BUSINESS: TECHNOLOGY A Vicoustics-treated studio Takeover panel Studios on a budget can now be acoustically treated with an evermore ZVWOPZ[PJH[LKHYYH`VMÅH[WHULSZJYLLUZHUKV[OLYZVS\[PVUZCaroline Moss reports WITH RECORDING BUDGETS universally slashed, most contemporary musicians can only dream of spending months in a commercial facility. Consequently home and project studios have burgeoned, driven also by affordable high quality recording equipment. But there is still the issue of room acoustics. Fortunately, the days of Àxing egg boxes and duvets to the wall are dying out. Technology has moved on, and there is a wealth of readily available acoustic panels and treatments on the market suited to a range of different applications, dealing with common problems such as absorption, diffusion and bass roll-off. ‘It is now signiÀcantly easier and more affordable to achieve worldclass sound in a home studio with less work and for a lower price than at any other time,’ says Terry Hayes, international sales manager at Auralex Acoustics. ‘If you follow a few basic rules, you can literally unbox a dozen panels and by placing them in key spots, optimise your room’s acoustics without major construction work,’ adds Susana Gaspar, international sales manager at Vicoustic. The availability of new materials with acoustic properties, a growing choice of colours and fabrics and modular systems that can be added incrementally have all helped this market develop. ‘Go back 10 years, and most mass-produced panels were made of foam and suited lowend home recording enthusiasts,’ says Peter Janis, president of Radial Engineering, which manufactures the Primacoustic range of acoustic solutions. ‘Today, the home studio is capable of producing bed tracks and demos of extreme quality. This forces artists to “up” the quality of the recording by ensuring their home studios are able to do the job.’ An increasing level of education has also assisted the process of improving room sound. ‘Better Acoustician Ozge Can frequently uses acoustic panels in theatres such as this Vicoustic’s Cinema Round Premium Auralex panels in situ 92 PRO AUDIO MIDDLE EAST January–February 2013 knowledge of sound patterns has made us even more efÀcient in the process of selecting speciÀc materials and their ideal positioning to stabilise a sound Àeld,’ says Ms Gaspar. ‘When we study sound behaviour in a certain area, we can determine the inÁuence each surface has on sound waves and condition them using absorbent panels, diffusors and bass traps.’ ‘The age old approach of uniformly cladding all surfaces with absorbent material has proved inadequate,’ says Kevin D’Souza, CEO of Indian acoustic products manufacturer Sound and About. ‘Small rooms suffer from huge low frequency problems due to the wide and irregular spacing in their modal activity. When a small room is treated with this wall-towall approach, the high and mid frequencies are absorbed, leaving the low frequencies virtually untouched. This exacerbates the problem. The room sounds unnaturally dead, causing the engineer to compensate with added reverb.’ Careful attention must be paid to the whole frequency spectrum. ‘You can buy several levels of pre-made panels, and these vary from only being effective in the high end to panels that absorb and control energy at all frequencies,’ says Mr Janis. ‘Foam only absorbs higher frequencies, which colours the room by causing excessive bass.’ Radial produces the Primacoustic Broadway range of high density panels that extend into the lower bass region, providing more balance to the room, just one of many readymade panels especially designed to alleviate challenges common to project and smaller recording rooms. These also include Auralex’s range of absorption solutions in different fabrics including Studiofoam (acoustic foam), ElitE Propanels (fabric-covered Àbreglass), SonoÀber (recycled cotton) and other materials in panel form to treat early reÁections, and SonoLite (fabriccovered acoustical foam). Off the shelf bass traps, such as the Primacoustic MaxTrap corner bass trap which self-adjusts to the problem frequency, and Auralex’s Lenrd and Elite corner bass traps and Sonolite bass traps, can also help. ‘In most cases, treating a small room involves treating the corners with bass traps to better control the low frequencies as well as applying absorbers strategically to control or eliminate early reÁections,’ says Mr Hayes. Diffusion also requires careful attention. Sound And About’s DART panels work together as a system, tackling diffusion with a nested quadratic residue diffusor and splitting treatment of the frequency spectrum into three areas to aid absorption. ‘High and mid frequencies are absorbed by the broadband absorber, troublesome low mid frequencies that muddy up the sound but are essential to the body of the sound are absorbed by the slat resonator, while the BUSINESS: TECHNOLOGY diaphragmatic bass trap tackles the low frequencies and brings in clarity,’ says Mr D’Souza. Vicoustic recommends a combination of its Wavewood, Cinema Round Premium rounded absorbent panel, Multifuser DC quadratic diffuser and Super Bass Extreme low frequency absorber. ‘These can be combined to create a perfect acoustic solution, from low to very high frequencies, that can work anywhere, from studios to high-end listening rooms,’ says Ms Gaspar. Vicoustic is also developing a set of kits, exclusive to the Asian home hi-À market, that combine levels of absorption, diffusion and low frequency control. Acousticians often prefer to stick with a tried and tested brand. Turkish acoustician Ozge Can, who handles projects such as theatres, cinemas, concert and conference halls and cultural centres, frequently uses acoustic panels in her designs, working with Aktav Acoustic as a solution partner. Ms Can also advises on the danger of working with panels that haven’t been thoroughly tested before installation. ‘There are some difÀculties if the measurement results and technical data sheet of the panel are not showing all the frequency range results,’ she says. ‘You can’t be sure about the quality, unless you have experience with the product.’ Familiar prefabricated panels also have the advantage of being predictable in their behavior. ‘This is due to their standard design,’ says Mr D’Souza. ‘Treatment can be broken up into various panels, tackling speciÀc areas that require correction across the frequency spectrum.’ But while readymade panels are predictable, buildings are not. ‘Rooms of standard drywall construction will behave completely differently to solid brick or concrete walls,’ says Andy Munro of Munro Acoustics. ‘Suspended timber Áoors common in older houses will soak up bass, as will traditional plasterboard ceilings. Heavy curtains and soft furnishings reduce high frequency energy but hardly touch low frequency “standing waves”. The object of the exercise is to balance the acoustic energy in a room and then allow it to decay evenly and as quickly as may be appropriate.’ Proportions and symmetry play a big part too. ‘The more symmetrical the room’s dimensions are, the easier it is to treat,’ says Ms Gaspar. ‘But not all rooms follow the general acoustic rulebook and the challenge lies in achieving the desired acoustic comfort. We provide a professional acoustic recommendation for any kind of room, from a small vocal booth to a concert hall. This way, the Ozge Can contributed to the acoustic design of Iraq’s El Nejef Cultural Centre Kevin D’Souza of Sound and About best results are guaranteed and the client can be very much involved in the transformation.’ Of course the major downside to DIY acoustic treatment is getting it wrong, requiring expensive correction which wipes out the initial savings. ‘Using acoustic panels based purely on brochure speciÀcations is like taking a medicine for an unspeciÀed ailment without seeing a doctor; you might get cured but then you might die in the process,’ says Mr Munro, who launched the modular System Z 20 years ago. This allows the company to build complicated acoustic panels off-site and deliver Ànished rooms with pre-deÀned performance and a guaranteed assurance. ‘This way of working is necessarily more expensive than off the shelf products,’ says Mr Munro. ‘Custom-made acoustic panels always achieve better performance than readymade ones, although there are exceptions to this rule,’ adds Beirut-based acoustician Fouad Bechwati. ‘You cannot always trust the acoustic data published by manufacturers as a lot of them use simulations rather than measurements in acoustic labs.’ Ultimately though, the choice is greatly inÁuenced by cost. ‘Mass produced products are signiÀcantly less expensive as we are not cutting and measuring each panel to Àt,’ says Mr Janis. ‘And because the panels are sized to be UPS friendly, they Àt standard pallet sizes which reduces freight costs.’ Adds Mr D’Souza, ‘Being readymade, they are quick to install, helping the studio earn sooner.’ Readymade acoustic solutions can work for a wide range of project studios. But, as always, they are only effective when handled correctly. To properly be rid of the bad old days of egg boxes and duvets, there’s still no substitute for education. www.auralex.com www.munro.co.uk www.primacoustic.com www.soundandabout.com www.vicoustic.com