Commercial Acoustics was contracted to manufacture custom acoustic panels, baffles, and clouds for a School Performance Theater in Clearwater, Florida. The school theater was being renovated to provide a state-of-the-art performance capability as well as aesthetic acoustical finishes to match the high-level finishes in the space.
Theater Acoustics
Theaters are unique due to the wide range of target reverberations that may be required. While restaurants may differ between 0.7-1.1 seconds of reverberation due to the intimate environment, theaters have a much broader range depending on types of performances and seating capacity. Also, similar to church acoustics, there a number of other factors to consider such as whether speech or music is the primary purpose of the space: the direction of the stage, ensuring there are no seats outside of the vocal direction of the performance (located in the “shadow” of the discussion), as well as resonance and clarity properties .
By providing a sloped floor, the audience is able to maintain direct line-of-sight of the stage, making it much easier to understand the performance. Depending if the rows are staggered or in-line, the slope of the floor must change. Ultimately, by using Ray Diagrams and other acoustic assessment tools, you can determine the ideal acoustic treatment for a given volume and application.
See Similar Church Acoustical Design Criteria
Acoustic Treatment for St. Paul’s School Theater
Several of the acoustic panels exceeded standard sizes to 4’x10′, and were wood framed to maintain tight tolerances. Guilford of Maine acoustic fabric was used to wrap the panels, and maintain the NRC specifications of the architect.
Read: Theater Acoustics and Other Absorption Case Studies
Acoustic Baffles and Clouds were hung along the ceiling, to provide acoustic treatment on all surfaces, and reduce the corresponding reverberation time significantly. In the end, 32 acoustic panels, baffles, and clouds were custom-manufactured and delivered in a 4-week span to maintain the Theater Acoustics reverb levels. Often time target reverberation times differ greatly depending on Theater uses, and especially whether they integrate reinforced sound systems. By implementing the coordinated acoustic treatment, performances may now go on without any acoustic concerns and echo issues.
