For projects in Seattle
Venue and restaurant acoustics in Seattle
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other. Churches, school gyms and multipurpose halls double as performance spaces, which means a room designed for neither speech nor music has to carry both.
- Containment
- Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
- Table level comfort
- Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
- Entrance and service
- Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is.
- Quote
- From a plan and a section, within 48 hours
01 / The product
What this material is and where it earns its place in Seattle
Two different jobs that get quoted as one: keeping bass inside the building for the neighbours, and making the room comfortable enough that guests can talk. Solving one does nothing for the other.
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.
- Containment Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope.
Full specification
Thickness, density, NRC by frequency, fire class, standard sizes and build-up detail for venue soundproofing are on the main product page. This page covers what that means for a project in Seattle.
Nightclub and venue soundproofing SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
02 / The build-up
What goes where, from the structure in
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Layer 1
SoundBlanket mass loaded vinyl
A limp, high density sheet that adds mass to a partition, floor or duct without adding depth. 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.
Floor, floating. Membrane under a resilient layer and a floating deck, so impact energy is broken before it reaches the slab.
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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.
Mixed finish. Plain felt where it is out of eye line, printed or grooved where it is seen.
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Layer 3
Wooden slat acoustic panels
Timber slats on an acoustic backing. 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.
Slats on felt backing. The standard. Absorption comes from the backing behind the gaps, so the slat gap ratio is an acoustic decision, not only a visual one.
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
The Seattle conditions that change the answer
- 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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Containment
Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. 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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Table level comfort
Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other. 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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Entrance and service
Doors, lobbies and extract paths, which is where most of the leakage actually is. 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
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
Durability in Seattle, before acoustics is discussed
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.
On a Seattle job with a consultant involved, our part is material that matches the submitted data. See working with acoustic consultants.
06 / Straight talk
Six mistakes that turn into a second fit-out
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Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution
It sounds like a small detail until the room is finished and the complaint arrives.
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A lobby with both doors able to open at once
Soundproofing fails at the gaps, not the materials. One unsealed service penetration can undo a correctly built wall.
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Extract ducting that bypasses every wall you built
Enclose the machine, break the vibration path, then deal with what is left. Doing it in the other order costs more and achieves less.
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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
How material reaches 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 |
| 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 venue and restaurant acoustics 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?
Containment. Low frequency through structure to flats above and beside. Mass, decoupling and a sealed envelope. Table level comfort. Absorption at the ceiling so guests stop raising their voices at each other.
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?
Panels on the wall as a neighbour noise solution. A lobby with both doors able to open at once.
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.