements reveal an RT60 of around … well looong seconds.
The Energy Time Curve (ETC) shows late reflections from rear walls that could almost be mistaken for enthusiastic backup singers—loud, delayed, and utterly unhelpful
Solution
Temporal Alignment: Time-align the front fills with the main column arrays, so the first arrivals behave themselves and reach the front pews together, rather than staging a chaotic free-for-all.
Tonal Shaping: Spot the standing-wave frequencies and apply narrow-band cuts—enough to tame the boominess, but leave the room’s natural warmth intact (because stone should sound noble, not like a cardboard box).
Result
STI can improve from Poor to Good, proving that even in ancient stone cathedrals, modern measurement and careful alignment are the unlikely heroes of clarity.
Smaart is excellent on its own, but most users find they get much more out of it after some structured training. That’s where our seminars come in. At TZ Audio we run practical seminars, both online and in-venue. We offer seminar-only or full “all you need packages” including software & hardware. It’s simply the fastest way to become comfortable and confident with the measuring a sound system.
If you’re in Norway, Sweden, Denmark or Iceland – or elsewhere – we offer is online seminars and traveling to Norway is a valid option too of course. We’re here if you have any questions about the software or upcoming seminars.
Thanks for reading!