For projects in Manila
Venue and restaurant acoustics in Manila
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. Church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes.
- 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 / What it is
The product, described honestly, for a Manila brief
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.
Church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes.
Work reaching us from Manila is mostly service and call centre floors, offices, condominium towers, hotels, hospitals, schools.
- Hundreds of simultaneous conversations A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- Concrete towers, hard interiors The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- Typhoon season and humidity PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- 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 Manila.
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 Manila, split units and VRF running at full load year round, with condensers close to occupied rooms.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
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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 Manila, church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes.
Ceiling first. In most rooms the ceiling is the largest untreated surface and the cheapest square metre of result.
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Layer 3
Acoustic carpet and rugs
A tile carpet with a dense polyester face on a felt backing. In Manila, classrooms are hard and naturally ventilated with very large class sizes and open corridors.
Loose lay on tackifier. Tiles lifted individually for access under a raised floor, which is why tile beats broadloom in an office.
We would rather argue about the build-up at design stage than on site. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What the buildings in Manila do to the specification
- Hundreds of simultaneous conversations
A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- Concrete towers, hard interiors
The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- Typhoon season and humidity
PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- Traffic outside, all day
Street noise reaches rooms through glazing rather than walls, so the facade is where the first money should go.
- Assembly and performance rooms
Church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for Manila briefs
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Containment
Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
- Soundproofing materials, 2100 kg per cubic metre. 2.5 mm STC 30 at 5.25 kg per sq m, 4 mm STC 34 at 8.4, 6 mm at 12.6
- Acoustic panels, 1800 x 900 mm, image printed into the felt rather than onto a facing
- 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. The structure blocks well. The problem is tile and glass making the room ring, and impact passing down through slabs.
- Soundproofing materials, 1800 x 900 x 20 mm, 100 kg per cubic metre, NRC 0.85
- Acoustic panels, Cut pattern in PET felt, adds visual rhythm without changing the absorber
- 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. PET felt does not absorb moisture, rot or feed mould, which matters where mineral products sag within a season.
- Soundproofing materials, Mass, then decoupling, then cavity absorption, then sealing
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
- 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 / Conditions
What the Manila climate rules in and rules out
Manila is warm and humid through most of the year, with a long wet season, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Humidity is the deciding factor. PET felt does not absorb moisture, shed fibre or feed mould, which is why it outlasts fabric-wrapped mineral wool in this climate. Wood wool and timber need a ventilated cavity behind them.
The failure we design against here is mould, sagging fabric finishes and swelling in timber.
On a Manila job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Straight talk
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 Manila job
A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
05 / Getting it there
What the route into Manila actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Manila, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Manila |
| 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 Manila, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Manila projects
What makes venue and restaurant acoustics different in Manila?
Church buildings, gymnasiums and function halls carry amplified speech and music in hard volumes. A call floor is not an echo problem. Absorption alone will not deliver privacy or intelligibility, so ceiling, screens and layout have to work together.
Where should the budget go first on a Manila 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 Manila?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Manila. 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 Manila site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Manila, 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?
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
Tell us the room, we will tell you the build-up
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.