TAYLOR GUITARS VIP PERFORMANCE VENUE
In late July, Taylor unveiled a state-of-the-art, in-house acoustic room designed for exploring the Taylor Guitar tone in an electronic performance setting. The acoustically treated room was designed by Chris Pelonis, one of the music industry's foremost acoustical design experts, who has developed studios for LucasFilm Productions, Disney, singer Michael McDonald, and actor/musician Jeff Bridges, among many other high-end sound production clients. The project, says Senior VP of Sales & Marketing TJ Baden, was born out of a desire to understand what constitutes the high-end sector of sound reinforcement for our guitars. This knowledge in turn will enable us to help Taylor players find the best possible tone in a performance environment, as well as drive future product development.

Pelonis added, "T.J. Baden requested the creation of a performance venue that would have studio accuracy. The purpose of the facility is to put on live and recorded performances spotlighting Taylor product and the Taylor artist roster. In addition, the space would be used as a lab for the development of active electronics for the Taylor line."

"We make 82 guitar models -- 82 definitions of tone and playability," Baden explains. "Historically, in a performance environment, once you plug in, the electronics system becomes the dominant voice of the instrument on stage. This room will help us refine our tone in an electric format and bring those distinctive tonal colors through." As Taylor delved into the project, its parameters expanded, Baden says. Just getting a top-shelf sound reinforcement system wouldn't be enough; the room needed to be acoustically transformed, given its original sound deficiencies. Located in the same building as Taylor's Sales offices, the 4000-square-foot room had been geared for office occupancy, with ten-foot dropped ceilings -- and about five seconds of reverb.

"It was obnoxious," Baden notes. "It would just slap off the walls. It was so bad we almost couldn't talk in there." The ceiling was gutted, revealing a 30-foot ceiling typical of our factory facilities. Pelonis then used software to analyze the structure of the room and custom-design a new acoustic configuration. A 15-foot ceiling height was chosen and the finish ceiling was hung as a grid of four-foot-square panels comprising different materials. To deaden the other 15 feet above it, the area was treated with eight-foot bats of insulation strewn across the beams and stagger-stepped every four feet. Pelonis indicated that "the absorptive 15' cavity above the finish ceiling was used to create a system for drastic pressure relief of the low frequency. It worked.

Additionally, the combination of DigiWave, and BAD panels were strategically placed in the T-bar drop ceiling along with some strait absorption. The idea was for the audience and the performer to hear space and imaging with very little interference. Sparkle and openness surrounding the listener without sacrifice to detail. It worked. Wooden guitar cases and theater curtains were also placed strategically to put the final touches aesthetically and acoustically. It worked."

Taylor opted for an EQ setting called "forest", which Pelonis uses as a metaphor suggesting that in a forest, the trees lightly reflect the sound to generate a slight ambiance, but the reflection doesn't return. Pelonis added "In a forest, you don't hear boundaries. Sound is much freer than in an enclosed space. This is as a result of the low frequency not loading as it does in an enclosure. Trees, rocks, hills, etc., create support for the sound in an unobtrusive fashion combining absorption, diffusion and reflection. To recreate this inside an enclosed space takes extreme attention to controlling the low frequency combined with careful application of a wide variety of surfaces. I enlisted the help of Peter D'Antonio of RPG to assist with the project. I had the idea of creating an optimized curved surface that would also provide low frequency absorption for the rear wall. Peter received the dimensions and created a curved surface within the strict confines of the space available. We collaborated on a variety of surfaces for the curve that would achieve the dual purpose of diffusion and low frequency absorption. The diffusive BAD panel surface complemented the low frequency treatment behind it. It worked."

The back wall is an RPG DigiWave, employing a surface that curves back and forth like a rolling wave to function as a "diffsorber" -- it both diffuses and absorbs sound.

Suspended from the ceiling above the stage are digitally designed RPG Skyline diffusers, which resemble an architect's development model of a city skyline, inverted so that the cluster of blocks, arranged in various dimensions, disperse the sound and give it a "sparkly" tone on stage, rather than reflecting it, which helps performers hear themselves better.

Baden indicated "We treated this room as having two mixes: one for the audience, one for the stage, as listeners and performers each have distinctive acoustic needs." Panels were mounted along one side wall to absorb sound; heavy theater curtains on a sliding track hang in front of the opposite wall to the cover the glass door and windows, which, if exposed, would reflect sound.

In addition to serving as an acoustic/electric sound lab, Taylor's performance room will be used for dealer training seminars, and function as a venue for special events, from the company's "Taylor Night" (an open-mic night for employees, families, and friends) to post-NAMM-show clinician showcases, to VIP concerts and dealer seminars.

The desired sound in the room, says Baden, is a performance venue with a maximized listening sweet spot, devoid of sonic idiosyncrasies, to accurately convey the nuances of our guitar tone. Pelonis added "The result of the collaboration is a masterpiece. The artists who have played there are extremely inspired to hear the true sound of their performance and the Taylor people are proving that their product is without compromise."