Acoustics before volume: the room is the primary instrument

The music is carefully chosen.

The equipment is up to par.

And yet, the listening experience disappoints.

Rarely the file. Almost always the room.

A note doesn’t stop when you stop playing it

Tiling, glass, bare concrete, and high ceilings reflect sound instead of absorbing it.

Every note thus continues to live beyond itself.

It joins the next one, overlaps with it, and the gentlest of atmospheres turns into noise.

A room with hard surfaces doesn’t betray the music. It repeats it for too long.

Turning up the volume amplifies the clutter as much as the music

In a reverberant room, the reaction is mechanical: louder, to hear better.

Reverberation then rises as fast as the music.

The result gains in intensity, not in calmness.

In a treatment room, the effect is immediate. Small, hard, devoid of textiles, it transforms a subtle background into a constant hum.

Three clues pointing to the room

• At two meters, a conversation requires raising your voice.
• The atmosphere feels cluttered, even at low volume.
• High notes become harsh, up to a sharp prick in the ear.

Two of these signs, and the playlist is off the list of culprits.

Fixes that require no construction work

A rug, curtains, a wall hanging, cushions, a throw blanket on the treatment table.

Breaking up large bare surfaces is often enough to bring down the reverberation.

Two equipment-free actions complete the job: never place a speaker in a corner, never set it on the floor against a wall.

These two positions concentrate the bass and make listening uneven from one end of the room to the other.

The three-step test

Play a calm track at the usual volume.

Take three steps back, then listen.

If the notes overlap instead of flowing into one another, the room is speaking louder than the music.

Volume controls the intensity. The room, on the other hand, decides the quality.