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Thursday | 27 March 2025

Sound spaces at the touch of a button

“Active acoustics” in the concert hall opens up new musical perspectives
The Amadeus Acoustics team were on site for several days to set up the new system correctly. Kaspar Glattfelder measures distances here in order to optimally match microphones and loudspeakers.
The Amadeus Acoustics team were on site for several days to set up the new system correctly. Kaspar Glattfelder measures distances here in order to optimally match microphones and loudspeakers. © Anja Segermann

Since mid-March 2025, the concert hall on Dechanatstrasse has been equipped with so-called “active acoustics”. In combination with 16 microphones and 46 loudspeakers, a special processor generates various sound reflections that can optimize the acoustics of the concert hall or create artificial sound spaces. The “Amadeus Acoustics” system was financed by the third-party funded project “We Dig It!”, which is funded by the Foundation for Innovation in University Teaching and is testing digitally supported supplements for studying and teaching at the HfK.

Musicians and audiences alike benefit from the new possibilities, as the new system can create different acoustic situations at the touch of a button. The options range from a slight compensation of acoustic weaknesses in the concert hall to a noticeably livelier acoustic and the impression of a church or a much larger concert hall. This creates a more intense rehearsal and concert experience, but also allows experiments to be carried out, for example to adapt playing styles to different acoustic properties of rooms.