The existing body of literature regarding the acoustic design of concert halls has focused almost exclusively on classical music, although there are many more performances of popular music, including rock and pop. Objective measurements were made of the acoustics of 20 rock music venues in Denmark and a questionnaire was used in a subjective assessment of those venues with professional rock musicians and sound engineers as expert listeners. Correlations between the measurements show that clarity, including bass frequencies down to 63 Hz, is important for the general impression of the acoustics of the hall. The best-rated halls in the study have reverberation times that are approximately frequency independent from 0.6 to 1.2 s for hall volumes from 1000 to 6000 m 3 . The worst rated halls in the study had significantly higher reverberation times in the 63 and 125 Hz bands. Since most audiences at rock concerts are standing, absorption coefficients were measured with a standing audience from 63 Hz to 4 kHz. These measurements showed that a standing audience absorbs about five times as much energy in mid-/high-frequency bands as in low-frequency bands.
Previous studies have shown that what distinguishes the best from the less well liked halls for pop and rock music is a short reverberation time in the 63, 125, and 250 Hz octave bands. Since quite long reverberation times in these frequency bands are needed in order to obtain warmth and enough strength at classical music concerts, variable acoustics must address these frequencies in order to obtain desirable acoustics in multipurpose halls. Based on the results of a previous study of Danish rock venues as well as reports from three newly built halls, acceptable tolerances of T30 were investigated. The results suggest that T30 can be at least 1.8 times as long in the 63 Hz octave band as in the 125 Hz band and attain values of +/- 15% at higher frequencies compared to the previously determined values. A variable broadband absorption product is also presented. Absorption coefficients are approx. 0.8 in the 125, 250, and 500 Hz bands, 0.6 at 1 kHz and decreasing at higher frequencies, and in the 63 Hz band when in the ON position. In the OFF position the product attains absorption values between 0.0 and 0.2.
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