Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Acoustics in flat with lots of concrete

Hi,

I saw this flat
https://www.immoscout24.ch/de/d/duplex--maisonette-wohnung-kaufen-flueh/6823680

(yes it's in german but the pics aren't )

and was wondering if something like this is even suitable for a piano from an acoustics perspective...
It has open spaces and concrete walls at angles, etc.
Would this need acoustic treatment? Does anyone have experience?

Thanks!

Now that is an interesting building.

The high ceilings, open spaces and angled walls should all be good for the sound. Not good if you want an isolated room to practice in of course but it could be fantastic if the piano gets pride of place and you can put it in the best spot in that big space. From a listening point of view, whether listening to recorded music or the piano, I suspect there will be both very good and very bad positions.

There are however a lot of reflective walls, adding some soft furnishings or other sound absorbent devices to balance out the sound might be needed. You might go there with a portable music system and play some piano music (loudly) there to get a general idea of how it sounds without any treatment.

Thanks, good idea with the music system. I'll bring a bluetooth speaker with a recording of my piano.
If want to practice in isolation, I always use my digital anyway.

My experience has been that you don't really know for sure till you get the piano in there. Otherwise it's just guesswork. But that's simply my experience...FWIW

Peter Grey Piano Doctor

The bad news with that concrete it will probably sound like a banjo in an enclosed parking garage.

The good news it is easily mitigated by putting down rugs, carpet, carpet tiles etc. You definitely want a rug under your piano.

I think that this beautiful room will be a significant challenge regarding piano sound. I’m not suggesting you walk away, but rather you should prepare for significant time, trial and error to tame the massive early reflections that concrete rooms create.

Did the OP (Keybender) indicate that he was interested in buying this flat, or was his question posed out of general curiosity?

Regards,

Yes I am sure that the reverberation of the piano tone can be balanced/ controlled in the right furnishing and carpets as Bell suggests.

Although not nearly as nice and spacious as yours, my home was built in the 1950s (concrete slab, fake hardwood floors, cinder block walls). When it first got here, the piano in the living room was so loud and sharp it hurt. Area rugs under and around the piano with felt padding under them fixed the problem. I was amazed at how well these worked. Those, maybe also with sound absorption materials on the walls and/or ceiling, should do the trick for you.

^ Correction: I now see that's not your home (yet). Your post is only contemplating the acoustics.

I wouldn't care how the piano sounded, I'd just like to live in that flat. Really nice looking.