For projects in Seattle
Cinema and multiplex soundproofing in Seattle
Screens stacked beside and above each other, each running full range at high level. Bleed between auditoria is the failure everyone hears, and it is decided by the shell, not the finishes. Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
- Screen to screen
- Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line.
- In room response
- Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended.
- Plant and projection
- Equipment noise into the auditorium, treated at source.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / What it is
The product, described honestly, for a Seattle brief
Screens stacked beside and above each other, each running full range at high level. Bleed between auditoria is the failure everyone hears, and it is decided by the shell, not the finishes.
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 Seattle is mostly mass timber offices, tech campuses, multifamily, studios, schools, clinics.
- Mass timber is still light Exposed timber looks solid and performs nothing like concrete at low frequency. It also cannot be covered, because the timber is the design, so the acoustic work has to happen where it will not be seen.
- Rain on the roof Metal and membrane roofs over open volumes turn heavy rain into a noise source. It is worth designing for rather than discovering in the first storm.
- Campus open plans Large tech floors with exposed structure and hard finishes carry speech a long way. The ceiling plane and screens have to do what the walls are not there to do.
- Screen to screen Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for cinema soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Seattle.
02 / The build-up
The build-up, layer by layer
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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 Seattle, 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.
Independent leaf. A second wall that does not touch the first. Nothing else comes close for the money.
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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 Seattle, churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
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
PET felt acoustic panels
A rigid non-woven panel pressed from 100% polyester fibre, a large part of it recycled. In Seattle, 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.
Direct to wall. Panel bonded or mechanically fixed flat to the substrate. Simplest, and the weakest at low frequency.
For a Seattle practice, the useful thing is a detail you can put in a drawing set, not a brochure. See how we support architects.
03 / On the ground
What we see driving Seattle briefs
- Mass timber is still light
Exposed timber looks solid and performs nothing like concrete at low frequency. It also cannot be covered, because the timber is the design, so the acoustic work has to happen where it will not be seen.
- Rain on the roof
Metal and membrane roofs over open volumes turn heavy rain into a noise source. It is worth designing for rather than discovering in the first storm.
- Campus open plans
Large tech floors with exposed structure and hard finishes carry speech a long way. The ceiling plane and screens have to do what the walls are not there to do.
- The port is right here
Containers land at Seattle or Tacoma, so there is no cross-country leg. That keeps the landed cost and the date both predictable.
- 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 Seattle briefs
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Screen to screen
Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line. Exposed timber looks solid and performs nothing like concrete at low frequency. It also cannot be covered, because the timber is the design, so the acoustic work has to happen where it will not be seen.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 2100 kg per cubic metre
- 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
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In room response
Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended. Metal and membrane roofs over open volumes turn heavy rain into a noise source. It is worth designing for rather than discovering in the first storm.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Soundproofing materials, Mass, then decoupling, then cavity absorption, then sealing
- Acoustic panels, ASTM C423
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Plant and projection
Equipment noise into the auditorium, treated at source. Large tech floors with exposed structure and hard finishes carry speech a long way. The ceiling plane and screens have to do what the walls are not there to do.
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- 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
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
What the Seattle climate rules in and rules out
Seattle 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.
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 / Worth knowing
The six errors that cost the most
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A shared service void running across the wall line
The ceiling is almost always the largest untreated surface, so leaving it out means paying for panels that cannot reach the target.
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Treating the auditorium to fix bleed from the next screen
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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Doors and lobbies specified late and undersized
A 6 mm undercut under a door leaves a hole the size of a brick. The wall around it is then decorative.
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Treating it as a generic Seattle job
Exposed timber looks solid and performs nothing like concrete at low frequency. It also cannot be covered, because the timber is the design, so the acoustic work has to happen where it will not be seen.
05 / Getting it there
Supply into Seattle, start to site
| Ships from | Palwal, Haryana, India |
|---|---|
| Arrives at | Seattle or Tacoma, then a short road run to site |
| Dispatch | 4 to 7 working days |
| Freight | Sea into Seattle or Tacoma |
| 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 Seattle or Tacoma, then a short road run to site. Air freight for samples and urgent quantities.
Questions from Seattle projects
What makes cinema and multiplex soundproofing different in Seattle?
Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both. Exposed timber looks solid and performs nothing like concrete at low frequency. It also cannot be covered, because the timber is the design, so the acoustic work has to happen where it will not be seen.
Where should the budget go first on a Seattle project?
Screen to screen. Independent construction between auditoria, with services broken at the line. In room response. Heavy absorption on side and rear walls so the mix is heard as intended.
Do you have an office or installation team in Seattle?
No. We manufacture in India and supply into Seattle. 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 Seattle site?
ships from: Palwal, Haryana, India, arrives at: Seattle or Tacoma, 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?
A shared service void running across the wall line. Treating the auditorium to fix bleed from the next screen.
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
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.