I am playing with my room acoustic and would attempt to recreate an acoustic similar to what were heard in a vintage theater from the time they were using curtains everywhere (not sure if it is still a practice today?). I know that curtains only absorb high frequencies, and that overall I will need to balance my sound to get something sweet, but what type of curtains? Was the curtain on the theater wall the same as the stage curtain ? Would any curtain found on the web do the trick for this project? Also I am getting a vintage projection screen. Purely for the sound alone I do not plan to use it at all. What is your thoughts?
Have you ever pulled back those curtains to see what's behind them?
You should, it might surprise you.
At the Michigan theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan there is still a pipe organ once used for so-called silent movies.
Sometimes the pipe organ would be accompanied by a partial orchestra, sometimes not. The original pipe organ is located in the pit area, typically covered over with a black tarp and surrounded by brass guardrails to discourage the public from messing with during the showing of regular movies or live band performances (I saw
Laurie Anderson there pre-2000). See article below, looks like those are protective measures and the organ rises out of the pit.
In the mid-1990's as part of a fundraiser to preserve the historic theater they had the house pipe organ player come in and give a performance. They pulled the curtains back on an area adjacent to the stage, high up on the wall behind the brick/stone arch openings, then for the first time we caught sight of the glimmering pipes themselves. I believe the full set of pipes were actually on the back wall of the stage, and also covered by curtains and the movie screen -
out of sight, out of mind.
So even though some heavy drapery curtains are for absorption others covering shiny pipes are acoustically transparent, and their primary function was to absorb light when films were shown.
Also consider that some of those curtains are NOT original equipment.
The article below contends that curtains were an attempt to modernize the gold leaf interiors in the 1950's. If I recall correctly the historic restoration projects of the Fisher theater and Masonic Temple theater in Detroit removed similar draperies, and sometimes the original walls were there intact, sometimes the ornament had been removed.
How an organ saved the Michigan Theater
http://www.annarbor.com/entertainment/michigan-theater-organ/
Norm was concerned about the pad that covered the organ when it wasn’t in use. The theater still hosted occasional live shows for which the organ was lowered below the stage and covered. Performers could dance and stomp right over the organ. So Norm and Bob built a plywood cover to provide extra protection. They also scraped and painted the dressing rooms behind the stage and cleaned the ticket booth and concession stand. ................
Of course, no amount of cleaning could restore the Michigan Theater to its former glory. Norm, who was 5 years old when the theater first opened, remembered going there with his parents, walking through the grand foyer with its gold leaf and chandeliers, and hearing the organ played during a silent movie. But in the 1950s, the ornate decor was covered over with a drab modern facade and drop ceilings.
Certainly the acoustics of these spaces were changed from live performances with exposed walls, to curtained walls with electronically amplified speakers flanking the room. They each had their own reason for having "a look", because form follows function - very often.
Bartola Musical Instrument Company
Pre-electricity theaters older than the early 1900's Michigan theater had lively interiors so that the dim flicker of candle lit stage footlights could be reflected.
Then the early movies houses like the Michigan theater followed the style, and later in their life curtains were installed to modernize them on the cheap.
Then newly built theaters in the 1960's-80's attempted to "look like a theater" adopted the look of curtains.
It wasn't until later that acoustic products flanking the walls of movie theaters became common as the sound systems got progressively more powerful and advanced.
My suggestion or maybe a first idea, acoustically treat your space with room treatments as you normally would, then use acoustically transparent curtains to cover them up with.
In this way you can avoid over treatment at certain frequencies that heavy absorptive curtains affect.
