Auralex pArt Science 2 x 2 feet SpaceCoupler Diffusors

It's not often that a product comes along that introduces new approaches to solving acoustic problems. The SpaceCoupler is such a product, and we are completely enamored with its many applications.

Loosely coupling spaces is a design technique that was developed by Russ Berger to sculpt high quality live recording spaces out of rooms with otherwise small—some would say almost unusable—footprints. Berger has been using the technique for close to 20 years to create truly unique acoustical environments in his studio designs.

To understand how the SpaceCoupler works in a loosely coupled configuration, let's start with a small room, just cozy enough to fit a drummer and a kit, say, 14 feet long by 12 feet wide with a 15 feet high ceiling. The lower portions of the walls—say up to about 8 ft. high—are treated with a good broadband absorber such as AudioTile, with the absorber coverage as close to 100% as can be achieved. The upper portion of the walls are "hard," creating a live reflective area.

SpaceCouplers placed horizontally at just above the 8 ft high mark separates the height of the room into two areas with a controlled aperture. The SpaceCouplers in the aperture redirect sound energy into the upper portion of the room where it is diffused. Sound then returns—again redirected by the SpaceCouplers—to provide a "big room" reverberation tail that sounds exceptional. The quality of the resulting tail is smooth, without any acoustical artifacts or anomalies that would be difficult to work with in the post-processing and mixing phases.

The loosely coupled space application is just the beginning. The SpaceCoupler can be used over flat absorbers to increase their efficiency. Two of Auralex's favorite applications of the SpaceCoupler are over absorbers above the mix position and over deep absorbers on the rear wall of a control room. The former is a very efficient, space-conserving method of eliminating the floor-ceiling first and second order axial modes that plague basement and bedroom studios. A relatively small area of SpaceCouplers over a few inches of absorption on the ceiling can greatly increase the low frequency "punch" in the room and allow for better mixing decisions for low frequency content. Bye-Bye Mud. Hello Translatable Mixes!

The latter application—SpaceCouplers over deep absorbers on the control room rear wall—is most often found in "neutral" room designs. Mixing the SpaceCouplers with the some SpaceArray diffusors over deep absorbers can provide high frequency scattering, yet still allow the low frequency sound into the deep absorbers to control modal build-up and cancellation in the room.

Like the SpaceArray, the SpaceCoupler is handmade from solid wood. The craftsmanship is exceptional and the musical qualities of the Paulownia wood (used in musical instrument construction) give a very natural feel to the room that is pleasant to be in and conducive to maximizing creativity. New applications for the SpaceCoupler are being discovered daily at Auralex and RBDG.