For projects in New York
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in New York
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. Home and project studios go into basements and converted garages with equipment budgets far ahead of the building. The room leaks to the floor above long before it sounds wrong inside.
- 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 / What it is
The material, and what it actually does on a New York 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.
Home and project studios go into basements and converted garages with equipment budgets far ahead of the building. The room leaks to the floor above long before it sounds wrong inside.
Work reaching us from New York is mostly pre-war apartments, brownstones, offices, studios, restaurants, clinics, schools.
- Pre-war buildings, timber floors Older stock passes footfall straight down through the joists. A resilient layer under the finish does more than anything applied to the ceiling below.
- Subway and street Ground level and underground rail put low frequency into the structure. Panels on a wall will not touch it and we will say so.
- Boards decide the build-up Co-op and condo rules on floor coverings and separating construction usually set the requirement before any acoustic target does. Get the rule first, then design to it.
- 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 New York.
02 / The build-up
What goes where, from the structure in
-
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 New York, 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.
First reflection points. Mirror trick placement on side walls and ceiling, which is a handful of panels rather than a lined room.
-
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 New York, churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
Independent leaf. A second wall that does not touch the first. Nothing else comes close for the money.
-
Layer 3
Soundproof curtains
A layered curtain with a mass loaded vinyl core, used where an opening has to stay an opening. In New York, 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.
Double layer at a doorway. Two curtains with an air gap where a single layer will not reach the target.
If you are specifying for a New York project, we can give you a section, a BOQ and the honest limits of each layer. See how we support architects.
03 / In this market
What we see driving New York briefs
- Pre-war buildings, timber floors
Older stock passes footfall straight down through the joists. A resilient layer under the finish does more than anything applied to the ceiling below.
- Subway and street
Ground level and underground rail put low frequency into the structure. Panels on a wall will not touch it and we will say so.
- Boards decide the build-up
Co-op and condo rules on floor coverings and separating construction usually set the requirement before any acoustic target does. Get the rule first, then design to it.
- Depth is expensive here
Floor area costs enough that a wall growing a hundred millimetres into the room is a real number. Thin and effective beats thick and theoretical.
- The housing stock
American homes are timber frame with gypsum board on both faces, so a party wall or a basement ceiling has almost no mass. Adding a second leaf with a limp membrane between does more than any amount of surface treatment.
- The studio and content scene
Home and project studios go into basements and converted garages with equipment budgets far ahead of the building. The room leaks to the floor above long before it sounds wrong inside.
04 / Room by room
Space by space, for New York briefs
-
Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. Older stock passes footfall straight down through the joists. A resilient layer under the finish does more than anything applied to the ceiling below.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 1800 x 900 mm
- 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
-
Low frequency
Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam. Ground level and underground rail put low frequency into the structure. Panels on a wall will not touch it and we will say so.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- Soundproofing materials, Mass, then decoupling, then cavity absorption, then sealing
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
-
Early reflections
Controlled at the mix position, and only there. Co-op and condo rules on floor coverings and separating construction usually set the requirement before any acoustic target does. Get the rule first, then design to it.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- Soundproofing materials, ASTM E90 for the barrier, ASTM C423 for the absorber
- Acoustic panels, 9 to 24 mm, 1220 x 2440 mm standard, up to 2440 x 4270 mm, 1200 to 3600 GSM
For a New York interior where the finish leads, we will say plainly what each option costs you acoustically. See how we work with interior designers.
04 / Conditions
The New York climate decides the material list
New York 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 / Straight talk
What we watch go wrong on jobs like this
-
Buying foam to solve an isolation problem
Small on the drawing, expensive on site, and almost always found after handover.
-
Treating the room before the shell is isolated
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
-
Killing the room completely and calling it controlled
We would rather calculate the area and sell you less of it than line every surface and call it thorough.
-
Treating it as a generic New York job
Older stock passes footfall straight down through the joists. A resilient layer under the finish does more than anything applied to the ceiling below.
05 / Supply
Getting it to New York, with real dates
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Port of New York and New Jersey, then a short road run |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea into New York |
| 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 New York and New Jersey, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from New York projects
What makes recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in New York?
Home and project studios go into basements and converted garages with equipment budgets far ahead of the building. The room leaks to the floor above long before it sounds wrong inside. Co-op and condo rules on floor coverings and separating construction usually set the requirement before any acoustic target does. Get the rule first, then design to it.
Where should the budget go first on a New York 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 New York?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into New York. 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 New York site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Port of New York and New Jersey, then a short road run, 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
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.