Turtlerock Forum

Ever so slowly I am working my way through softening up this old warehouse space, and now I'm up to building a suspended absorber that will hang over the mix position; hung by clipping them to steel cables which will run left to right from beam to beam.

It's going to be reflective on the top side (likely thin mdf) with insulation on the other to absorb, faced by fabric and MAYBE a hardwood surround frame in keeping with the aesthetic I'm injecting into the rest of the room. I figure between the hardwood frame, mdf back and insulation, this thing is going to be quite heavy when it sees its ultimate size of 2m x 3m (ish).

Normally I'd use CSR Soundscreen for insulation, but at 88mm it means the resulting surrounding frame would be quite thick. Anyone know of any products (tontine - is it thinner?) that I could use as a substitute? And also, I may make an 'inside' frame first of light aluminium extrusion-style stuff - something I've seen a lot of guys do on the net - anyone know a supplier of this kind of thing in Melbourne? Bunnings certainly comes up short.

OH! And as I may be putting a couple of downlights or similar into these also, if anyone has happened to come across any diagrams/plans on the net of similar suspended absorbers or have some yourself, I'd love to cast my eye over them!

Ta - Dave

a cheeky option is to go down to your local factory industrial warehouse area and do a deal on some used plastic pallets ( the forklift kind )
some of them have wonderful looking internal geometric support structures

hang them (they are really light ) and they give you about 20-30 cm to pack with insulation so you can use the cheap stuff and double it up

you end up with a diffuser/ absorber and its light and with a coat of paint before you start they look really good
you can also "tune " them by stuffing or taking out in insulation to suit - this is the real bonus

i have been doing it for years - people rarely catch you out noticing they are $5 pallets

off coarse you can wrap all this in wood and fabric and then you have really saved yourself the effort of building sub structures out of mdf

There are some build logs by people making clouds on the Sayers forum. Soundscreen is available in 50/75/100mm isn't it? Why would the top be reflective?

Cool idea with the pallets Rick, might have to look into that!

Great idea Rick - so simple and lightweight.

Thanks Rick, that is a stellar idea. From what I can see on the net, the 'Euro' style ones are even longer and they look possibly the 'coolest' of the lot, if that's possible. I will certainly be looking into this idea, and as you say it will cut so much of the weight out of building proper inner frames...not to mention the cost ; )

Kurt, reflective on top was to reject extraneous noise coming in from above; such as BIRDS and other creeks I occasionally hear above my head. The space - old warehouse - has peaked tin roofing, and whilst some kind of attempt to block out noise above is present by whoever did the conversion, didn't think much beyond the usual household grade. I could be wrong, but it's been suggested to make absorbers of the kind I need around me (i.e. large and moveable) to be absorbent on one side, reflective on the other (outside).

Probably most effective would be another layer of insulation over the whole ceiling, maybe a bit too pricey, especially if it's a rented space.

Kurt wrote:Probably most effective would be another layer of insulation over the whole ceiling, maybe a bit too pricey, especially if it's a rented space.

Yes, that's not going to happen. Also I'm wanting to strike a balance between the original aesthetic of this place and effective treatment, hence the portable options. Someone else on this forum come up against a similar problem with noise from tin roofing...the suggestion of putting commercial freezer panels on top is a good one, but again something I can't just go ahead and do. I will make do...otherwise this place sounds pretty decent. The high ceiling and large space helps.

Still, if the roof is noisy I can't see why you would want to bounce that noise around by having a reflective side on your cloud. I would have thought absorbing it as much as practical would be the go.

http://www.plasticpallets.com.au/plastic-pallets.html

Are these a go?