Posts Tagged Absorption
St. Andrew by the Bay – Custom HiPer® Impact Panels to absorb and diffuse sound!
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Diffusion, Product Applications, Worship Facilities on April 10, 2024
St. Andrew by the Bay is a traditional worship facility with a focus on spoken word worship and congregational singing. The large volume and hard surfaces in this space are the physical features most at fault for excessive reverberation, comb filtering and distracting “slap” echoes (discrete sound reflections usually caused by a distant, reflective back-wall).
To correct the slap-back and curb excessive reverb without “over deadening” the space, we recommend distributing approx. 550 SQFT 1” HiPer® Impact absorber/diffuser panels throughout the rear wall areas (see attached layout). HiPer® Impact panels absorb low frequencies and diffuse high-frequencies, yielding a much more even room response. In addition to controlling bass buildup, the high-frequency scattering will help retain some “life” in the room for acoustic and choral performances.
Reverb Prediction – Historically, churches relied on an abundance of hard surfaces to propagate sound to the rear of the nave, so they benefited from very long reverb times (upwards of 4-5s). Modern sound systems allow for a much more focused sound and equitable listening environment , so these extreme reverb tails are no longer necessary and can actually degrade the experience of the congregation. Churches of this size with a sound system and traditional worship services should have a reverb time somewhere in the 1.5-2.25s range. We entered the sanctuary’s dimensions and construction materials into our acoustic calculator and made a prediction of reverb times before and after treatment.
From Lee Hartman & Sons who performed the install “Here are some photos of the finished panels at St. Andrew by the Bay. It turned out great and client is very happy. Many thanks to Cameron for the detailed layout.”
Before & After: Video Conference Room
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Customer Feedback, Media Room, Multipurpose Rooms, Offices, Product Applications, Products, Teleconferencing, Video on March 6, 2024
AMC Technology is located in a 5,400 square-foot suite that features a large open office area, a break room as well as several conference rooms.
When Acoustics First® initially met with the AMC team, they had recently moved into the space and were experiencing a number of acoustic problems in the open office area. Although Acoustics First® originally provided recommendations to improve workstation isolation in the open office, once the employees settled into the space, call-clarity issues in the conference rooms had become the much larger concern.
Three of the conference rooms were rudimentarily treated with 1” sound absorbing panels. The other four conference rooms were not treated acoustically and had hard/reflective walls, floors and ceilings. These hard surfaces were most at fault for excessive reverberation, noise buildup and distracting flutter-echoes (“ringing” caused by parallel reflective surfaces). These conditions contributed to an acoustically uncomfortable environment in which speech was hard to understand and conference call clarity suffered.
AMC Technology’s CTO, Anthony Uliano, identified a few goals for potential acoustic remediation. Anthony often works remotely and will call into the conference rooms to talk with team members. The sound of these calls on his side was frequently distorted and individual team members were difficult to understand. Anthony was concerned that clients were experiencing the same intelligibility issues. The primary goal for acoustic treatment was to improve the clarity of conference calls by reducing echoes and excessive reverberation within each conference room. Anthony also mentioned that they were experiencing some isolation problems. Though not a high priority, steps to reduce sound transmission were detailed for future consideration.
Acoustics First® specified Sonora® wall and ceiling treatment within each conference room to control flutter echoes and reduce reverberation down to suitable levels for conference calls. The video below provides a great snapshot of how the room sounded before and after treatment. Each recording is done in the same room, with the same employee and sitting the same distance from the microphone. The end result is a much clearer and intelligible conversation.
John Bullard Live Room – Tuning a Live Room for Classical Banjo
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Customer Feedback, Diffusion, HOW TO, Music Tracking Room, Product Applications, Products, Recording Facilities on May 3, 2023
When you think of classical music; what instruments come to mind? Piano? Violin? Cello? …What about Banjo?
In the summer of 2022, classical banjoist John Bullard reached out to Acoustics First for assistance with his newly renovated home-studio. John is one of a select group of classical musicians aiming to showcase the versatility of this uniquely American instrument. The banjo, with John’s expertise, lends a very distinct, melancholy sound to contemporary and traditional compositions.
Having recorded a number of albums already, John knew he wanted his live room to be catered specifically to tracking solo, classical banjo as well as small acoustic ensembles. Acoustics First analyzed John’s live room and came up with a treatment design that would achieve an “ideal-as-possible” acoustic environment for recording classical instruments.
The largely reflective live room had walls comprised of unfinished, reclaimed wood planks over plywood, a drywall ceiling, stone fireplace and a polished concrete floor. The parallel, hard surfaces contributed to a poor tracking environment; with standing waves and “flutter” echoes adding unwanted coloration to recordings, inhibiting music definition.
Spaces used for rehearsing and recording classical music often benefit from elevated levels of reverberation, which add a sense of warmth and ambience to acoustic music. Although the reverb in John’s untreated room was only slightly excessive when measured, it was far from “diffuse”, with the majority of energy coming from early reflections.
The primary challenge in the live room was to address the early specular reflections and standing waves without taking too much “life” out of the room. To achieve this delicate balance, wide band diffusion was recommended as the primary ceiling and wall treatment with selective sound absorptive treatment with fabric-wrapped Sonora® panels.
Double Duty Diffusers™ and Aeolian® sound diffusers were recommended as they would also provide some much needed low-frequency absorption in addition to broadband diffusion.
After the treatments were installed, John got right to work on experimenting…
“…ready to start doing extensive test recordings to locate the best spot and rug configuration for solo banjo… It sounds really good to my ear – now to see how the microphones hear it!”
John Bullard
Please check out John Bullard’s music!! – https://www.johnbullard.com/
Fabtec™ Panels: A Fully-wrapped option.
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Product Applications, Products on March 7, 2023
This month we thought we would post a of picture of the seldom seen FabTec™ with fully wrapped edges. Although more commonly produced with unwrapped edges to facilitate abutting panels for seamless installs, FabTec™ can also be produced with a fully wrapped edge, for a look and function very similar to our Sonora® wall panels.
These fully wrapped FabTec™ panels do exhibit a few unique qualities all their own:
1. They are extremely lightweight, roughly ¼ the weight of a standard Sonora® wall panel.
2. They flex. Unlike panels produced with the more commonly used rigid fiberglass boards, the FireFlex™ foam substrate of the FabTec™ panels can flex a bit. This can be particularly helpful when trying to install over a curved surface.
3. The combination of the spongy FireFlex™ substrate coupled with FabTec’s robust fabric covering make for a panel that’s actually pretty tough.
So, there you have it: a solid offering that straddles the line of acoustical foam products and architectural type panels, and encompasses some of the more desirable characteristics of both.
Reach out to Acoustics First® with any questions about which acoustic treatments would work best for your space!
FireFlex™ Wave – Cloud or Baffle
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Product Applications, Products on June 21, 2022
It’s good to have options in ceiling treatments. Some environments have high ceilings that benefit from vertically-hanging baffles, while other environments have lower ceilings in which clouds are more appropriate. In some cases the aesthetic will dictate which product would be best – but what if there was one product that could do both?
The Fireflex™ Wave has a unique, undulating shape that adds visual interest along with acoustic absorption – but it has another feature which few materials can boast. Due to the Class 1(A) melamine foam construction, the corkscrew mounting hardware can be installed wherever it is needed – including on the edges.
By installing the hardware on the edges instead of the face, you are given the option to also hang the Waves in a vertical orientation as baffles. The wave shape works well aesthetically in either orientation – horizontal or vertical.
In rooms with a lower ceiling, the horizontal orientation of clouds provides more headroom while the undulating shape optimizes the Wave’s surface area for absorption. In larger spaces with high ceilings, you can add more absorptive surface area by hanging the Waves as baffles, and provide a more organic look than you get with flat baffles.
When overhead acoustic absorption is required, turn to Acoustics First®.
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