/profile
Welcome at my website. I am a consulting engineer in the field of room and electro acoustics, with a focus on performing arts, based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. My starting point is that a room should sound good, my philosophy is that architecture, volume - shape - finish, determines the acoustics and so how a room sounds, or actually, the orchestra. The focus should be on shaping and fine shaping the architecture such the architecture serves the acoustics, but without compromising on the design, and so creating a fine sounding room and a good sounding orchestra. A design should be made with knowledge of how a room behaves, how surfaces behave (shape and finish), the interaction between performers and the room and above all common sense and putting musicians first. Instead of working mainly with so called "sophisticated" acoustic simulation tools (I do not exclude those) I prefer working with 3D architectural design programs with special plug-ins to investigate the acoustic behaviour of the room geometry and from there acoustically tune the architecture.
The scope of work I perform comprises:
acoustic/architectural design of rooms:
concert and opera halls, theatres, auditoriums, large spaces, etc.: determination shape of and material use, optimising geometry calculations and/or simulations, creating reports and/or specifications;
on site consultancy:
a thorough study is not always required. Sometimes one simply needs practical solutions or advise with an explanation, also in order to keep the costs limited. On site or from drawing acoustic measures can be discussed with an architect, the technical staff or the artistic staff. This can be ideal for rooms with a lesser acoustic complexity, rooms where due to architectural reasons only limited measures can be taken, location theatre, private homes etc. or creating the ideal set-up for musicians with respect to the room;
balancing orchestras:
the way an orchestra sounds is determined by a complex interaction between the hall, the stage and the orchestra, and even the seating arrangement. Support can be given to conductors and assistant conductors in optimizing orchestral balance and sound;
acoustical tuning of rooms:
by architectural, theatre technical and/or electro acoustical means, and even by creating a proper musician set-up;
performing room acoustic and electro acoustic measurements:
both for investigation prior to a project or because of problems as for verification after commissioning, creating reports with results and when required verification to standards and indicating recommendations;
specialism:
variable acoustics for theatres, concert and opera halls by means of reverberation amplification (negative absorption);
acoustic and functional design of sound systems:
creating block diagrams and descriptions of systems, performing calculations and/or simulations, creating reports and/or specifications;
tuning and commissioning of sound systems;
In the field of acoustics for performing arts venues there is a mutual collaboration with Kahle Acoustics from Brussels
Secondary education higher level (1979 - 1985)
University of Applied Science Utrecht, electronics (1985 - 1991)
Sound balance, one week course at Royal Conservatory The Hague (1995)
Higher Course Acoustics Antwerp (1995 - 1996)
Electro Magnetic Compatibility, six day post academic course (1997)
Business Orientation, Philips, twelve days (1999)
Peutz consulting engineers,
Mook, The Netherlands (Feb. 1993 - June 1994)
Philips Projects BV,
Eindhoven, The Netherlands (Nov. 1994 - Sept. 2000)
Lichtveld Buis & Partners BV,
Nieuwegein, The Netherlands (Oct. 2000 - Feb. 2006)
Theatre Academy Amsterdam,
teacher acoustics (2001 - 2011) and audio electronics related topics (2007 - 2011)
independent consulting engineer since 2006
collaborative consultant at Kahle Acoustics,
Brussels, since October 2010
University of Antwerp,
teacher acoustics at the faculty of design science, architecture (2014 - onwards)
Karel de Grote Hogeschool Antwerp,
teacher acoustics at the multi-media department (2016)
AES (Audio Engineering Society), treasurer of Netherlands Section since 2017
NAG (Acoustic Society of The Netherlands)
VPT (Dutch Society of Stage Engineering)