Mike<\/strong> Wildman<\/strong>: When it comes to the design of any space no matter the use, there is\u00a0always a “main” element to be the focus of; the key is to first determine the best location, orientation, form, etc\u2026, or in my\u00a0experience to do the exact opposite and almost ignore it until the end\u00a0so it becomes a puzzle to be solved rather than catalyst for the rest of\u00a0the project. Regardless of the path chosen, design should never be done\u00a0in a vacuum where you lose sight of the rest of spaces that are\u00a0important. For example, a great sounding music venue would be useless if\u00a0there was no viable entry sequence to get to the performance space or\u00a0the sound control room and wiring were not done correctly and most\u00a0importantly, form and shape aside, that the finish material used did not\u00a0properly move the sound from the source to the intended destination.<\/p>\n MW<\/strong>: This is twofold, as the best sounding music venues grew out of simple\u00a0clamshell forms that hundreds of years ago were carved into the earth\u00a0and slowly became surface elements like those found throughout Europe\u00a0and eventually the Americas, to finally the modern day building form\u00a0where the “clamshell” is engulfed within the structure. This encompassing of the form can either be visible or hidden.<\/p>\n PM<\/strong>: How long does the process for designing, drafting and building a music venue take, in years?<\/p>\n MW<\/strong>: For starters\u00a0it depends on the size on complexity of the venue in question as well as\u00a0the budget for the project. A general rule I always go by is anything\u00a0will take longer than your think to design and get to the construction\u00a0phase and far longer to build than ever planned or estimated.<\/p>\n PM<\/strong>: When it comes to the process of designing a music venue, what would surprise music fans the most?<\/p>\n MW<\/strong>: Not realizing that the design of a music venue is much more than its form and shape, that all the support spaces and materials are equally as important to the outcome. This is not the same as some other architectural forms, say a house where better materials typical mean better house in the terms of size or location or price because at the end of the day the toilet should still flush. In a music venue, improperly designing and accounting for the sound that the mechanical system makes or using materials that alter the wavelengths of the sound to be heard can literally destroy a place to the point of unuseability.<\/p>\n PM<\/strong>: Considering the great many music venues in America what are some of the best venues for sound and acoustics, that you have come across in your experience?<\/p>\n MW<\/strong>: It’s funny as you mention yours and my beginnings in Syracuse and ask\u00a0for a possible Syracuse spin on this, I am drawn to the memories of “Dome\u00a0Stomping” around the perimeter of the Carrier Dome<\/a>. Obviously that is\u00a0not a music venue but a truly amazing example of a space’s ability to\u00a0reflect, enhance and move sound. As far as places I have been that have\u00a0been great venues; the above mentioned Lincoln Center and Radio City for\u00a0starters as well as the counterpart to Radio City, The Beacon Theater. Additionally I have fond memories of traveling through Europe and\u00a0experiencing the technology of moving sound in places that are ruins and\u00a0hundreds of years old. But the most amazing place I have been to, and this was only for a spoken word presentation and not a musical\u00a0performance, was The Times Center<\/a>, which is the theater at the New York Times Building in Times Square. What amazed me most about this room was that is was a fairly decent size and the presentation was for multiple hours with multiple presenters going one after another but not one of them used a microphone and you heard every word. To me this was more impressive than if it was a musical performance because odds are, just speaking was done at a lower volume than if someone was performing music. I was impressed by the \u201carchitecture” and coordination of everything that had to go into that room. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The venues we see music are more than just a place to congregate to experience concerts and performances. The work that goes into architecture – into designing, creating and building these venues is a lengthy process that spans years, well before patrons take their seats or find dance space to enjoy the sound. Architects, engineers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133,6,50,49,22,14,9,155,10,486],"tags":[1841,1842,2070,2071],"class_list":["post-1052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central-ny","category-features","category-manhattan","category-nyc-metro","category-profiles","category-regions","category-special","category-syracuse","category-upstatelive-archives","category-venue-profile","tag-architects","tag-architecture","tag-mike-wildman","tag-music-venues"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Sydney-opera-house-6-768x558.jpg\")
PM<\/strong>: How are acoustics and the flow of music built into the design in a way that does not affect the overall structure of the building? How can acoustics be worked into a building without making the overall structure unappealing, or worse, unsafe?<\/p>\n![\"architecture](\"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Radio_City_Music_Hall-768x511.jpg\")
Take for\u00a0example the Sydney Opera House, where you can see from the exterior the curved shape of the interior space to move the sound, whereas with Radio\u00a0City Music Hall you couldn’t even tell where within the building the\u00a0main stage and theater was; both are incredible examples of\u00a0acoustical masterpieces where you literally can hear a pin drop. There\u00a0is even the middle ground which can be experienced in the renovated\u00a0Lincoln Center in New York City. Here you cannot see the form of the music space\u00a0in its purist form as in the Sydney Opera House, but in the area of the\u00a0building that does house the theater the architecture changes and you\u00a0can tell where it is unlike Radio City.<\/p>\n![\"architecture](\"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Massry-Center-for-the-Arts-rpginc.com_.jpg\")
The last piece of the puzzle is\u00a0finish materials used for acoustics, hard and soft surfaces and how they\u00a0“reflect” the sound waves around. Movie theaters tend to have softer\u00a0fabrics as they have a single main sound source and do not want echoing\u00a0because the sound is mechanic, so the soft fabrics deaden the sound\u00a0waves rather than bounce them back. Live performance spaces tend to\u00a0have harder materials so they move the sound around but this must be\u00a0calculated as the waves will intersect each other. This is where\u00a0physics gets into the equation, causing waves to cancel each other out, cause\u00a0delays or even echoes. Have you ever wondered why when watching a major\u00a0sports event on TV the singer performing the National Anthem doesn’t\u00a0seem to be moving their lips to the words you are hearing, why they are\u00a0wearing sound canceling headphones or even lip syncing? This is because\u00a0sound moves slower than light which is what is transmitting the sports\u00a0event to your TV and the stadium or arena they are performing in was not\u00a0designed for live performances like that, so they can be hearing their\u00a0own words seconds after they say them bouncing back into their ears\u00a0after traveling through the entire complex.<\/p>\n![\"architecture](\"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/thetimescenter.jpg\")
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