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Perforated Metal Music

I’m not sure you can go through life without encountering some form of perforated metal. Perforated metal makes up the screens for our doors and windows, our colanders, even our tea strainers. One application of perforated metal I was surprised to see was in the recording industry. Some studios have implemented using perforated metal in their

For example, some will use perforated metal in the studio as a means to break up and weaken the sound waves that would otherwise be too strong. This may sound like it’s not a good idea; after all, who wants to record wimpy sound?  But according to acoustical applications theory, recording sound that’s passed through perforated metal will make for a much richer recording experience. If you imagine water passing through perforated metal, you can envision a steady stream of water is broken and dispersed when it encounters and tries to pass through a piece of wire mesh.  This dispersal spreads the water across a larger plane of space and therefore diminishes the water pressure slightly. If we now imagine sound waves to be comparable to water, you can picture how a sound wave, when it comes up against a barrier like perforated metal, will also disperse and spread out across the metal surface.

If we apply this idea of breaking up sound to the recording studio it is not difficult to see why using perforated metal might be beneficial. Instead of the recording equipment picking up a direct line of sound waves, it will instead collect a kind of wall of sound that’s buffeted by the give and take of the metal and its holes. In theory the sound will be warmer, less harsh and direct. This is a great way to use perforated metal in an area perhaps not considered before