Hi everyone,

I want to treat a large space accoustically to be used as a small video studio. At the moment it is lined with metal sheets glued to a polystyrene backing as the area used to be a cold store and the current reverb time is almost 3 seconds!

It's in a quiet location so I dont really have to worry about sound-proofing to eliminate exterior noices. I just want to have a very cheap solution to line the walls over the existing metalwork.

The dimensions are 28ft x 36ft with a 16ft high ceiling. That's a wall area of just over 2000 sq ft and 1000 sq ft of ceiling space.

I have a few questions - do I just treat the walls, or do i need to treat the ceiling as well? My only worry is that I will be using video lighting and huge sources of heat from the lights will only be 2 or 3 ft away from the roof and so anything I do put up there will get very very hot and I don't really want any fire hazards!

I'm quite a novice at this so please explain any complicated terminolgy!!! I'm not after absolute perfection as I know that will cost - but i'm after something pretty dead where the spoken word won't produce the huge reverb that I have now!

Any recommendations for companies which sell products cheaply in the UK will be gratefully received!

Many thanks

Well, firstly, video does not need much light and you can get some very good lights for video nowadays that will not generate tons of heat. Also even if you do go down the very hot PAR-can route (which is what we did - see pics on website) because video hardly needs much light, they do not have to be on all the time.

Remember BTW that lighting for video is VERY different to stage lighting. TV sets are composite, so big blotches of single colour are O U T out.

Teating the walls depends on whether you want to have the walls as a backdrop or if they will disapear behind flats / backdrops or whatever you want to call them. Acoustic foam that works costs about £20 a sq meter (or more). The cheaper stuff only works if it is thick enough and spaced from the wall. The cheap stuff may also be a fire hazzard.

A cheap way to make a visible wall for a TV studio is to use light grey curtains covering helmhotz resonators (perforated hardboard). But get shot of the tin sheeting first!

In TV, there are as many ways to skin a cat as you can think of. Lighing can be a collection of PAR cans at £20 each, or a robotic system from Satchler for millions.

But yes, you are going to have to deal with the ceiling too.

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www.the-byre.com No longer Forum Member

We're aiming to use cheaper lights and probably about 20kW worth as we need to be artistic! We do have a cyclorama (3.5m high) which will go around 3 sides of the studio. But, we need to accomodate the walls as if the cyc wasn't there.

Anyway - i'm more interested in the the walls at present and I'm not really fussy what it looks like! As long as it looks professional! I've thought about accoustic mineral wool as we can line all four walls for just over £400.

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/soundproofing/amw.htm

Any comments?

Matt