What's Happening at ASC

Hanging backstage with Jeff Campitelli

January, 2011 -

Joe Satriani and his band played the Roseland theater in Portland on Jan 11th, our ASC's Chris Klein went up for the show.

Here he is backstage with avid long time TubeTrap user and endorser Jeff Campitelli, Joe's drummer. Jeff was named one of Rock and Roll's top 50 drummers by Rolling Stone Magazine. Jeff has recorded with TubeTraps since 1995.

ASC TubeTraps Earn 2010 Editor's Choice Award from the Absolute Sound

February, 2010 -

From the March 2010 issue of The Absolute Sound Magazine:

"Unless you have a professionally designed and treated room, TubeTraps from Acoustic Sciences Corporation are absolutely indispensable to improving your system's sound. They are extremely able to solve a wide range of acoustic problems with strategic placement and orientation ...

There are lots of questionable acoustic products on the market, but TubeTraps are the real deal"

ASC wishes to thank the folks at Absolute Sound for the kudos!

ASC's Art Noxon is Guest Lecturer at Bruce Swedien Studio Workshop

January, 2010 -

Bruce Swedien mentored 9 recording engineers from all over the world, once again in his home studio in Ocala, Florida. Art Noxon, Bruce's acoustic design engineer, taught "Swedien Acoustics" to the group each morning session for the first 3 days of this 6 day session. Martin Kanola, Bruce's microphone design engineer, took over the morning sessions for the last 3 days. Art taught the group about:

1. The design and construction of Bruce's studio,
2. Sound, rooms and microphones,
3. MATT testing monitor playback performance,
4. The midfield wrap-around Awall Bruce uses for mixing,
5. How he uses sound fusion and QSF for gathering full bodied "direct" signals in the live room,
6. The difference between and uses for coherent and incoherent diffusers,
7. How signal masking or clarity in the mix depends on the reverb setting.

This was the 4th of Bruce's present series of mentoring workshops: "In The Studio with Bruce Swedien" is a comprehensive one week "reprogramming" course for recording engineers who come from all over the world. They hope to discover and take home some of Bruce's technical tricks but who they meet is an engineer who does not even use compressors, limiters or EQ and who never even tries to fix it in the mix. He's a sound recording artist who does his mixing at the mic. And that's just the beginning. Bruce's mentoring classes are a rare, life changing opportunity for studio engineers to relearn how to approach their work in recording from one of the true and great Master Engineers in recording history.

Bruce's discography starts early with such names as Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, through Dinah Washington, Quincy Jones, The Wiz and Michael Jackson, Burt Bacharach, Sergio Mendes, James Ingram, Michael McDonald and Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Jennifer Lopez and many many more...

More Here.

ASC TubeTraps at the Viet Nam High End Show

November, 2009 -

The Viet Nam High End Show 2009 was held in Ho Chi Minh City from September 25th to 27th at the Continental Hotel. Many big names displayed their gear using ASC TubeTraps to help bring out the best possible sound. More info on the show can be seen here.

Vietnamese audiophiles had their first look at TubeTraps and were highly impressed. Six months ago, we shipped a full 40 foot container load to our dealer in Ho Chi Minh City, Dung Nguyen Van Dung. After the show, he quickly sold out. Shown here is his showroom which as you can see uses TubeTraps to create a 2C3D concept within a well developed room acoustic.

Nguyen Dung Electronic Co., Ltd.
G21 Le Tu Tai St.,
Nguyen Dinh Chieu Bldg, Floor 1
Ward 4, Phu Nhuan District
Ho Chi Minh City
Dung Nguyen 011-84-903623455
Luan Bui 001-408-239-7958 (USA)
Email: dienhiend@yahoo.com.vn

ASC Ships Largest Single TubeTrap Order in its History

August, 2009 -

After several months of build time, ASC loaded nearly every square inch of a shipping container destined for Hong Kong. The lucky recipient is our Chinese distributor, Asia Access. They'll have nearly 200 TubeTraps to distribute to discriminating audiophiles all over China. If you're looking for ways to save money on your TubeTrap order, consider a shipping container of your own!

ASC Manager of Dealer Sales Michael Adams worked tirelessly to overcome numerous hurdles along the way. In the process, we refined the production process to make it easier to display and sell TubeTraps in a store setting. We even gave them special labels with serial numbers so that owners can register their authentic TubeTraps online.

ASC is Saddened by the Sudden Death of Michael Jackson

June, 2009 -

It is with profound grief that ASC thanks Michael Jackson for all he has done for both the music world and the world in general, promoting a message of peace and love. Mr. Jackson is perhaps the most famous musician ever to use ASC-TubeTraps to record every vocal track on every album he has made since Bad.

Bruce Swedien, the five time Grammy winning sound engineer who worked with Jackson for many years, even used ASC-TubeTraps to record the sound of Jackson's dance moves while he laid down tracks in the studio.

In a 2005 interview with Geraldo Rivera, Jackson chose ASC-TubeTraps as the backdrop.

ASC extends their deepest condolences to the Jackson family, his friends and his fans.

ASC Mourns the Passing of Ed McMahon

June, 2009 -

We are saddened to hear the news of Ed McMahon's passing, and our hearts go out to his friends and family. Just a few short years after ASC opened its doors, ASC TubeTraps were used by Director Bill White for a commercial starring Mr. McMahon.

The TV commercial (third reel in) was for Mannington Floors, and used an ASC QSF cloud (suspended TubeTrap array) to help direct vertical sound reflections toward the mic.

Note the improved audio of that particular commercial compared to the others.

Interior Construction Magazine Publishes Article by Arthur Noxon

December, 2008 -

The article by Mr. Noxon, entitled "The Many Voices of NRC, Why All Ratings Are Not the Same", appeared in the Winter issue of Interior Construction.

"High volume rooms tend to have a lot of hard, sound reflecting surfaces and at the same time hold lots of people. The architectural ceiling and wall systems specified for these rooms are intended not only to deliver aesthetic value to the room, but additionally to deliver acoustic properties to the room."

Click Here to view the full article in PDF format.

ASC TubeTraps Earn 2008 Editor's Choice Award from the Absolute Sound

November, 2008 -

From the October 2008 issue of The Absolute Sound Magazine:

"Unless you have a professionally designed and treated room, TubeTraps from Acoustic Sciences Corporation are absolutely indispensable to improving your system's sound. They are extremely able to solve a wide range of acoustic problems with strategic placement and orientation . . . There are lots of questionable acoustic products on the market, but TubeTraps are the real deal"

ASC wishes to thank the folks at Absolute Sound for the kudos!

Week-long Critical Listening Intensive With Bruce Swedien and Arthur Noxon

October, 2008 -

Arthur Noxon joined 5 time Grammy Award winning Recording Engineer Bruce Swedien to teach advanced recording techniques in a week long class.

Course Goal: To enhance your ability to critically analyze musical sounds on a continuing basis as a professional. This master class is designed for those professionally involved in the technical aspects, the performing, and the production of high-quality recorded music.

Critical listening is a form of listening that involves analysis, serious thinking and thoughtful judgment. When it comes to recording and mixing music, critical listening is used every day.
We will explore all phases of world-class, state-of-the-art music recording right up to and including the final mix.

Read the Press Release

September, 2008 -

Mr. Noxon spent a day with music students at the New Urban High School in Portland, Oregon. It was highly educational for all involved, as students learned about sound, listening and how the human ear hears. Some of the topics covered basic room acoustics, recording techniques, micing and sound control.

ASC Tames Cave Acoustics for Miller Brewing

August, 2008 -

Over 150 years ago, Miller Brewing constructed caves, where Frederick J. Miller used to store his earliest brews. The coolness of the caves helped keep the beer fresh. Miller Brewing recently decided to upgrade some of the caves and use them for a new vistor center and dining venue. However, being actual caves, they had the acoustics one would expect from a cave.

Project designer Jim Logan of Logan Productions, brought in ASC's Arthur Noxon to come up with an acoustics plan that would retain the existing brick look. It was one of Mr. Noxon's most challenging assignments, as dozens of ideas were considered, then rejected by Miller. They insisted on an exact replica of what was already there. Project manager Michael Adams had his hands full as the ASC Design Team pushed the acoustic envelope.

Click here for a complete writeup.

Click here to view a short video.

ASC Sponsors Acoustic Control for The WHO's Tommy

June, 2008 -

ASC has been asked to provide the acoustic control package for the upcoming live production of The WHO's Tommy, the ground-breaking rock opera composed by Who guitarist Pete Townshend in 1969. It will be presented for the first time in sonic 3-D via headphones for each and every audience member. Acoustic Sciences Corporation, home of the TubeTrap, is proud to be a part of the excitement. Recording Studio expert and top sales producer Ty Moyer will be managing ASC's contribution of the world's best acoustic enhancement for the 3-D show. A huge shout-out needs to go to ASC's factory techs who dropped everything, showed up early and worked late to get the rush order out to LA.

For more about ASC's sponsorship, Click Here.

The L.A. Times rates this show as This Summer's Best in Theater. Here's what they're saying. "A new mounting of the "The Who's Tommy" opened at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre on June 20 for a two-week run. The marvelous Alice Ripley, who was in Des McAnuff's original Broadway production, joins a cast that includes Nona Hendryx as the Acid Queen and Aleks Pevec as Tommy. But what might make the experience unique is the use of 3-D Sound, a new audio system that suggests what really cool Sensurround might be like -- plugged directly into your body."

James Johnson (Sound Designer) has created a unique and unprecedented high definition 3 dimensional sound delivery system called exp3d™, which will debut at the show. Mr. Johnsons’ work on Tommy also includes the design of live and recorded 3d sound effects, and supervision of the live audio mix.

For more, be sure to visit the Tommy website.

ASC Engineers Custom Noise Baffle for Tate Condominiums

June, 2008-

ASC was recently called in to help fix a persistent noise issue caused by the building's water heater exhaust vents. The vents, which were quite noisy, had somehow been positioned less than 100 feet away from neighboring residences. When the heating system turned on, the vents created a noise nuisance, and a call was placed to ASC for help.

After test data came back, ASC Head Engineer Arthur Noxon determined that a bass trap baffle would fix the problem, and he went to work designing a custom baffle box that would blend into the building architecture.

The resulting baffle looks like it was always there, yet the noise has been reduced to a barely detectable hum. Peace has been restored to the neighborhood, and most importantly, Tate Condominiums is happy with the result.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

ASC Provides Acoustic Engineering and Custom Products for Miller Brewing

May, 2008-

ASC's ace special projects guru Michael Adams is the Project Manager working with ASC President Arthur Noxon to create a custom acoustics package for Miller Brewing. Miller is converting a storage cave at the brewery into a visitor center and museum that will also be used for hosting dinner events. Jim Logan of Logan Productions is designing the project in close consultation with ASC.

How do you make a cave sound great? It's not easy, but the great team at ASC dreamed up a unique absorption panel that looks like the original bricks lining the cave walls. When we're done, the cave will look the same, but it will have the intelligibility and the acoustic qualities able to handle dinner guests.

Do you have a project that requires custom acoustics? ASC specializes in the engineering and manufacture of unique acoustics. Be sure to visit our Custom Projects page.

ASC Church Acoustics Featured in March 2008 Church and Worship Technology Magazine Article

March, 2008-

by Arthur M. Noxon, PE. Originally featured in Church & Worship Technology, March, 2008.

ASC has provided acoustics for many churches over the years. Usually, we are called after all else has failed. This article details a church that called ASC first. Mr. Noxon's article is available here.

"Usually, working with churches is pretty hard. But one day I got the dream call. It went something like this: Hi. We had some vandals start a fire and our church was smoke damaged. It was covered by insurance and the entire inside of the church needs to be removed and resurfaced. We figure we can use this money to do the acoustic job we always needed, and still get the painting done. So what do we do?"

MORE

ASC TubeTraps Featured in March 2008 Home Theater Magazine Article

March, 2008-

ASC's own Richard Johnson helped Gary Altunian in part two of an article in the Audio Video Interiors "tear out guide" in Home Theater Magazine, covers the ASC TubeTrap in detail. The name of the article is "Unlocking the Best Audio Performance From Your System". We'll post a direct link when one become available. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

"The speakers seemed to virtually disappear, replaced by a three-dimensional sonic image of the recording with a soundstage I've only heard on the finest audio systems. Details I've never heard in some recordings were suddenly there, as if I were playing a different version of the same performance. Separation of multiple instruments and vocals was obvious and stunning. The TubeTraps produced a remarkable difference."

"The TubeTraps are one of the most significant improvements you can make in your audio system. Before you spend one dollar more on electronics, speakers, cables, or disc players, invest in some ASC TubeTraps - you will be rewarded."

ASC's Art Noxon Featured in February 2008 Home Theater Magazine Article

February, 2008-

Arthur Noxon recently shared his acoustic expertise with Gary Altunian for an article in the Audio Video Interiors "tear out guide" in Home Theater Magazine. The name of the article is "Unlocking the Best Audio Performance From Your System". We'll post a direct link when one become available. Meanwhile, here's an excerpt:

"The dimensions, shape, and features of a listening room can have a profound effect on sound quality, starting with the bass. Based on its dimensions and shape, every room has resonant modes or standing wave resonances that either reinforce or attenuate bass frequencies. The most common malady is boomy or heavy bass. And if the bass isn't right, nothing sounds good. Room-resonance modes are present in frequencies from 20 hertz up to about 300 Hz, and they first occur when a sound's wavelength is twice the length of the room. They also occur at twice, three times, and four times the first or fundamental frequency. For example, if a room resonance exists at 48 Hz, a second resonance will exist at 96 Hz, a third at 144 Hz, and so on. The room's width and height also create the own room resonances, and where these resonant frequencies combine, they cause peaks and/or dips in the bass response. Art Noxon, president of Acoustic Sciences Corporation, a manufacturer of acoustic treatment products, describes the best bass as individual pulses followed by quiet, or intersonic silence. Each bass note should sound distinct; nonetheless, room resonances tend to blur the bass and make all bass notes sound the same."

ASC TubeTraps Used by 2008 Grammy Winners

February, 2008 -

ASC extends a huge congratulations to both Amy Winehouse for "Back to Black" and Herbie Hancock for "River: The Joni Letters" on their Grammy wins. What most people don't realize is that Grammy winner Salaam Remi (one of the engineers for "Back to Black") uses ASC TubeTraps to record, mix or master some of the tracks. Yes, TubeTraps line Mr. Remi's project studio.

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose rapid decline into an abyss of drug abuse shocked fans last year, won five Grammy Awards on Sunday after taking a break from rehab to perform at the show from London."

Khaliq Glover, aka Khaliq-o-Vision, travelling studio engineer for Herbie Hancock, swears by his ATTACK Wall and QSF.

"But jazz veteran Herbie Hancock was the surprise winner of the coveted album of the year award for the all-star Joni Mitchell tribute "River: The Joni Letters," preventing Winehouse from enjoying a historic clean sweep of the top four Grammy prizes."

Complete Winner List.

ASC TubeTraps spotted at 2008 CES

January, 2008 -

Our trained TubeTrap spotters couldn't help but notice several exhibitors using ASC TubeTraps to demo their newest gear at the January CES event. High end gear makers Esoteric and Genesis Advanced Technologies knew they'd get the best out of their gear by using TubeTraps for their demos.

For more, CLICK HERE

Orchestra pit acoustics for musical Cry-Baby

November, 2007 -

Cry-Baby is a musical based on the movie. They are developing the play in San Diego area and then will take it to Broadway. They contacted us about orchestra pit acoustics and we developed a cost effective package for them. We were ready to ship the system but because of the firestorm down there, shipping had been shut down. Still, when it comes to show business, it’s always the same: The show must go on. As previously announced, Cry-Baby will have its world premiere at San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse from November 6th through December 23rd. Visit www.lajollaplayhouse.org for more information on Cry-Baby showtimes.

We repackaged the project and shipped it on the bus, which could get through the fire storm. The project got there just in time for setup. Rehearsals began this week and we have a report from Peter Hylenski, down in the pit.

"It’s amazing, much better than we could imagine. There is clarity, both inside the pit and outside, on stage and in the seating area. Everyone is hearing it right. Monitor levels and usage are way down. Who’d have guessed? The 13 piece band hears each other really well, with minimal to no monitor use.

The pit is always a crowded place but still, the acoustic panels and traps fit right in. They were easy to setup and adjust. And they don’t seem to take up any room or be in the way. We had to put the sax way out to one side, near the pinched down far end of the pit. He sounded so far way. We added one Studio Trap in each corner and rotated the reflectors towards the sax and now the sax sounds like he’s in the middle of the band.

Something else, the band can now hear each other, unusually well. This means that even minor musical adjustments by any instrument can be instantly heard and incorporated into the rest of the band. Thank you guys very, very much."

Peter Hylenski is a Broadway Sound Designer. Peter also works as a recording studio engineer for various music, film and commercial projects.

Design credits include: Ragtime (West End) Olivier Award nomination – Best Sound Design, Children’s Letters to God, Laughing Room Only, Chef’s Theater, Dora the Explorer – Live! (US National Tour), Scooby-Doo Live! (US National Tour), Ovations! Concerts of Great American Musicals (Chicago Auditorium Theater), Blue’s Clues – Live! (US National Tour), Exactly Like You (York Theatre Company), Spoleto Festival U.S.A. (1999 - 2002 seasons), and Niketown (NYC).

What can we say. We’re proud to be allowed in the pit, let along to help voice it. We had to invent a great little self-standing super thick sound panel, with built in diffusion that loves to stand stable against the wall, that is low cost. We used an old technique we used to use for getting half round TubeTraps to stand up against walls. We also sent over 2 sets of StudioTraps. They were going to use them at one end for the drums but we’re glad they learned quickly how to mess around with the Studios to be able to fix the Sax, who got stuck at the other end of the pit.

Just to do our part, we took a little extra time with the shipping crate and turned it into a road crate, so the products can be packed in an easy to load box, and without having to be taken apart. Next stop….The lights of Broadway. See announcement here and keep track of this musical show.

October 28, 2007 -

We are sorry to hear that Porter Wagoner passed on yesterday. His name and sound are so familiar. One song in particular from his last album, Wagonmaster, is getting lots of airtime right now. It is “Committed to Parkview” by Johnny Cash and was recorded with Marty Stuart at OMNIsound in Nashville. In the video of the song, he is surrounded by ASC Studio Traps and they are also in photos from the actual recording session. We are very proud to have played even the smallest role in helping to record his voice.

Video
Photos
Story

October, 2007 -

Arthur Noxon was recently interviewed for an article in The Register Guard, Eugene, OR. The article is entitle Going for No. 1 for Noise in Autzen Stadium, By Mark Baker. Published: Saturday, October 27, 2007. Mr. Noxon discussed the basics of stadium noise and whether Autzen Stadium, home of the University of Oregon Ducks, could break the record of 126 dB.

"Want to break a record today, Duck fans? Then wear rain slickers, despite the forecast of sunny autumn skies."

“Sound bounces off plastic,” Noxon says. Rain slickers tend to reflect instead of absorb sound, which increases their loudness, he says.

September, 2007 -

Arthur Noxon was recently interviewed for several soundproofing articles posted on MSN.com.

"How to handle noisy neighbors"

"10 tips for finding a quiet apartment"

"Bass, that low boom from your neighbor's stereo, takes a lot of energy to produce. ("Bass waves physically shake the walls," says Arthur Noxon, president of Acoustic Sciences. "It's like you walk up to the wall and double your fist up and hit it.") These low-frequency sound waves are especially hard to combat since they travel far and wide, bending easily around objects."

ASC WallDamp Featured in Talk Given by Arthur Noxon

April, 2007

Mr. Noxon discussed soundproofing STC ratings and how this industry standard fails to cover low frequency sound transmission. ASC also hosted a booth at the Eugene Construction Expo 2007 where we had several hands-on WallDamp demonstrations.

They were actually more like "ears-on" demonstrations, as we showed the unique damping features of WallDamp. This was a side-by-side wall assembly, one with WallDamp, one without. Participants were invited to tap each assembly with a rubber mallet to hear the difference, which was dramatic to say the least. One side sided like a boing, the other like a dull thud. We'll leave it to you to figure out which was which.

Breaking News: New 2007 TubeTrap Review

March, 2007

John Acton, on behalf of Positive Feedback Online, put ASC's TubeTraps through their paces. To quote:

"As far as the sonic performance of the ASC TubeTraps goes, I won't equivocate—the full ASC TubeTrap treatment in my room made a bigger improvement in my system's sound than any component upgrade I've ever made. I noticed the improvement before I even fired up the stereo. Speaking voices possessed a natural timbre and effortlessness that I've not experienced in such a small space. Flutter echo was banished, but the resultant acoustic was not in any way overly dead or unnatural."

Check out the whole article here.

Custom Monitor Bridge

February, 2007

Engineer and ASC founder Art Noxon custom designed this product to fit a pair of Tannoy Ellipse 8 monitors. It's much more than a simple nook, because these active tri-amped monitors can pack a punch across a huge bandwidth (40 Hz to 50 kHz). Because of that, the bridge, which spans the lower TubeTrap Monitor Stand and the twin upper TubeTrap tops, has to be acoustically transparent. In addition, the Ellipse 8 includes a top mounted tweeter which has to fit comfortably in the bridge.

It was a custom job all the way, but ASC handles tasks like this all the time. It was a team effort, involving many talents to get the job done. Shown in the picture is guitarist Buddy Sawyer, whose day job is ASC Shop Manager.

Bruce Swedien's New Studio

February, 2007

Bruce Swedien recently moved and of course, he's building a new Westviking Studio. He's using a steel building that came with his new property as the base structure, and adding a "room within a room" concept to achieve good sound isolation. ASC WallDamp is being used extensively throughout the project to damp low frequency sound and calm the walls. Bruce has retained his good friend Art Noxon for all the acoustic engineering and approval of the plans.

Now construction is under way, and so far it's looking very impressive. Bruce will be sending in updates, so stay tuned folks.

ASC Wins Runner Up for Electronic House Home of the Year Awards 2006

December, 2006

This beautiful home theater used our IsoWall soundproofing system to contain the awsome sound generated by the state-of-the-art gear throughout. Check it out here.

Brand New ASC Custom Home Theater Project

July, 2006

ASC engineers worked with designer Mark Haflich to build custom acoustics for his latest project. For a full description, click here. Needless to say, he's thrilled!

Newly Redesigned ASC Soffit

June, 2006

We've redesigned our Acoustic Soffit to accomodate halogen lights and easier installation. An exciting new feature is the optional halogen lighting, which ships installed by ASC to manufacturer specs for fire safety. Just run the wiring, and it's ready to go.

MORE

New SubTrap Review

June, 2005

Ed Mullen checked out our SubTrap and gave it two big thumbs up!

"The ASC SubTrap works as advertised. It reduces vibration transmission through the floor, improves the frequency response in the mid and upper bass regions, reduces low frequency reverberant decay times, and it locates the subwoofer closer to the height of the main speakers. Not surprisingly, this unique combination of engineered performance features results in an audible improvement in the bass quality."

Full writeup is linked here.

October, 2004 -

In 2004, This Old House decided to include a dedicated home theater in their featured project. They consulted with Goodwins High End in Boston, who urged them to specify ASC IsoWall for structural sound conditioning and soundproofing. The footage made it into an episode of "Inside This Old House" on the Arts & Entertainment Network. MORE

Stereophile magazine has reviewed our SubTrap and here are their conclusions:

September, 2004

Kalman Rubinson reviewed the SubTrap and found it's really a necessity for anyone with a subwoofer.

Here's a quote:

"The combo of Servo-15 and ASC SubTrap filled the room with throbbing tuneful bass that moved me, but not the floorboards or furniture. Ah, yes! Glorious bass without the boom!"

"..most of us with subwoofers will just have to have a SubTrap."

Read the Full Review (PDF)

Read the full Review (Stereophile Website)