Conques acoustic analysis : impulse response data & field observations

In June of 2021, a small team from the MSCA-RISE project Conques in the Global World entered the Abbey Church in Conques, France, and took a series of acoustic recordings. This article presents the results of this field research, describing the sonic impression of the abbey church. Beginning with a consideration of the special architectural environment and setting of the Abbey Church in Conques, this analysis outlines the method of data collection, production and recording of an impulse response, and the formula and calculation process used to attain the Reverberation Time (RT) of the interior space. But can this data describe the acoustic interior in a more expansive temporality, beyond the moment the impulse response showered the space in sound? Considering that each stage of architectural interventions contained its own unique acoustic profile, the data provided represents only the acoustic snapshot of the abbey church in its current spatial and material state as of June 2021, but this is a first step toward creating theoretical models of lost or ephemeral historical soundscapes. The article concludes by suggesting future directions for this research, especially emphasizing lost textile architectures and meteorological effects on acoustic texture.