For projects in Prague
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in Prague
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 strong recording tradition, with rooms fitted into older buildings where the structure helps and the surfaces do not.
- 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 material
What this material is and where it earns its place in Prague
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 strong recording tradition, with rooms fitted into older buildings where the structure helps and the surfaces do not.
Work reaching us from Prague is mostly hotel conversions, apartments, production and studio spaces, offices, restaurants, clinics.
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- 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 Prague.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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Layer 1
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 Prague, mechanical ventilation in newer buildings and radiator heating in older stock, so duct noise is a newer problem than it looks.
Floating floor. Resilient layer and deck, to break impact energy before it reaches the structure.
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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 Prague, concert halls, church buildings and civic rooms are long-decay volumes in stone and plaster.
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
Soundproof curtains
A layered curtain with a mass loaded vinyl core, used where an opening has to stay an opening. In Prague, school buildings are hard surfaced with long corridors, and gymnasiums double as assembly halls.
Double layer at a doorway. Two curtains with an air gap where a single layer will not reach the target.
Architects working in Prague usually need the build-up before the product. We will draw the section and mark what does the work. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What decides the build-up in Prague
- Protected buildings, internal fixes only
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Conversions into guest rooms
Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- A production city
Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- Hard stone, long reverberation
Stone, plaster and tile in tall rooms hold sound for a long time. Speech stops being intelligible well before the room sounds obviously wrong.
- The housing stock
Panel block housing has concrete walls with good mass but no impact isolation, while older masonry stock has timber floors that pass footfall.
- The studio and content scene
A strong recording tradition, with rooms fitted into older buildings where the structure helps and the surfaces do not.
04 / Room by room
Room by room, on a typical Prague job
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Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 1800 x 900 mm
- Soundproofing materials, 1800 x 900 x 20 mm, 100 kg per cubic metre, NRC 0.85
- Soundproof curtains, 5.5 kg per sq m
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Low frequency
Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam. Old buildings divided into hotel rooms and short lets put beds either side of walls that were never separating walls. Door and corridor details cause more complaints than anything else.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- Soundproofing materials, Mass, then decoupling, then cavity absorption, then sealing
- Soundproof curtains, Up to 30 dB
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Early reflections
Controlled at the mix position, and only there. Stages, edit rooms and post production spaces need the shell to isolate before anything else is decided. There is no partial credit on a room like that.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- Soundproofing materials, ASTM E90 for the barrier, ASTM C423 for the absorber
- 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
Durability in Prague, before acoustics is discussed
Prague 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.
On a Prague job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Straight talk
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
This is the one that comes back as a second fit-out rather than a snag.
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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 Prague job
In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
05 / Getting it there
What the route into Prague actually looks like
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea via Hamburg |
| 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 Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Prague projects
What makes recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in Prague?
A strong recording tradition, with rooms fitted into older buildings where the structure helps and the surfaces do not. In the centre you often cannot alter the structure or the facade. The work has to be internal, shallow and ideally reversible, which rules out most thick framed systems.
Where should the budget go first on a Prague 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 Prague?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Prague. 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 Prague site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Hamburg, then rail and road into Prague, 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
Send the drawings, get a straight answer
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.