Course 320 – Sound System Design – Room Acoustics

“An Acoustics Course for Sound System Designers”

Direct field coverage is important, but it is only part of the system design. The direct field coverage produces room reflections that may improve or degrade the performance of the system. Your sound system design will be judged by the total system response, which is dramatically affected by the room’s acoustics.

This is the sibling course to Course 310 – Sound System Design – Direct Field. It is based on the room impulse response (RIR). The RIR is the room’s acoustic signature. Learn how to understand it, measure it, listen to it, and predict it. Learn how it affects speech intelligibility and sound clarity. The principles are universal and timeless.

Together, Course 310 and Course 320 present a “logical and intuitive sound system design process.”

Learn to make the room to “work for you” and not against you.

How does this course differ from Course 300 – Sound Reinforcement for Designers?

Course 300 – Sound Reinforcement for Designers emerged from our in-person training seminars. Much more depth is possible with an on-line course. Together, Course 310 and 320 replace Course 300.

We listened to your feedback and have added additional topics, more examples, and more case studies. The videos are all new, and in high definition, taking advantage of the higher resolutions possible with the latest computers.

What you’ll get:

Access to 28 instructional & demonstration videos for 45 days
Video transcriptions | Reference manual
IntelliKwik^TM Windows calculator
Case Studies
Quiz after each lesson to test you knowledge.
Certificate of Completion
1-year SynAudCon Membership which includes access to exclusive, members-only forum.
18 Renewal Units for CTS and CTS-D

Test your skill level with this self-evaluation quiz.

Still not sure? Click here to learn more!

Only $299! Buy Now

Course Description

Description

Inspired by our in-person Sound System Design seminar, Pat Brown created this online course that takes it even further.

The sound system’s performance is not independent of the room that it is in. The direct field that it produces is just a fraction of the total sound arriving at listener positions. A complete design process includes the room’s acoustics. In fact, it is driven by the room’s acoustics.

Sound System Design – Room Acoustics is a course that presents room acoustics as it relates to sound systems. Sound reinforcement loudspeakers have directional properties not typically considered by a room acoustics course.

✅ Learn about the room impulse response (RIR).
✅ Learn how to perform meaningful acoustic measurements of a room.
✅ Perform accurate sound level calculations at the drawing board.
✅ Learn how various acoustic materials modify the sound heard by the listeners.
✅ Gain the theoretical background needed to use any room modeling computer program.

View or download a detailed course outline.

Course Materials for you to keep include the video text, main points, reference manual and our IntelliKwik™ Windows calculator. These are great resources for reviewing what you have learned.

The course is for experienced audio practitioners. We recommend a skill level consistent with graduates of our Course 50, Course 100, and Course 310.

Check out an example video in the next tab.

Watch an Example Video

Instructor

Pat Brown is a 1978 graduate of the University of Louisville with a degree in electrical engineering technology. With a background as a musician, sound technician, retail music store owner, contractor, and consultant, he is familiar with the many aspects of audio. He served as an associate instructor to audio legend and SynAudCon founder, Don Davis. Pat along with his wife Brenda own and operate SynAudCon and have been providing training for the audio industry since 1996. Pat, the main instructor for SynAudCon, has the unique gift of being able to share his knowledge of complex technical topics in an easy-to-understand real world way through multi-media demonstrations. SynAudCon is recognized as an industry leader in audio education.

SynAudCon offers both in-person and online audio training. There are regularly scheduled in-person seminars and special one-time events on audio-related topics. With the release of the online training in 2010, SynAudCon training is now more accessible worldwide.

Pat writes articles for several publications. He authored three chapters for Glen Ballou’s Handbook for Sound Engineers and is co-author of Sound System Engineering 4th Edition. He considers SynAudCon online audio training courses as his most complete book, being able to explain the concepts and principles with animations and demonstrations.

He was chosen as NSCA Educator of the Year in 2005 and NSCA Mover and Shaker Award in 2011. He received Great Britain’s Peter Barnett Award in 2012.

SynAudCon has given private seminars to many companies and organizations, including the Kennedy Space Center, Disney World, Sea World, IMAX, Purdue University, the US military, Siemens and many audio manufacturers. He has conducted seminars in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, South America, Australia and Canada.

Pat and Brenda Brown founded a second business in 2005 Pro Sound Testing, Inc. Pro Sound Testing measures loudspeakers to produce data files for use in room acoustics modeling programs. Pro Sound Testing was the first company of its kind in the USA. The experience of developing a measurement facility and measuring hundreds of loudspeakers from dozens of manufacturers has allowed him to develop some methodologies and specifications that have influenced a number of industry standards.

Get to know Pat better in this 10 minute interview.

https://www.soundandcommunications.com/synaudcons-pat-brown-talks-online-learning/

FAQ’s

FAQ

How long will it take me to compete this course?

I hate to use the words “it depends” but is really does. It depends on your level of experience. There is nearly 4 hours of actual video instruction. The course is much longer because there are quizzes, calculations, case studies, study/review time the final exam. Most everyone will need to watch the instructional videos more than once. We are often told that SynAudCon has information-packed courses.

Here is a brief layout of the course.

Sound System Design Direct – Room Acoustics consists of 10 lessons. After each lesson, you may take a quiz. Each quiz has 15 questions. The questions required that you have a good understanding of the principles that are taught.

After completing the lessons and quizzes, you may take a final exam. The final exam is about 30 questions. With a passing score, you will receive a certificate of completion and CEU’s.

You will have 3 opportunities to pass the final exam. We consider 80% as the passing score.

What if I got into the first couple of lessons and realized I should have taken a more basic course?

No worries. The upper levels courses assumed you that you understand the principles presented in the lower level courses. If you need a more basic course, contact Brenda within 2 days of your key activation and she will exchange it.

We would like to urge you to take the self-evaluation quizzes. The quizzes will help you make a more informed decision.

We are developing an educational path for our employees. How does SynAudCon fit into this?

You will love this feature. SynAudCon online training is part of a Learning Management System which allows for tracking. Education supervisors may check the employee’s progress, quiz and final exam scores.

Is there a time limit on watching the online training?

You will have 45 days to complete the course. The 45-day clock begins on the day that the course key is activated. If you need more time, no problem. Brenda will gladly extend it for you.

We want you to get the most of this learning opportunity. We would rather extend it than for you to rush through the course.

What course materials can I keep after the course?

Text to the training video
Main Point
Reference Manual
IntelliKwik Windows calculator

Will I receive a certificate?

Of course. After passing the final exam, a certificate of completion will be emailed to you within one business day. The certificate will include the information that you will need for the Continuing Education Units.

How do I ask questions about the this training?

We have created a support forum for our online training. You may post your questions there.

If you are little uncomfortable with this approach, please email us directly. We will make every effort to answer questions within 24 hours.

Tell me about the purchasing process.

The online cart will request the credit card information. Add the name on the credit card, (not the person taking the training.) An automated email will be sent to the email address used in the purchasing process. If you do not get the confirmation, check your SPAM filter. The message will be coming from bbrown at prosoundtraining.com

The email will include:

✅ Credit card receipt

✅ Activation key to the training

✅ Directions to activate the key.

Forward the activation key with the directions to the person taking the training. The directions are quite easy but the learner can always call 812-923-0174 if help is needed.

May I share the video content I buy with others?

Purchased online training content is intended only for the learner who will be taking the course. Sharing SynAudCon online training is a violation of the terms and conditions of this site. All actions are logged and monitored, and this policy will be strictly enforced.

We appreciate your cooperation in this as it allows us to actively develop new material and keep the price low for everyone.

Testimonials

With respect to their privacy, we will only list their initials.

Pat’s videos are exceptional! Clear and comprehensive with visuals that really enhance the descriptions and turn technical concepts into relatable and actionable insights. I really appreciate the time that has been taken to produce these resources. I wish it was possible to retain the videos as reference and guide alongside the manual but understand this is not possible.

The case studies were a fantastic deep dive to pull the concepts all together. I got so much out of these and look forward to staying close to the forums to find other examples.

Intellikwik is a brilliant tool, and I commend all that have contributed to its creation. Super useful and interactive. One suggestion for the next application update is to make the metric calculation editable and interchangeable with imperial measurements. Currently, this part of the UI is clunky and although through trial and error or working with a separate calculator or spreadsheet you can convert on the fly, to build this into the tool so someone can edit in metres and see in ft instead of being locked to the other orientation would be very useful and hopefully not too difficult to implement. Hover help guides over the input boxes or an accompanying guide would also be handy.

The final exam had a strange inconsistency with question 29. The correct answer according to the quiz is just to list the frequencies in the order they are displayed, not the order of importance which the question asks for. Please double-check this is correct.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this course and appreciate the level of detail and care taken to put these training resource together. Well done and thank you. D.P.

I enjoy very much this course 320. Especially the explanation using REW ( I seldom use it ) and the way when describe the content using picture like STI.

Luckily, I already have GV pro and ReflPhinder and Acoustical Modelling software. Those make me easily to understand the course. I use those measurement platforms during measurement in situ so the room modeling. F.F.

Its good. included are the physical Demo of the measurement set-up. K.B.

It is very in-depth, a lot more than I expected, this course is one that definitely takes a while to fully process everything if you got limited experience on some of the concepts. I also enjoyed us going through STI, it was nice finally given a very easy to digest and grasp on how STI conceptually works beyond just “special program noise is played, and calibrated microphones calculates STI value using special algorithm.” I also liked that you brought up course 140, a course that I definitely needed when I was working on public announcement systems for airports. F.A.

I thought it was very valuable, just a little outdated with the software functions now available vs what was uploaded on video. Overall I still understood the concept just wish it was easier to do a step by step on the cases. D.V.

It was very heavy on theory at the beginning which required repeating sections but the practical components and case studies was a great way to practice the material and get a better understanding. J.S.

This is a heavy course and needs a lot of practice to fully grasp. It provides a much better understanding of the RIR. This course pushed me to the next level in my sound system design journey. Thank you. S.A.

Appreciate presenting complex ideas in an easy to understand format along with practical field protocols. C.H.

Very good, thank you. C.N.

Excelent course. More real life measurements videos may help. C.S.

Very insightful and well presented as are all of your courses. G.E.

As always, this course was thorough and spot on for my current needs. I’ve been a loyal SynAudCon follower and student throughout my 44 year career in professional audio, and (as always) this, the latest, was my favorite course. J.C.

I enjoyed the modularity and and short video segments. Found the content useful. J.A.

This course has been awesome. Perfectly structured and condensed. A.L.

This was very meaty! I like this course probably the most of all I have taken from you so far. I am working on some auditoriums and an arena currently, so it was spot on for what I’m doing right now, and really sunk in with me. J.B.

This one was a tough class! S.G.

Feedback from Course 320 – Sound System Design – Direct Field

Did this course meet your expectations?

100%

Yes

How would you rate this training compared to other audio training?

50%

Above Average

Was the course worth the price?

100%

Yes

How would you rate the course difficulty level?

100%

About Right

How would you rate the training on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best?

0% gave us a 4
100% gave us a 5

I believe that I will retain ____ of the information that was presented.

<10% = 0
10-30% = 0
30-50% = 0%
50-75% = 50%
>75% = 50%

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Course 320 – Sound System Design – Room Acoustics

“An Acoustics Course for Sound System Designers”

What you’ll get:

Description

Instructor

FAQ

Testimonials

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