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The Interaction of Tremulants with Room Acoustics

Started by Colin Pykett, May 18, 2011, 06:32:14 PM

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Colin Pykett

Dear All

I would be grateful for your help here, as I would like to borrow your ears.  I've just posted a new article on my website which deals with the interaction of tremulants with room acoustics.  It reports some work done recently which was prompted by occasional observations over the many years I have been researching organ sounds that tremulants can sound different in different rooms.  Sometimes they can be very attractive yet sometimes not (and that's even when they work properly!).

I've come up with an extreme case in which the subjective effect of a tremulant can completely vanish in an anechoic environment, at least to my ears.  And that's the point of this post - TO MY EARS.  Although my nearest and dearest also seem to experience this curious effect, I would now like to broaden the 'customer base' as it were and get a few more opinions, because I've found so often before that different people's ears sometimes work differently.

Therefore, if you have the time and inclination, maybe you might listen to the audio clips with this article which is at:

http://www.pykett.org.uk/tremsandrooms.htm

And if you experience different effects to me, perhaps you would be good enough to let me know?

Regards, and thanks in anticipation.

Colin Pykett

revtonynewnham

Hi

I'll try and listen to the clips next week (too busy catching up from holiday and trying to get a couple of pieces up to scratch for our member's recital on Saturday at present).

Even different locations within the room can make a significant difference to the effect of trems.  This is particularly noticeable on the Saltaire Wurlitzer.  The pipework is in understage chambers, and the trems are much more pronounced on the main floor of the hall than in the gallery (which arguably is a better sound overall) - the difference is quite marked.

I suspect that reflected sound has a lot to do with the effectiveness or otherwise of tremulants.

Every Blessing

Tony

barniclecompton

Upon listening to the Empress ballroom recordings which were made close to the organ chambers, the tremulants are much slower than what you would hear on the ballroom floor. The acoustic of the room seem to have the effect of making them sound deeper and faster than what they really are.