For projects in Athens
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in Athens
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. A music and content sector working inside apartment blocks where the neighbour sets the limit.
- 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 / Start here
The material, and what it actually does on a Athens job
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.
A music and content sector working inside apartment blocks where the neighbour sets the limit.
Work reaching us from Athens is mostly apartment blocks, hotels and short lets, restaurants and roof terraces, offices, clinics, schools.
- Concrete blocks, hard interiors The structure carries mass, so airborne transfer between flats is rarely the issue. Marble and tile making the room ring is.
- Impact through slabs Hard flooring over concrete passes footfall straight down. A resilient underlay before the finish is the fix, not a treatment below.
- Roof terraces and late trading Venues operate above and beside homes through a long season, so containment is what protects the operation.
- 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 Athens.
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 Athens, split units with condensers on balconies and in light wells that act as reverberant shafts.
Behind a fabric frame. Where the room has to look finished, absorber inside a frame rather than foam on show.
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Layer 2
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 Athens, church buildings, civic halls and open air venues are hard volumes with long decay.
Resilient bar. Where a full independent leaf will not fit. Effective, and very easy to short circuit with one wrong screw.
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Layer 3
Soundproof curtains
A layered curtain with a mass loaded vinyl core, used where an opening has to stay an opening. In Athens, school buildings are concrete and tile with high ceilings and courtyards that amplify break time noise.
Track with a seal. Ceiling track plus a floor seal or drape, so the perimeter is closed when it is drawn.
For a Athens practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving Athens briefs
- Concrete blocks, hard interiors
The structure carries mass, so airborne transfer between flats is rarely the issue. Marble and tile making the room ring is.
- Impact through slabs
Hard flooring over concrete passes footfall straight down. A resilient underlay before the finish is the fix, not a treatment below.
- Roof terraces and late trading
Venues operate above and beside homes through a long season, so containment is what protects the operation.
- Piraeus is next to the city
Direct sea into the port beside Athens keeps landed cost and dates both predictable.
- The housing stock
Concrete frame polykatoikia blocks with marble and tile floors throughout, sharing slabs and light wells.
- The studio and content scene
A music and content sector working inside apartment blocks where the neighbour sets the limit.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Athens briefs
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Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. The structure carries mass, so airborne transfer between flats is rarely the issue. Marble and tile making the room ring is.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 2100 kg per cubic metre
- Acoustic panels, 1800 x 900 mm, image printed into the felt rather than onto a facing
- Soundproof curtains, 5.5 kg per sq m
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Low frequency
Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam. Hard flooring over concrete passes footfall straight down. A resilient underlay before the finish is the fix, not a treatment below.
- 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
- Soundproof curtains, Up to 30 dB
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Early reflections
Controlled at the mix position, and only there. Venues operate above and beside homes through a long season, so containment is what protects the operation.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
- Soundproof curtains, 30
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 Athens climate rules in and rules out
Athens is hot dry summers and mild wet winters, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
The swing between a dry summer and a wet winter moves timber. PET felt is dimensionally stable across that swing; slat panels want a stable substrate and a ventilated fixing.
The failure we design against here is seasonal movement in timber and winter damp in unheated stock.
If a consultant has set the target, we will quote against their figures rather than ours, and stay out of the scope they own. More on working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Read this first
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
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Buying foam to solve an isolation problem
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Treating the room before the shell is isolated
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
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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 Athens job
The structure carries mass, so airborne transfer between flats is rarely the issue. Marble and tile making the room ring is.
05 / Route to site
Supply into Athens, start to site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Piraeus, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Piraeus |
| 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, not after.
Sea freight into Piraeus, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Athens projects
What makes recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in Athens?
A music and content sector working inside apartment blocks where the neighbour sets the limit. The structure carries mass, so airborne transfer between flats is rarely the issue. Marble and tile making the room ring is.
Where should the budget go first on a Athens 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 Athens?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Athens. 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 Athens site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Piraeus, then a short road run to site, 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, not after.
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
Tell us the room, we will tell you the 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.