Hammer blow: about three-quarters of a second of reverberation
The drywaller finished this morning. As soon as he was gone, I took the iMac down to the house and, using the Audacity recording program, did some quick acoustic tests. A hammer blow gives about three-quarters of a second of reverberation — not bad.
I’m sure I would have chosen this house plan for the looks and layout alone. But I quickly noticed the house’s acoustic possibilities, with its high ceilings, long lines of sight, and many planes for reflecting and breaking up the sound. The organ — or any musical instruments, for that matter — should sound really good in this house. However, I would not want to live in a house this acoustically live with four children, eight television sets, and three barking dogs.
Here’s a whistling test with my out-of-tune whistling. The computer (using the built-in microphone) is downstairs in the living room. I am upstairs in the radio room balcony, facing the top of the living room, about 16 feet from the microphone.