Product Description

The “bible” of acoustics now completely revised and updated for a new generation of audiophiles

The first four editions of this classic guide were written by the late F. Alton Everest, for many years the leading authority on acoustical principles. Now updated by another sound guru, Ken Pohlmann, the Fifth Edition of Master Handbook of Acoustics shows you how to achieve professional recording results at home, build an audio/video tech room for cutting-edge voice-over recording, control reverberation, interference, noise distortion in the air, and more.

You will find new information on hardware and software tools for performing acoustic measurements, subjective perception of acoustic space, noise control techniques, absorption measurements, and room impulse response measurements. The Fifth Edition also explores room design for surround-sound playback and professional studios, concert hall and auditorium acoustics, and room acoustics measurement and modeling software.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55124 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

From the Back Cover

Practical Instruction on the Art and Science of Acoustic Design and Architecture

Build your own acoustic environments such as recording studios, control rooms, and home listening rooms with expert insights from two engineering professionals. Fully expanded to cover the latest methods and software tools, Master Handbook of Acoustics, Fifth Edition presents clear explanations of acoustic phenomena and provides a hands-on approach to room design. Learn how to perform acoustic measurements, choose room dimensions, assign speaker placement, analyze response curves, and design and install sound absorbers and diffusers. You will also find details on how to fine-tune room reverberation, minimize external noise, and apply psychoacoustic concepts.

Master Handbook of Acoustics, Fifth Edition explains how to:

• Determine how sound propagates in open and enclosed spaces
• Measure sound-pressure levels and work with decibels
• Analyze the characteristics of room modal resonances
• Treat rooms for optimal early reflections, reverberation, and diffusion
• Minimize acoustic distortion, comb-filter effects, and HVAC interference
• Construct high-quality stereo and surround-sound listening rooms
• Design personal and professional recording studios and control rooms
• Understand the acoustics of auditoriums and concert halls
• Optimize room designs using measurement, modeling, and auralization software

About the Author

F. Alton Everest was a leading acoustics consultant. He was co-founder and director of the Science Film Production division of the Moody Institute of Science, and was also section chief of the Subsea Sound Research section of the University of California.

Ken C. Pohlmann is well known as an audio educator, consultant, and author. He is professor emeritus at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, consultant for many audio manufacturers and car makers, and author of numerous articles and books including Principles of Digital Audio.

Customer Reviews

Not a Masters' book but a good place to start.
This book is very well explained but lacks that which some may hope for from a book entitled 'The Master Handbook of Acoustics'.
If you are an 'acoustic enthusiast' and a knowledge of acoustic concepts is important to you, then, this would be worth buying - maybe an undergraduate physics/engineering student might also benefit from its approach.
However, if you are someone that wishes to go beyond, getting to the heart of problems like; noise/vibration control and acoustics, you should go for something like Frank Fahy's Engineering Acoustics, Kinsler and Frey, or, if you are up to it!, Pierce...

OK in some respects flawed in others
As another reviewer has said this is hardly a 'Master' handbook but it does have some useful and interesting things to say to the beginner. What is most disappointing is that a textbook on acoustics, printed in 2001 (the date of this edition) stills uses imperial measurements! Anywhere that distance is discussed it is given in feet and inches. This is the 21st century right? A pretty lazy attempt at updating this text.

Outstanding!!!!!
To say that the Master Handbook of Acoustics is an 'incredibly comprehensive work' it's like saying that the Beatles were 'some band from Liverpool'. Without a doubt, a must-have. Better than that, buy two and enlighten a friend! :-)

Now really, this is the absolute definitive book on acoustics, covering topics ranging from sound propagation to room acoustics to absortion, diffusion, refraction, reflection, diffraction and everything else you can think of.