Ensuring that the acoustics of your recording studio are on point is an important job for any business owner or independent artist. In a region as competitive as Nashville, you’ve likely put in a ton of work into ensuring that things sound great in your studio—don’t overlook the impact that flooring and ceilings can have on your audio.
Acoustic Ceilings for Recording Audio
There are many forms of recording studio acoustic panels on the market for musicians and content creators, but they aren’t all made equally. Acoustic ceiling panels are a great addition to any room where sound quality and noise control matter. These panels don’t make your room soundproof, but they do prevent echo and keep sound from passing through the ceiling and into other rooms.
Acoustic ceiling tiles for a recording studio are crucial for achieving clarity and fidelity in your recorded audio. Whether you’re doing spoken word recordings like podcasts or recording vocals for music, you need to prevent echo and cut out background noise. The less work you have to do in post (after the fact) to reduce background noise, the better. Acoustic panels absorb soundwaves, which keeps them from bouncing around the room. If you primarily record in a smaller sound booth, you have more freedom to select high-quality products even on a budget, since you won’t need to cover too much surface area.
Acoustic tiles are usually placed on a drop ceiling track, but can also be installed using other hardware and hung carefully to keep them out of your way if you don’t have much overhead clearance. Ultimately, the product you select for your recording studio depends on your specific needs and the overall acoustic quality of the room as a whole. It is important to note that installing acoustic ceiling tiles yourself is not an easy thing to get right. Since physics is at play, acoustic tiles need to be properly installed and placed correctly to ensure that they’re absorbing sound properly in a given space. That’s why it’s a good idea to work with a qualified contractor like Ozburn-Hessey.
How Flooring Affects Acoustics
While you’re likely already aware of how important your ceilings are in a recording studio, there’s another aspect of your room’s design that can help or hurt your audio quality: your floor. So what kind of flooring is best for a recording studio?
There is more than one flooring option that can work in a recording space, whether it’s for a commercial studio or a home sound booth. One popular choice for acoustics in any space is carpeting. Carpet fibers act as natural sound insulators, reducing echo and helping the acoustics of a room. Since recording spaces aren’t always full of furniture and wall decor, any material that helps absorb sound is key. This is especially true when recording spoken word, avoiding echoes and neutralizing roomtone. Bad flooring can significantly impact the audio quality of recordings.
Carpeting isn’t for everyone, and it may look out of place in your space. Thankfully, you have other options. Cork flooring can work in a recording studio because it’s also very absorbent. Since cork is dense and soft when compared to hardwood or laminate, it can greatly reduce echo and sound reverberation in a room. You might also consider options like rubber underlayment, which can be used under flooring like laminate or vinyl planks. Flooring like laminate, vinyl, and hardwoods have their places in recording studios as well.
Harder, sturdier floors can make for better live recordings, giving room tone that can provide an audio track more character. Fully removing echo can make recordings feel sterile and inorganic, which can be a detriment to a lot of music recording.
Ultimately, the type of flooring you may want to use in a recording studio does depend on what you’re using it for, so make sure to do your research, use your experiences, and look for insight from other studio owners.
Enhance Your Recordings With Ozburn-Hessey
No matter what flooring or acoustic ceiling you’re looking for in your recording space, it’s important to leave the installation work to the experts. At Ozburn-Hessey, we’ve got the experience you need for great acoustics in your recording studio, so let us know how we can help!