For projects in Chicago
Venue and restaurant acoustics in Chicago
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other. Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
- Containment
- Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
- Table level comfort
- Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
- Entrance and service
- Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The material
What this material is and where it earns its place in Chicago
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other.
Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
Work reaching us from Chicago is mostly two-flats and three-flats, high-rise apartments, offices, venues, schools, clinics.
- Brick outside, timber inside Two-flats and three-flats have solid masonry outside and timber floors between families. Footfall travels down and masonry does nothing about it.
- Elevated rail past the window Trains at window height put noise in through the glazing, not through the wall. The facade is where the money should go first.
- Sealed against hard winters Buildings close up for months and mechanical systems run hard, so sound accumulates inside rather than escaping.
- Containment Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for venue soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Chicago.
Nightclub and venue soundproofing SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. In Chicago, packaged rooftop units and ducted forced air are standard, so noise arrives through the duct rather than through the wall. Lining the first three metres of duct and treating the return path is usually the whole job.
Wall, decoupled. Independent stud, membrane between the boards, cavity absorption, two boards. The membrane is one part of a system, never the whole answer.
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Layer 2
Acoustic panels
The full absorber range rather than one product: plain PET felt, printed felt, grooved panels and fabric finishes, chosen by how the room is used and how it has to look. In Chicago, churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
Wall array. Panels placed at first reflection points rather than spread evenly. Fewer panels, better result.
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Layer 3
Wooden slat acoustic panels
Timber slats on an acoustic backing. In Chicago, public school buildings run long corridors with hard floors and lay-in tile ceilings that were chosen for cost, not for speech. Classroom reverberation and corridor spill are the two complaints, and both respond to ceiling area rather than wall panels.
Feature wall only. Slats where they are seen, plain felt elsewhere, to hold the budget where it shows.
For a Chicago 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 decides the build-up in Chicago
- Brick outside, timber inside
Two-flats and three-flats have solid masonry outside and timber floors between families. Footfall travels down and masonry does nothing about it.
- Elevated rail past the window
Trains at window height put noise in through the glazing, not through the wall. The facade is where the money should go first.
- Sealed against hard winters
Buildings close up for months and mechanical systems run hard, so sound accumulates inside rather than escaping.
- No port, so plan the inland leg
Everything arrives at a coast and rails in. We quote the sea leg and the inland leg separately.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Chicago briefs
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Containment
Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. Two-flats and three-flats have solid masonry outside and timber floors between families. Footfall travels down and masonry does nothing about it.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 2100 kg per cubic metre
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, 13-3, 14-2, 28-4 and 59-5
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, High density polyester
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Table level comfort
Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other. Trains at window height put noise in through the glazing, not through the wall. The facade is where the money should go first.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, 2440 x 192 mm and 2440 x 128 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, Felt
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Entrance and service
Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is. Buildings close up for months and mechanical systems run hard, so sound accumulates inside rather than escaping.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Wooden slat acoustic panels, 14, 16 and 18 mm
- Acoustic carpet and rugs, 64 sq ft per pack
If the visual is fixed and the room still has to perform, that is a solvable problem and a conversation worth having early. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Climate and durability
The Chicago climate decides the material list
Chicago is mild summers and cold, wet winters, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold external walls and long heating seasons make condensation behind a lining the thing to design out. PET felt is unaffected by damp air.
The failure we design against here is condensation and cold bridging behind new linings.
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 / Worth knowing
The six errors that cost the most
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Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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A lobby with both doors able to open at once
Soundproofing fails at the gaps, not the materials. One unsealed service penetration can undo a correctly built wall.
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Extract ducting that bypasses every wall you built
Plant noise treated as a room problem is the most reliable way to spend a budget and change nothing anyone can hear.
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Treating it as a generic Chicago job
Two-flats and three-flats have solid masonry outside and timber floors between families. Footfall travels down and masonry does nothing about it.
05 / Logistics
Getting it to Chicago, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | An East or Gulf coast port, then rail and road inland |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea, then rail inland |
| Support | Drawings, build-ups, BOQ and material that arrives complete |
Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
Sea freight into an East or Gulf coast port, then rail and road to Chicago. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Chicago projects
What makes venue and restaurant acoustics different in Chicago?
Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both. Trains at window height put noise in through the glazing, not through the wall. The facade is where the money should go first.
Where should the budget go first on a Chicago project?
Containment. Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. Table level comfort. Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
Do you have an office or installation team in Chicago?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Chicago. 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 Chicago site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: An East or Gulf coast port, then rail and road inland, dispatch: 4 to 7 working days. Standard items dispatch in 4 to 7 working days. The sea leg from India is long, so plan the full door to door window into the programme. We give real dates, not optimistic ones.
What goes wrong most often on this kind of project?
Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution. A lobby with both doors able to open at once.
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 the drawings, get a straight answer
Send what you have. We will give you a layer by layer build-up, a bill of quantities and a date material lands, and we will flag anything in the brief that will not achieve what you want.