ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the concept of the Non-Environment. It discusses the origins of stereophony. The chapter compares with stereo microphone techniques. It also outlines an example of a control room philosophy which is generally representative of the types of stereo control rooms which use hard, reflective front walls and maximally absorbent rear walls. Studio designers are all aware of the problems inherent in the use of small, close-field monitors, such as the inability to produce the lower frequencies at appropriate levels, or the inconsistency in room positioning, and hence the uncertainty about how the room modes will, or will not, be driven. In 1994, a paper was presented to the UK, Institute of Acoustics (IOA) entitled 'Control Room Reverberation is Unwanted Noise'. The paper put forward the concept of the Non-Environment rooms, which sought to provide monitoring conditions that were as close as could be achieved to free-field conditions.
