ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rooms with acoustically different zones. It examines the rooms with directional acoustics. Rooms with variable acoustics can be very useful recording tools. A degree of acoustic variability in a recording studio is a useful asset. It allows areas of the recording spaces to be better suited to the 'natural' acoustics for which many instruments were made. Small recording rooms, of less than around 50m, tend to be more difficult in terms of variability. They tend to flip-flop from one state to another, passing through some strange sound characters on the verge of the main changes. In smaller rooms, where an unwanted room-sound is usual, it is of paramount importance to monitor it carefully at the recording stage, and, if any sign of a characteristic acoustic build up becomes evident, steps must be taken to ensure that further recordings on any given song are done with a varied technique.
