Preferred acoustical conditions for musicians on stage in solo, duet and ensemble performances

Abstract

The acoustical conditions for musicians in relation to stage support parameters were investigated on two recital hall stages. Temporal variation of reflections from an omni-directional sound source at each performance position was also measured to evaluate the reflections in terms of time delay gap. In addition, subjective evaluation were conducted to find out the musicians' responses as solo, duet and quartet performances at six positions of each stage in terms of 'support', 'timbre', 'reverberance', 'ensemble' and 'overall quality'. The results indicated that musicians preferred the center position of stage area. Consequently, musicians' preference was significantly correlated with STEarly, STLate and temporal variation of reflections for solo performance and STEarly for ensemble performance.