Posts Tagged acoustical materials
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!
Chickahominy Multipurpose Room – Sonora® Wall and Ceiling Panels
Posted by Acoustics First in Absorption, Multipurpose Rooms, Product Applications on January 31, 2023
With multi-function rooms, there are usually a wide range of events being held in the same space. It could be full of kids playing games, dancing and music, or large important meetings. A balance can often be struck, making the room lively enough for the music and games, but tame enough for the speech intelligibility needed for the important meetings.
This particular space took advantage of the expansive ceiling with the use of direct mounted Sonora® Panels – which helped reduce the low-frequency buildup between the ceiling and the floor. Then some carefully-placed, wall-mounted Sonora® Panels were used to reduce the reflections bouncing off the walls. These panels were spread out in clusters along the walls to help reduce troublesome reflections, and tame the flutter from the long parallel walls.
The end result turned out great and all were pleased.
NWAA Labs goes nuclear in Stereophile
Posted by Acoustics First in Articles, Company Information, Diffusion, Mentions on July 29, 2022
Ron Sauro of NWAA Labs talks about his massive test facility, speaker measurement, sound diffusion, and more in this article in the August 2022 edition of Stereophile Magazine.
In the article, there is mention of the advances that Jim DeGrandis and Acoustics First® have made in the understanding of diffusion, the developing standards for testing in the ASTM, and their published research into modelling/simulations for refining new acoustic materials.
For more information about this edition, and other editions of Stereophile, visit them at https://www.stereophile.com/
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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