This article addresses the way in which we can generate an "acoustically bright zone" in a space. The bright zone is defined as the volume where we can have higher acoustic energy than in other space. A method is proposed to generate the bright zone by controlling multiple monopole sources. Two kinds of cost functions involved with acoustic brightness are defined. One is the ratio of the brightness of a zone to the input power, and the other expresses the "contrast" between the bright zone and the other space. Through eigenvalue analysis, the optimal volume velocity distribution of the monopoles has been obtained. (C) 2002 Acoustical Society of America.