Archive for category School & Educational Facilities
Sound Channels® – Top Product!
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Classrooms, Customer Feedback, Mentions, Press Release, School & Educational Facilities on December 22, 2015
Acoustics First® Sound Channels® wall fabric has been named a ‘2015 Top Product’ by Christian School Products magazine!
http://www.cspmagdigital.com/publication/?i=284531&p=18
Christian School Products – 2015 Top Products
This article from their November issue explains why:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at Acoustics First!
Custom Panels and the Aesthetics of Acoustics
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Product Applications, Products, School & Educational Facilities on September 29, 2015
There is a saying in our industry: When it comes to designing a space, acoustic consultants are blind and architects are deaf. In reality, it is in both parties best interest to consider the other side when designing a space, so visual form meets acoustic functionality.
Let’s be real, standard acoustic treatment is far from sexy. Typical 2’x4’ panels, while fully functional, don’t present the architects with much in terms of visual interest. This is where Acoustics First can supplement the design goals of the architect/interior designer with our technical expertise to find a custom solution that sounds and looks great.
Hexagonal ToneTiles™ at Kramer Middle School.
Recently, Acoustics First® was asked to provide the custom panels for the cafeteria at Kramer Middle School in Washington DC. It was settled that hexagonal ToneTiles™ would be suspended as clouds in a geometric pattern around the ceiling. The resulting “honeycomb” effect is not only visually appealing, but the treatments effectively cut down the overall reverberation; increasing speech intelligibility and making the space more comfortable for a variety of activities.
Acoustics First® enjoys the inherent challenge in making these custom panels a success. We have plenty of experience in fulfilling the design goals of architects and interior designers. Interested in seeing more of these custom projects?
Visit http://acousticsfirst.com/installations-education-school-museum.htm to see some more examples.
Feel free to give Acoustics First® a call to discuss your custom treatment needs!
DIY – Treating a Wall – BlockAid® and SoundChannels®
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Animal Shelters, Auditorium, Broadcast Facilities, Classrooms, DIY, Fitness, Government, Gymnasium, Home Entertainment, Home Theater, HOW TO, Media Room, Multipurpose Rooms, Music Rehearsal Spaces, Music Tracking Room, Product Applications, Recording Facilities, Recording Studio, School & Educational Facilities, Sound proofing, Studio Control Room, Teaching Rooms, Teleconferencing, Theater, Uncategorized, Vocal Booth, Voice Over on July 16, 2015
On many occasions, we get asked about common ways to treat a wall (or walls) either for broadcast, podcast, or other voice recording scenario – where they not only want to tame the reflections within the room, but also block a certain amount of sound coming into – or leaving the room.
Budget is frequently an issue, major construction is usually unwanted, but effective results are always required.
We’re going to show you how to handle a room upgrade – cut down on the sound transmission and cut the room reflections – all with the same skills required to hang high quality wall coverings! Let’s see how you can cover a wall with BlockAid® vinyl sound barrier to block unwanted sound, then go back and cover that with an absorptive layer of Sound Channels® wall covering to finish it off!
This treatment is not recommended for renters, as this is not an easy upgrade to undo. However, if you have an extra bedroom you are using as Podcast studio, this is a great way to treat it… Let’s get started!
Installing BlockAid®
 1. Measure the wall for the first panel length. Mark the panel width on the wall. |
 2. Measure and Mark the length of the wall on the BlockAid® |
 3. Use a straightedge and a razor to cut the BlockAid®. |
 4. Using a trowel, apply vinyl tread adhesive to the wall, covering the whole area where the first panel is going. (You marked the wall right?) |
 5. Hang the panel starting at the top, install a few screws to hold it in place while the adhesive sets. (You will probably need a friend to help, as BlockAid® is a pound per square foot!) |
 6. Using your hands and a putty knife, smooth out all the air bubbles from behind the BlockAid® so that you get a good bond when the adhesive cures. |
 7. Repeat the steps for the next strip. Measure, Mark, Cut, Trowl, Hang… |
 8. Make sure you line up those seams! push them right up agaist each other. Smooth out the air bubbles, cut out any outles, trim any extra… Let dry! |
Good job! Now, take a breather while that dries, and notice how much less sound is passing through the walls. This is when you will notice that the sounds are now coming from under the door, and through the leaky old window. These can be taken care of in different ways…. but the easiest way is the same way you deal with keeping the cold out! Get some weather strip, a door skirt, seal the gaps around the frame of the door, and windows, maybe go out and buy some heavy curtains for the windows… if you have some leftover BlockAid®, you can always get some Industrial Velcro and temporarily stick a piece over the window!
Installing Sound Channels®
 1. Remove the Screws from the BLockAid® – if you didn’t already… then same as BlockAid®, measure the wall, mark it, measure and cut a piece of Sound Channels® and start troweling on the Chapco! |
 2. Well, when you get tired, make your friend finish troweling out the adhesive to cover where the panel is going. (You are going to overlap the seams.) |
 3. Starting at the top, hang the Sound Channels® overlapping the seam of the BlockAid® under it. Smooth out the air bubbles with your hands. Make sure it lines up well. No screws needed! |
 4. Measure and cut the next strip, carefully following a rib in the fabric, while your friend, (who is way better at troweling than you are anyway,) preps the next section with adhesive. |
 5. Best practice is to run the fabric in the same direction every time. Not just with the ribs, but in the same direction it comes off the roll. So find the top. |
 6. After you find the top, start hanging from the top, lining up the seams and smoothing out the bubbles as you go. |
 7. Keep those seams tight as you go. Keep smoothing… almost done! |
 8. Trim up the extra and repeat as many times as needed. |
That’s it!
Don’t forget to trim around those outlets!
This treatment is a common first step in treating many professional broadcast studios – it gives you extra isolation with the barrier and takes the edge of the sound reflections. Many professional environments then go back and add some additional treatments such as bass traps, diffusers, and broadband absorber panels – especially if these studios are planning on bringing in any musical guests.
This isn’t just for home studios. It works great for kids play rooms, bedrooms, home theaters, home gyms, and any place you want to block sound and tame the sound inside the room.
Customize your space as you will, but this treatment is a consistent winner for cost and performance, and is a great way to get started without breaking the bank!
D is for Dean’s List!
Posted by Acoustics First in Company Information, Diffusion, School & Educational Facilities on September 18, 2014
PUPN Dean’s List Gold
We are proud to announce that the Art Diffusor® Model D has been awarded the PUPN Dean’s List Gold Award for 2014!
While the Model D is one of our newest diffuser designs, it is also one of our most recognizable products and has heard the praises sung from video and audio recording and broadcast studios, editing and mastering suites, theaters and listening rooms, music rooms and practice spaces, schools and even acoustic testing labs!
Click Here or the Logo to see the actual award page.
Pick up some Model D’s for yourself.
Art Diffusor Model D – Click Above image for more info.
Check out the award winning Model D’s and our other award winning products at
www.acousticsfirst.com
Yocumtown gets Peace and Quiet
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Customer Feedback, Gymnasium, Multipurpose Rooms, Product Applications, School & Educational Facilities, Theater, Worship Facilities on May 14, 2014
Yocumtown Church of God had a bit of an issue with their multipurpose room – They couldn’t understand anything anyone was saying.
While the space was designed well with a full court, dampers on the HVAC, a stage, movie screen and a good speaker system – they couldn’t overcome the poor acoustics of the space. A great deal of work had gone into the design and they wanted an unobtrusive way to treat the acoustic problems… enter Acoustics First.
We started the work of gathering information about the space; dimensions, some pictures and a few balloon pops.
Here’s what we got.
Big Gym – perfect example of a common problem space.
Wow! This room is big, all the surfaces are parallel and hard, there’s very little to break up the sound… You can almost imagine what it sounds like.
You actually don’t need to imagine. Here’s a balloon pop. CLICK HERE!
What you’re hearing is about 3.5 seconds of reverberation after the balloon pop. (Not good.)
So, whatever shall we do? How will we tame this space?!?!?! Will they ever be able to have movies for youth groups!?
Sure they will! We have Joe. You remember Joe from the Sabot School Big Room Big Boom Post?
Well, I would say that Joe has a 6th sense for hearing, but since that’s one of the 5 standard ones anyway, we’ll just say Joe has great ears – and they should be. Joe’s been using his ears as his primary tools for the past 40+ years; from Studio Engineer to Acoustic Engineer. His ears are tuned instruments, and we rely on his expertise with them to get the job done right – time and time again. (He also makes a mean spreadsheet.)
So after listening to the room, looking at the data, and running some numbers – Joe magically answers the question of what do they need? (Ok it isn’t magic – Joe’s just really good at this… did I mention his spreadsheet skills?)
When he says, “this is what you need,” he also shows you what you have and what it will do.
So Joe says, “You put 280 – 4’x1′ Cloudscape®baffles up on that ceiling and you’ll bring that room down from about 3.5 seconds to about 1.5 seconds.”
Joe knows.
So, Yocumtown goes from a 3.5 second balloon pop (Here) to a 1.5 second balloon pop (Here).
Not only does it look great…
NICE!
… But now they say that they can watch movies and it sounds just like you’re in a movie theater.
That’s about the best compliment you can give us.
(And the best compliment I can give Joe is, his calculation for RT60 time was about 1.5 seconds. When I ran the measurement of the “treated balloon pop” – I got 1.501 seconds. This is why we have Joe – he can tell you what you will get, before you even start!)
