For projects in Montreal
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in Montreal
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. Basement and garage studios are common, and a finished basement ceiling with no decoupling passes everything to the floor above.
- 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 product
What this material is and where it earns its place in Montreal
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.
Basement and garage studios are common, and a finished basement ceiling with no decoupling passes everything to the floor above.
Work reaching us from Montreal is mostly plex and condo housing, studios and rehearsal rooms, offices, restaurants, schools, clinics.
- Plex floors pass everything Stacked flats with timber joists send footfall and speech straight down. A resilient layer under the new floor does more than any ceiling treatment below it.
- A city that makes a lot of noise on purpose Rehearsal rooms, studios and practice spaces in residential buildings are normal here. Isolation is what keeps them viable, not absorption.
- The port is in the city Containers come up the St Lawrence and land in Montreal itself, which keeps the road leg short and the landed cost predictable.
- 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 Montreal.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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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 Montreal, forced air heating runs most of the year, so duct-borne noise and return air paths carry sound between rooms as reliably as the walls do.
Corner loading. Low frequency energy collects in corners, so absorber in the corners does more than the same area spread across a wall.
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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 Montreal, community centres, school gymnasiums and church halls carry speech, music and sport in the same hard volume.
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 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 Montreal, school buildings run hard floors and lay-in tile with long heating seasons and sealed envelopes, so rooms stay live and mechanical noise is always present.
Independent leaf. A second wall that does not touch the first. Nothing else comes close for the money.
If you are specifying for a Montreal project, we can give you a section, a BOQ and the honest limits of each layer. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What we see driving Montreal briefs
- Plex floors pass everything
Stacked flats with timber joists send footfall and speech straight down. A resilient layer under the new floor does more than any ceiling treatment below it.
- A city that makes a lot of noise on purpose
Rehearsal rooms, studios and practice spaces in residential buildings are normal here. Isolation is what keeps them viable, not absorption.
- The port is in the city
Containers come up the St Lawrence and land in Montreal itself, which keeps the road leg short and the landed cost predictable.
- Long sealed winters
Buildings close up for months and mechanical systems run hard. Noise stops escaping and accumulates inside instead.
- The housing stock
Timber frame with gypsum board in low rise, concrete in towers. Condominium party walls and floors generate most complaints, and impact noise through a concrete slab needs a resilient layer, not a panel.
- The studio and content scene
Basement and garage studios are common, and a finished basement ceiling with no decoupling passes everything to the floor above.
04 / Room by room
Where the money goes on a Montreal project
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Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. Stacked flats with timber joists send footfall and speech straight down. A resilient layer under the new floor does more than any ceiling treatment below it.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 1800 x 900 mm
- 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. Rehearsal rooms, studios and practice spaces in residential buildings are normal here. Isolation is what keeps them viable, not absorption.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- 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. Containers come up the St Lawrence and land in Montreal itself, which keeps the road leg short and the landed cost predictable.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- 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 and durability
What the Montreal climate rules in and rules out
Montreal is cool and damp, with long heating seasons and cold external walls, and that narrows the material list before acoustics is discussed.
Cold wall build-ups and long heating seasons mean interstitial condensation is a real risk behind any lining. PET felt is unaffected by damp air and will not feed mould where a fabric-faced mineral product would.
The failure we design against here is condensation behind linings in older, poorly insulated stock.
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 / Straight talk
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
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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
A room can be over-treated. Past the target it stops sounding controlled and starts sounding dead, and you paid for that.
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Treating it as a generic Montreal job
Stacked flats with timber joists send footfall and speech straight down. A resilient layer under the new floor does more than any ceiling treatment below it.
05 / Route to site
Getting it to Montreal, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Port of Montreal, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea into Port of Montreal |
| 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 the Port of Montreal, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Montreal projects
What makes recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in Montreal?
Basement and garage studios are common, and a finished basement ceiling with no decoupling passes everything to the floor above. Stacked flats with timber joists send footfall and speech straight down. A resilient layer under the new floor does more than any ceiling treatment below it.
Where should the budget go first on a Montreal 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 Montreal?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Montreal. 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 Montreal site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Port of Montreal, then a short road run to site, 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?
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
Drawings in, BOQ and a delivered date out
One drawing gets you a proper answer. Build-up, quantities, a delivered date, and an honest note on anything we think is the wrong approach.