A growing interest in physics from high school in Stuttgart led Franz to continue his studies at Freie University in Berlin.
"This was a unique chance to be part of creating the next-level sound system.......I could not resist"
Franz Maria Heuchel
Although he found physics "super interesting", after completing his Bachelor he found the need to work in a field more closely related to the real, everyday world so he looked into how he could combine his skills in mathematics and physics with something he really loved.......and this was music. It didn't take long for Franz to get hooked on the idea of working with audio systems.
Franz's main area of interest is the active control of sound fields using loudspeaker systems and he is proud to be part of the next era of audio systems.
"These systems will be quite complex. Using many drivers and microphones, they will use sound field control techniques like beamforming, sound field synthesis and sound zones to adept the sound field they produce to the environment they and the listeners are placed in. Some applications are the active absorption of sound at outdoor concerts, the focusing of sound onto listening areas while reducing the sound spill to neighbouring residential areas".
During his master's thesis, Franz worked at the PA manufacturer, d&b audiotechnik and worked on how one can actively enhance the low frequency responses in rooms by absorbing the sound with subwoofer arrays. Using speakers to absorb, not create sound. This he found quite amazing. At the same time as finishing his masters project and quite by coincidence, a huge EU project "MONICA" was started with the goal of developing a sound field control system for outdoor concerts. This was a Unique chance to be part of creating ythe next-level sound system and Franz says "I could not resist being part of this opportunity"
Franz finishes......."and if you dig work-life balance, Denmark is the place to be"