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I may be re-opening a vintage (1926) theatre this winter (lease be praised), but have one problem that I know of first hand.

The house is long and narrow, with painted walls. No dampening materials anywhere. This makes the audio part of the presentation problematic, as the reverb makes dialog particularly tough to make out (sometimes impossible).

This audio characteristics are #1 on my hit parade for maintenance. OK, maybe #2 after getting at the projection equipment and fixing the shutter timing.

Has anyone used an audio specialist to "map" their theatre and then suggest materials and placement locations for baffles? I don't want to resort to curtains if I can help it, as the theatre is art deco and we will be recreating the original design motif in the auditorium.

Is anyone familiar with a company or person that provides this type of service? Enquiring minds want to know.

-David

Try here:

www.soundfold.com/

Then click on "Custom Acoustical Panels".

You could solicit the services of THX (although a little pricey, you would be THX certified in the end).

http://thx.com/cinema/builtTHX/index.html

For THX Certification the theatre would have to pass alot of building related issues. And to use the THX Certification in your theatre's ads you would have to pay the yearly fee too. At one time it was $10,000 a year.

Sounds like the early ideas are best. You might also look around for someone who works with recording studios, if you have any in your area.

You can probably make this work, though it might take a lot of sound board & carpet. If you've got a lot of concrete and flat walls, baffles might not be enough.

Another issue will be the delay from front to back. If the surround delay in your box (whatever it is) isn't up to the job, you might need to add this component to your sound system and split the back surrounds from the front ones.

Decent stereo might also be out of the question, given the narrow room. Front/surround might be best, since people in the back probably wouldn't hear the stage sides, if you had them. Still, if you get the acoustics under control, even this can sound pretty good.