SONEX PANELS REDUCE REVERBERATION IN BROADCASTING FACILITY
SONEX® PANELS KEEP BROADCAST FACILITIES AT WSS MEDIA HOME SHOPPING NETWORK ACOUSTICALLY SOUND
MINNEAPOLIS — When acoustic products work well, no one comments about them. That’s how Steve Levens, director of engineering at Worldwide Shopping Source (WSS) Media in Minneapolis, knows the SONEXclassic™ colortec™ Panels from pinta Architectural Products are performing as planned.
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“No news is good
news when it comes to acoustics in a
broadcast studio,” says Levens.
WSS Media is a live television home shopping network, in conjunction with an extensive Internet shopping site (www.shoppingsource.com). WSS broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 365 days per year on the Internet and cable television broadcasts. The Minneapolis-based company began broadcasting in February 2005, offering products from around the world. |
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Levens and his crew installed 1,400 square feet of SONEXclassic colortec Panels in the WSS Media studio, control rooms and audio voiceover booth. The WSS Media facilities were existing construction and had not been acoustically treated. This created the challenge of improving the live end/dead end acoustical characteristics of each of the various rooms.
The studio includes a modern, sleek set with wood floors and podium. Off-camera the studio features cement-block floor and walls. SONEX Panels, placed behind-the-scenes, absorb reflected sound as well as background noise emanating from equipment and people.
Sound reverberating off hard surfaces — tile floors, sheetrock walls and metal equipment stands — in the main control and audio control rooms, combined with buzzing from equipment, challenged technicians’ concentration. Treatment of these spaces with SONEX products resulted in less slap echo and near-field reflections and greater focus during live feeds.
The small audio voiceover booth has parallel sheetrock surfaces on the walls and ceiling with a carpet floor, which are not conducive to optimal acoustics for recording. Treatment with SONEX products created a proper surrounding for taping clarity.
“My goal was to reduce reverberation to an unnoticeable level,” says Levens. “I had used SONEX previously in broadcast facilities and been happy with it. After the SONEX product was installed in WSS Media broadcast facilities, we noticed a huge improvement. Going live with broadcasts around the world, we wanted everything to sound just right.”
SONEXclassic Panels are available in natural, painted or colortec finishes. The advantage of colortec finish is that the panels are dyed throughout the entire thickness of the foam panels, creating a consistent look even when pieces are cut to fit around obstructions. pinta now offers SONEXclassic colortec Panels in both charcoal and light grey.
SONEXclassic Panels feature a modified anechoic wedge design for the most cost-effective sound control with Noise Reductions Coefficients (NRCs) ranging from 0.75 to 0.80. The unique geometric shape of the surface pattern on the panels provides optimum deflection of sound waves, making them an ideal choice for recording and broadcast studios. The panels also can be used in listening rooms, restaurants, production areas and other locations in which sound absorption is important.
SONEX Panels are made from Class 1 fire-rated willtec®, which meets ASTM E-84 standards for flammability and smoke density. SONEX Panels can be easily mounted to any wall or ceiling surface with pinta’s AcouSTIC™ water-based adhesive.
To speak with a Memtech Acoustical consultant about SONEX Panels, contact Memtech Acoustical
