For projects in Al Khobar
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in Al Khobar
Two jobs that must not be confused: keeping the building out, and making the room honest inside. The first is mass and decoupling and has to be built first. The second is absorption and diffusion and can be tuned later. Media and content production is growing quickly, and rooms are being built inside existing commercial shells with no isolation plan. The background noise floor is usually the first problem to solve.
- Isolation
- A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought.
- Low frequency
- Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam.
- Early reflections
- Controlled at the mix position, and only there.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The material
What you are buying, and what it fixes in Al Khobar
Two jobs that must not be confused: keeping the building out, and making the room honest inside. The first is mass and decoupling and has to be built first. The second is absorption and diffusion and can be tuned later.
Media and content production is growing quickly, and rooms are being built inside existing commercial shells with no isolation plan. The background noise floor is usually the first problem to solve.
Work reaching us from Al Khobar is mostly control rooms and plant, corporate offices, compound housing, hotels, clinics, schools.
- Industrial noise is a different problem Compressors, generators and process plant are low frequency and structure-borne. Panels on a wall will not touch that. Mass, isolation and sealing will.
- Control rooms and operations centres People sit in these rooms for twelve hours listening to alarms and radios. Intelligibility matters more than a reverberation figure on a sheet.
- Port on the doorstep Dammam is close, so the road leg is short and the landed cost is predictable. That is the practical reason a factory in India can serve this market on schedule.
- Isolation A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for studio soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Al Khobar.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
Acoustic foam and BassBloc
Open cell foam shapes for high frequency control, and BassBloc, a high density absorber built for the low mid range where ordinary foam does nothing. In Al Khobar, cooling runs year round at high load, so chillers, AHUs and large duct runs are constant sources. Plant room lining and duct attenuation carry most of the result.
First reflection points. Mirror trick placement on side walls and ceiling, which is a handful of panels rather than a lined room.
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Layer 2
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Al Khobar, mosques, conference halls and hotel ballrooms are tall hard volumes where intelligibility over a long reverberation tail is the whole brief.
Duct and plant wrap. Membrane wrapped over the duct with a decoupling layer beneath, sealed at every lap.
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Layer 3
Soundproofing materials
The blocking side of the range taken together: mass loaded vinyl, resilient layers, cavity absorption and the build-ups they belong in. In Al Khobar, new school and university buildings are large, hard and highly glazed. Lecture theatres and sports halls are the spaces that fail first, and ceiling absorption is the practical fix.
Independent leaf. A second wall that does not touch the first. Nothing else comes close for the money.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving Al Khobar briefs
- Industrial noise is a different problem
Compressors, generators and process plant are low frequency and structure-borne. Panels on a wall will not touch that. Mass, isolation and sealing will.
- Control rooms and operations centres
People sit in these rooms for twelve hours listening to alarms and radios. Intelligibility matters more than a reverberation figure on a sheet.
- Port on the doorstep
Dammam is close, so the road leg is short and the landed cost is predictable. That is the practical reason a factory in India can serve this market on schedule.
- Heat, dust and sealed buildings
Buildings stay closed with heavy cooling running year round. Plant noise has nowhere to escape, and rooms get hard and live inside.
- The housing stock
Villas and apartment blocks are concrete and block with hard stone or tile throughout. Mass is there, but every room is live and impact noise between floors is untreated.
- The studio and content scene
Media and content production is growing quickly, and rooms are being built inside existing commercial shells with no isolation plan. The background noise floor is usually the first problem to solve.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Al Khobar briefs
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Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. Compressors, generators and process plant are low frequency and structure-borne. Panels on a wall will not touch that. Mass, isolation and sealing will.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 1800 x 900 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
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Low frequency
Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam. People sit in these rooms for twelve hours listening to alarms and radios. Intelligibility matters more than a reverberation figure on a sheet.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Early reflections
Controlled at the mix position, and only there. Dammam is close, so the road leg is short and the landed cost is predictable. That is the practical reason a factory in India can serve this market on schedule.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
Interior designers tend to arrive with the look already decided. We will tell you which finish gets there without losing the acoustics. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate
What the Al Khobar climate rules in and rules out
Al Khobar is hot and dry for most of the year, with dust and high daytime surface temperatures, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Dust is the enemy of open-cell products. PET felt does not shed, does not hold dust in the way fabric-wrapped glass wool does, and wipes down. Timber needs a stable indoor RH or it moves.
The failure we design against here is dust ingress and thermal movement in long runs.
Consultants get the raw data, not a sales sheet. That is the whole of our side of the job, and it is set out under working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
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Buying foam to solve an isolation problem
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
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Treating the room before the shell is isolated
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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Killing the room completely and calling it controlled
More absorption is not better absorption. Past the target the room goes flat and people raise their voices to compensate.
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Treating it as a generic Al Khobar job
Compressors, generators and process plant are low frequency and structure-borne. Panels on a wall will not touch that. Mass, isolation and sealing will.
05 / Logistics
Getting it to Al Khobar, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Dammam, then a short road run across the Eastern Province |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Dammam |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
Sea freight into Dammam, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Al Khobar projects
What makes recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in Al Khobar?
Media and content production is growing quickly, and rooms are being built inside existing commercial shells with no isolation plan. The background noise floor is usually the first problem to solve. Compressors, generators and process plant are low frequency and structure-borne. Panels on a wall will not touch that. Mass, isolation and sealing will.
Where should the budget go first on a Al Khobar project?
Isolation. A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. Low frequency. Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam.
Do you have an office or installation team in Al Khobar?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Al Khobar. We give you drawings, build-ups, a BOQ and material that arrives complete, and we will tell you plainly when a job needs a local contractor we cannot be.
How does material get to a Al Khobar site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Dammam, then a short road run across the Eastern Province, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. Grooved panels and custom colours take longer, and we say so before you order.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Buying foam to solve an isolation problem. Treating the room before the shell is isolated.
What do you need from us to quote?
A plan, a section through the critical partition or ceiling, and what the room is for. From that we can give a build-up and a BOQ rather than a price per square foot.
Next step
Send a plan and a section, get a real build-up
We quote from drawings, not from a square foot rate. Send a plan and the section through the critical wall or ceiling and you will get something you can actually build from.