Best fabric for Acoustic Panels

[perplex]

Hey I know this thread has been done many times, but Im in a pretty cool situation.

My mom owns a fabric shop with thousands of rolls of different types of fabric. So I basically have any type of fabric at my disposal.

Other than the Burlap and Muslin stuff, I was wondering, is Upholstery ok for panels? (fabric usually covering couches)..

Or even better, would headliner be ok? (the stuff on the ceiling of your car -- it has a thin layer of foam underneath it) -- I wonder if that would help even more with absorbing.

What about Vinyl? Is that too hard for a fabric?

If anyone could help me out with this, I would appreciate it greatly.

[Jens Eklund]

Originally Posted by perplex

Hey I know this thread has been done many times, but Im in a pretty cool situation.

My mom owns a fabric shop with thousands of rolls of different types of fabric. So I basically have any type of fabric at my disposal.

Other than the Burlap and Muslin stuff, I was wondering, is Upholstery ok for panels? (fabric usually covering couches)..

Or even better, would headliner be ok? (the stuff on the ceiling of your car -- it has a thin layer of foam underneath it) -- I wonder if that would help even more with absorbing.

What about Vinyl? Is that too hard for a fabric?

If anyone could help me out with this, I would appreciate it greatly.

If panels used at first reflection points, the fabric should offer little (none preferably) resistance if you try and breath through it (low flow resistivity).

If other panels, it depends what you want to achieve. The above makes sure that the highs are not reflected but often, one wants to minimize the absorption at higher frequencies to avoid a dead sounding room with uneven decay times.

[Radioking]

The Foam backed fabric is useful as you can glue it with spray adhesive to different types of hard surfaces. For example it can cover otherwise ugly plasterboard joints. Also any fabric used in a studio environment probably needs to be fire resistant (******ant not allowed ). Sounds like a good resource though.

Andy

[perplex]

awesome, thanks guys. I think i will go with the headliner since it has both qualities you guys speak of.

[Derek L]

If fire resistance is not a need for you, I would suggest speaker grill cloth. It looks great, and obviously designed to be acoustically transparent.

[MattBullen]

Altimately and without limits on budget there are 2 manufacturers fabric I would consider... both of these fabrics have been used by specialist acoustic wall panel manufacturers.

Texona
Gabriel Europost

If your mum owns a fabric shop she may know of them - they have excellent 'breathable' qualities allowing sound to transfer through to the absorbing core (foam / glasswool etc).

[johndykstra]

Hi Matt.

Can you elaborate on your acousticel thin wall isolating system? It seems to provide 48db of airbourne loss, is that including the 4" thick brick wall? What is the loss via mechanical transmission? Any lab test data?

[SAC]

There is NO need to seek out designer labels for panel materials nor to pay exorbitant prices that pay for the glossy brochures; although I personally advocate using a reduced flammability rated material.

What is rather amazing is that few (if any) "acoustical" fabric manufacturers have any useful specs made available regarding their materials relative to their use with acoustics.

One might think that for all of the claims of suitability that are made, that such measurements would be available.

And if one is going to suggest this stuff, it would be nice, in light of full disclosure, to identify oneself as a commercial product rep for such products that are being recommended. - as has been the nature of every post thus far.

[Sebg]

What is rather amazing is that few (if any) "acoustical" fabric manufacturers have any useful specs made available regarding their materials relative to their use with acoustics.

One might think that for all of the claims of suitability that are made, that such measurements would be available.

In Australia, Frontrunner fabric has often been used as "acoustically transparent". However, when I asked the manufacturer for flow resistivity test data to comply with a HK project specification, there was none available.

I also tried Guilford of Maine and eventually after much persistence obtained a test result for air permeability which appears to be relevant. Don't have it to hand atm but will post later after I have dug it out.

One would think that "acoustic fabric" manufacturers would have such data ready to hand...

[KNKKNK]

This list of GOM materials appears to be several years old, so some of the styles have been discontinued and some newer lines are not included, however it lists many of the current styles.
http://www.bobgolds.com/GOM%20Fabric...er%20Cloth.pdf

[MattBullen]

Originally Posted by johndykstra

Hi Matt.

Can you elaborate on your acousticel thin wall isolating system? It seems to provide 48db of airbourne loss, is that including the 4" thick brick wall? What is the loss via mechanical transmission? Any lab test data?

Hi John,

This is not including the brick wall. Using this system you will get a Sound insulation value of 48dB DnT,W+Ctr on a single skin brick wall which is approx. an 87% reduction in sound transmission. This has been lab tested too.

Regards,

Matt B
Nationwide Interior Acoustic Specialists - ReSpace Acoustics Ltd

[avare]

Originally Posted by MattBullen

Hi John,

This is not including the brick wall. [FONT=TTE1F88F90t00][SIZE=2][FONT=TTE1F88F90t00][SIZE=2]Using this system you will get a Sound insulation value of 48dB DnT,W+Ctr on a single skin brick wall which is approx. an 87% reduction in sound transmission. This has been lab tested too

Meant in desirous of good communication, when discussing noise reduction dB or metrics based on dB are used, not percentages.

Similarly, derived metrics from dB ARE NOT expessed as dB. They are expressed just as that metric. For example STC 48. With STC standing for Sound Isolation Classification, the meaning becomes clear.

Andre

[sys40198]

Hey,
I'm a real noob at all this, but I'm going to attempt to do some acoustic treatment and am now tryin to decide on fabrics for my broadband panel absorbers and bass traps. I keep reading things like to use fabrics with little or no resistance. I guess my question is, how little resistance is a little.

Ideally, I'd like to find a fabric that looks nice, with some prints on it. Something like the one below. The thing is the fabrics like this are 100% cotton, and I can blow through them, just not as easily as the cloth you find on speakers. I mean if I wrapped the material around my face, I wouldn't suffocate for sure.

If i used this fabric on my absorbers @ first reflection, would I be ok? I probably wont use the same fabric for the wall pannels and bass traps. Obviously the less resistance the better, but will it make a big difference. Id probably be willing to sacrifice some minor absorbtion performance (I'm not necessarily going for ultimate sonic perfection) for increased aesthetics. Just kinda wondering how big of a deal fabric choice is when building these absorbers.
Reverberations and ringing seem to be my biggest problems btw.

[NOONWITCH]

Hi guys, please forgive me for just jumping into the discussion, this is the only place on the web that I know I can trust for good objective advice and feedback. I'm converting my apartment into a studio, it started off as a project (God I'm beginning to hate that word) that was modest, but I've ended up making it into a much bigger and better job. I'm an engineer, not the sound kind, the other kind, so I researched acoustic treatment and materials, and ended up constructing my own panels, wooden frames, twenty of 'em, with compressed rockwool slabs, the new kind, four times as insulating as normal rockwool, I've just been given some really cool fabric, I'm styling my control room with a glam rock seventies look, the fabric is lycra with holographic sequins, the sequins are not the authentic type, just similar in size, and they look fantastic, but I'm worried as to whether they are suitable for covering acoustic panels. I do have alternative fabrics, purple velvet with gold embroidered flowers on it, think waist coat for Hendrix and you won't be far out, being one of them. Can anyone tell me if I can use the sequined one, the panels are to completely cover the main wall of the room, which (the room) is five meters by four in size, this will enable me to monitor at decent levels without annoying my neighbors. I do intend to have a large free standing raking panel behind the monitors and desk etc. This will definitely not have sequins on it. Can anyone help with this question please. I will be most grateful for any input. Thanks in anticipation. Col. England. P.S. I have been able to record this music without any treatment of the room: KISS THE REVOLUTION | Free Music, Tour Dates, Photos, Videos

[MattBullen]

Also, search for Camira 'Lucia' fabric... hopefully a distributor where you are. Its cheap and acoustically performs well.

[Max Dread]

I have some samples of Camira's popular Cara range, along with some of the Lucia. I see that a lot of manufacturers of acoustic panels offer Lucia as an option.

But I must admit to being surprised by this.....

It's not an open weave in the way Cara is, and there is a whole load more resistance when the breath test is tried with it. It also has more sheen/less softness. I was and still am a touch skeptical... I loved the Lucia colour and texture and would love to use it (I'm still in the market for fabric), but was put off by these feelings.

Would therefore be interested to hear if anyone is using it or would similarly recommend it or be wary of it....