For projects in Seattle
Recording studio acoustics and soundproofing in Seattle
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 product, described honestly, for a Seattle brief
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 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.
- 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 Seattle.
02 / The build-up
The stack, in the order it is installed
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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 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.
Behind a fabric frame. Where the room has to look finished, absorber inside a frame rather than foam on show.
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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 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.
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
Soundproof curtains
A layered curtain with a mass loaded vinyl core, used where an opening has to stay an opening. 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.
Track with a seal. Ceiling track plus a floor seal or drape, so the perimeter is closed when it is drawn.
If you are specifying for a Seattle 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 the buildings in Seattle do to the specification
- 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.
- 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
What each space in a Seattle project needs
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Isolation
A measured background level, agreed before anything is bought. 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.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 1800 x 900 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 30, 5.25 kg per sq m
- Soundproof curtains, 5.5 kg per sq m
-
Low frequency
Corner and boundary absorption with real depth, not surface foam. 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.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 20 mm
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, STC 34, 8.4 kg per sq m
- Soundproof curtains, Up to 30 dB
-
Early reflections
Controlled at the mix position, and only there. 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.
- Acoustic foam and BassBloc, 100 kg per cubic metre
- SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl, 12.6 kg per sq m, STC on request
- 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 / Conditions
The Seattle climate decides the material list
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
Where this kind of project usually fails
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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
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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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.
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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 / Supply
What the route into Seattle actually looks like
| 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 recording studio acoustics and soundproofing different in Seattle?
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. 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?
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 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?
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.