The sound of science

Dr Mark Poletti entered the field of assisted reverberation out of natural curiousity.

A self-confessed tinkerer, Dr Poletti has always had a keen interest in electronics. In his formative years, as a keen electric guitar player, he spent much of his time designing new distortion units to change the sound of his guitar to his particular taste.

“I always look at something like a guitar effects pedal and think, ‘I wonder if I could make something that does the job better,’” he says.

It was this natural curiosity that eventually led him into the field of assisted reverberation, using electronics to amplify and subtly modify sound, after he heard about a sub-par system that had been installed in a high-profile Auckland venue.

Dr Poletti says not all concert venues are created equally. Some may have poor acoustics, others may have good acoustics for a barbershop quartet but not for a full orchestra. Given that most modern venues are required to be multipurpose, acoustics often become a problem.

The answer? An electronic sound reproduction system that takes these imperfections into account and modifies the sound reproduction accordingly. Today, many multipurpose halls use just such a system.

With a strong background in fundamental acoustics research and having published several papers while working at Auckland University School of Architecture’s Acoustics Research Centre, Dr Poletti was well prepared to enter the discipline.

“In my case, research for its own sake has really stood me in good stead. While at the Acoustics Research Centre, I was encouraged to undertake fundamental research not closely related to commercial work. This gave me a broad understanding that I was able to apply later on.”

When a newly installed electro acoustic sound system at a well-known venue in Auckland received a lot of publicity because it was not performing to expectations, his interest led him to wonder if he could make something better.

After starting work at IRL, he developed a system for assisted reverberation that was licensed to a small US company (eventually bought out by Berkeley-based Meyer Sound), then embarked on a PhD in acoustics at Auckland University.
 
Renaming the system Constellation, Meyer Sound incorporated it into its product suite and initially installed it at the famous Zellerbach Hall on the University of California, Berkeley, campus.

Dr Poletti says while academic achievement doesn’t always go hand in hand with commercial success, in his case it paved the way for the development of a commercial product.

“We had something like seven papers published on our system in some of the world’s most prestigious journals. We also protected our intellectual property, as we realised we had something that was quite valuable commercially.”

Dr Poletti’s current research involves improving surround-sound systems and virtual acoustics, which involves making sound appear to come from any direction through the use of digital filters.

Among other things, Dr Poletti has created his own, eponymously-titled guitar amplifier. The Poletti is a solid-state amplifier that generates the particular type of distortion he prefers.

“You know what they say,” he says. “If you want something done properly, do it yourself!”