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Author Topic: Drop Ceilings  (Read 5904 times)

arconaut

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Drop Ceilings
« on: August 23, 2006, 09:16:57 PM »

Hi Fran!

My home studio has a low ceiling - about 6.5 feet with the drop ceiling. Above the drop ceiling is another foot (not counting the joists).

I've heard that the best way to deal with a low ceiling is to "eliminate" it by making it absorptive. Is this your feeling? I am not concerned with sound-proofing, just want to eliminate destructive reflections.

noah
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franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #1 on: August 24, 2006, 11:53:04 AM »

Live room or Control Room??

Actually, for ceilings that low, I'd have to say yes, to the absorptive solution. Basements... what a PITA (Pain In The A_s)
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Ethan Winer

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #2 on: August 24, 2006, 01:59:07 PM »

Noah,

> My home studio has a low ceiling - about 6.5 feet with the drop ceiling. Above the drop ceiling is another foot (not counting the joists). <

A friend of mine had a similar situation, and at my advice he took out the drop ceiling entirely. Then we packed the space between all the joists with 12 inches of fluffy fiberglass, and stapled fabric (felt) to the joist bottoms. Then he added wood trim strips to cover the staples. The ceiling is much higher now, and the 12 inches of fiberglass adds a nice amount of extra bass trapping into the room. (Extra, as in addition to all the corner bass trapping he already had.) So this would be a good way for you to reclaim a lot of that space above the ceiling, and get better acoustics at the same time.

--Ethan

franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #3 on: August 24, 2006, 02:36:47 PM »

Most excellent suggestions Ethan.. We've done similar installation where isolation wasn't a concern, because obviously you are giving up a certain amount of STC from the tiles and foot falls above will be more evident as well as noise from the studio transmitting up as well!! But... a good acoustic suggestion!
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arconaut

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #4 on: August 24, 2006, 03:02:23 PM »



Hi,

Thanks for the answers! I mostly mix in this room, though I am at least able to do overdubs as well.

This will take some logistical wrangling - but sounds like it will be worth it. Plus, I hate that drop ceiling!

I presume I need acoustically transparent fabric, as well...

Noah
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franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2006, 04:58:32 PM »

Yep... the idea is that the sound is exposed to the insulation (or the other way around)... Good test for fabric:

Wrap a piece around your head while some (annoying) is talking to you... if you can't hear any differnce, than it's transparent enuf... if the HF is attenuated, it's not good fabric for acoustic covering...
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Ethan Winer

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2006, 06:00:14 PM »

Fran,

> Wrap a piece around your head while some (annoying) is talking to you <

Better not let my wife see that. Very Happy

> if you can't hear any differnce, than it's transparent enuf... if the HF is attenuated, it's not good fabric for acoustic covering... <

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that if a proposed material absorbs a little more on its own no harm is done. Versus speaker grill cloth in front of a tweeter. Is there another reason I missed?

--Ethan

Teddy G.

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2006, 12:17:00 AM »

My drop ceiling(Plain 2x4 Armstrong ceiling panels installed the suggested way) seems to help? I like the "apparent"(?) density of it much better than the oft seen light-weight plastic-film covered, thin fiberglass panels.

QUESTION: Would installing a drop ceiling lower at one end than the other help? How much angle and how much help would it be? Or are such things done only by formula or only under specific situations? Or does it just look "studio-ey"? I have seen it done, but where I've heard a "better room" after treatment MUCH more was done than just that, most of it unknown to me..? The sloping drop ceiling was just obvious.

TG
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franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2006, 04:12:00 PM »

Sloping ceiling CAN be used to direct or control reflections in control rooms and live rooms. Armstrong Ceiling tiles are (more or less) absoptive material. Very HF will bounce off them, but depending on the cavity space behind and if it is filled with fuzz (recommened you do fill with fuzz) they are fairly absorptive and have a high NR (another single number representation that is more or less useless)....

Sloping a dropped tile ceiling, I would suspect, in most cases is more a "studio-ey" looking thing than anything else. Of course it depends on a lot of other variables that I don't know... Cool
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rankus

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2006, 06:09:53 PM »

franman wrote on Thu, 24 August 2006 13:58



Good test for fabric:

Wrap a piece around your head while some (annoying) is talking to you... if you can't hear any differnce, than it's transparent enuf... if the HF is attenuated, it's not good fabric for acoustic covering...


I like to hold it to my mouth and see if I can breathe through it easily... This seems to be a good indicator of how well it will pass sound.

You get weird looks from the old ladies at the cloth barn, but thats half the fun!
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franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #10 on: August 25, 2006, 09:18:00 PM »

If the fabric absorbs a little more on its own, no harm done but what if the fabric is actually reflective to HF sound as many backed and tight woven fabrics can be?? Also, it's not always absorption that we put behind fabric. Sometimes helmholtz slats or diffusive devices are hidden behind stretched fabric. I don't like to think about specs for some treatments not working for others......This is why a completely transparent fabric is what I always look for... make sense now???


Ethan Winer wrote on Thu, 24 August 2006 17:00

Fran,

> Wrap a piece around your head while some (annoying) is talking to you <

Better not let my wife see that. Very Happy

> if you can't hear any differnce, than it's transparent enuf... if the HF is attenuated, it's not good fabric for acoustic covering... <

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that if a proposed material absorbs a little more on its own no harm is done. Versus speaker grill cloth in front of a tweeter. Is there another reason I missed?

--Ethan

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franman

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #11 on: August 25, 2006, 09:22:13 PM »

But then.. .who says I'm the know it all?? I'm just telling you guys how we do it up here...
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Ethan Winer

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2006, 11:40:31 AM »

Fran,

> no harm done but what if the fabric is actually reflective to HF sound as many backed and tight woven fabrics can be?? <

Agreed, you never want a reflective cloth in front of "fuzz" as you call it. (BTW, I love that descriptor.)

> Sometimes helmholtz slats or diffusive devices are hidden behind stretched fabric. <

Yes, of course, there too.

Thanks.

--Ethan

Teddy G.

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Re: Drop Ceilings
« Reply #13 on: August 28, 2006, 09:33:57 AM »

Such a mess! Filling above my drop ceiling with "fuzz", as mentioned(Hoping that "fuzz" is the fiberglass insulation that comes in bags.). I will do it though, as I can - I hate to waste all that space above the drop ceiling! Though as stated, in the attic, directly above the sheetrock ceiling that is above the drop ceiling, there IS about a foot of same "fuzz" already. More won't hurt, of course.

I had thought that, sooner or later, I would buy one of the $99 kits of Auralex foam and put over the Armstrong panels on the walls? Yes? No? Would look pretty! A little block of foam tiles here, a little block there? Maybe buy 'em in green, get out the electric knife and carve out "Teddy G."?  

Thankx,

TG

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