Acoustically transparent cloth

[smash]

Hey Guys,

I have a TV control room that currently has what looks like 3" thick felt insulation mounted on the walls.
There are 5 panels, in various sizes, but adding up to approximately 18 square meters surface area in total, with wooden frames.
Some of the felt is starting to pull away, and is generally looking a bit "ratty"

I'm getting some other work done here, and I got a quote to cover the felt with a black acoustically transparent cloth, tucked in around the felt, leaving the wooden frame exposed, which would then be painted.

The quote came to nearly $2000.00 - which seems really excessive to me.

I'm thinking it is something I could almost certainly do myself in half a day or so.

What have you guys done in a similar situation?
I've looked for "acoustically transparent cloth" but it only seems to come in narrow widths.

I would assume that black cotton would do the job fine as well, as long it is a loose enough weave.

For the cost, I could just about cover the wall in acoustic foam - which would look "pro" enough anyway.

Any of you guys have any experience with this type of thing?


Simon Smash Ashby

[Sammas]

There is the old breathe through it trick. How it transfers into real world results, I am not entirely sure.

If you can breathe through the fabric with ease, sound shouldn't have a problem passing through. You do look like
a bit of a twit sucking on fabric in lincraft though.

I used cheap calico on bass traps. It is a little difficult to breath through, but really cheap (had to compromise
somewhere)... but from some simple listening tests, I couldn't hear it making any different when blasting sound through
a frame wrapped in fabric from my monitors. Would it make a difference to the bass traps performance? Hard to say...
I suspect my room has bigger issues than worrying about the potential high end reflection caused by cloth with a slightly tighter
weave than preferred.

[Chinagraf]

I have done many rooms in many fabrics and in the end as long as you're not using a mega heavy tight weave it doesn't matter enough to worry about.
Currently have a thing called Panama stretch which is a 100% polyester. Stretched on timber frames over acoustiwool.
Some people will tell you no, you neeeeed acoustically transparent fabric. They are people that have read more on the internut than they have built and used actual studios.
Just keep it lightweight and no plastic backing.
As Sammas says, there are bigger issues that will affect the performance of your room. Also good to have a little stretch in the fabric so you can get it tight over the wooden frames.
Staple gun it to the back.

[stosostu]

We used to use a material called 'bunting'. It came in a variety of colours and was very open weave, so good for audio transparency, and best of all it was cheap. However, I've tried the local Spotlight store and they've never heard of it. Anyone know of a supplier. It is commonly used in the theatre for backdrops and in event diplays etc.

[rick]

given a choice i use a product made by macquarie textiles specifically for the job , it has the right weave good colours and its consistant .. and expensive, but more importantly it has the right fire rating
nearly every cheap solution would and could turn into a fireball which in any kind of commerical premises could cause all kinds of legal problems after the fire
as you must not use things that burn quickly as wall coverings , its an OH&S problem as well as just dumb

i hate to be the guy to tell you but if you have never panelled walls $2000 sounds about right to me
sure you can do it cheaper your self but if its not your money i wouldnt bother its a bitch to do right and it will be a long half day

your talking about $1000 of foam as well if you go that way probably more
glad you posted smash i had forgotten about your job, i will do it this morning

[Kurt]

I covered my baffle doodads with calico; very cheap, looks nice, open weave. 100%cotton (doesn't burn very well)

Took me best part of a day to cover 6 baffles and cost less than $50 from memory.

[Alastair Reynolds]

The "Peter Brown" (Peter Brown Architects)Theory as well is if you can blow through it , it is OK.We used an almost 100% wool based fairly open weave fabric. The wool of course means it's fire resistant

[graemeh]

I used a cotton stretch fabric and then sprayed it with Tyco Flameguard 80 Fire retardant - works great, won't burn with a match applied to it. Comes in 5 lire containers about $80-100 each about 6 years ago if I remember right...

[rick]

The "Peter Brown" (Peter Brown Architects)Theory as well is if you can blow through it , it is OK.We used an almost 100% wool based fairly open weave fabric. The wool of course means it's fire resistant

you use macquarie textile sound screen fabric (wool) from what i saw of your place - its what everybody doing that kind of thing properly uses because it has the csiro tests attached to it so everybody is covered and it has the sound numbers calculated as well

[Linear]

Macquarie Textiles used to have an office in Leichhardt - that's where I bought all the fabric I used with my studio build. I don't think they do anymore, I had a look on their website.

It's perfect as it remains opaque no matter how much it's stretched, it's fire resistant and has something in it to resist/repel moths and other insects. It stretches nicely over wooden frames and if you do it right, it doesn't sag, wrinkle or have a noticeable pattern (or grain?).

It's well worth the extra money IMHO.

Chris

[Damien]

the blow through it thing is called "Flow Resistivity"...

[catalyst]

The maquarie fabrics stuff is good. Sometimes they sell end of run stuff @ 50% discount.

I've also used RIM fabrics in melb.
Great to deal with big variety of in-expensive fabrics.
100% poly thou.

Can't stand the smell of calico myself.

Make sure it's fire rated at least.

Cheers

[Chris H]

the blow through it thing is called "Flow Resistivity"...

Flow Resistivity"...

.......sort of how some engineer/ producers treat the recording process.

[rob]

.......sort of how some engineer/ producers treat the recording process.

and thus the new badge on my home page .... http://proharmonic.com/

[Chris H]

I want one of them for my boat!