Before You Commit to Studio Acoustic Treatment: A Checklist

Before anyone talks about foam, panels or bass traps, the first item on the list is a record of how the room behaves today. Reverberation, background noise and flutter between parallel walls can all be measured, and a measurement turns a vague complaint into something specific. Without one, a team tends to buy treatment for a problem it only suspects.

Callum Reid, our acoustics engineer, usually begins with a walk through the room and a few test sounds, then follows with proper measurements at the positions where presenters and guests actually sit. Those figures become the baseline against which any treatment is judged afterwards.

If you cannot arrange measurements yet, at least record a few minutes of a rehearsal on the same microphones you use on air. Listening back on headphones often reveals echo, hum and room tone that nobody noticed in the moment.

Keep these recordings. They are useful when you compare quotations, because every supplier can be asked to explain what they would change and by how much.

• Record a rehearsal on your normal microphones
• Note which seats sound worst
• Keep the recordings for later comparison

A news desk with one presenter has different needs from a three-person interview set or a live panel with an audience. Clear speech on air can mean several things: a dry, close sound for a single voice, or enough natural warmth that a conversation does not feel clinical. Agree this in plain words before treatment is specified.

It also helps to say who will judge the result. Sound supervisors, presenters and the people who watch the output at home each hear the room differently, and treatment that satisfies one group can disappoint another.

Write down the formats you run and how often. A room used daily for short bulletins can accept a tighter, more heavily treated sound than one that also hosts occasional live music or a studio audience.

This short statement of purpose becomes the brief for the whole job, and it keeps later decisions from drifting towards whatever looks neat on the wall.

Treatment can only improve the room itself. If a ventilation unit, a lift motor or traffic from the street is reaching the microphones, panels on the wall will not remove it. Part of the checklist is to identify these sources and decide whether they belong to the acoustic job or to the building.

Air handling is the most common culprit in studios we visit. It runs constantly, so it raises the noise floor under every programme. Ask whether it can be switched off or slowed during transmission, or whether the ducting needs attention.

Equipment in the studio itself matters too. Lighting fixtures, camera fans and monitors can all add a low hum that microphones pick up at close range.

Walk the room in silence for a minute with headphones on and a microphone live. Whatever you hear is what the audience hears, and it should be listed before any quotation is requested.

• Ventilation and air handling
• Lighting fixtures and dimmers
• Camera and monitor fans
• Traffic or neighbouring rooms

Acoustic treatment absorbs, diffuses or blocks sound, and each does a different job. Absorption tames echo inside the room. Diffusion scatters reflections so the space does not sound dead. Isolation, which keeps outside noise from getting in, usually involves construction work and is a separate and larger undertaking.

Be wary of any proposal that promises a transformation without saying which of these three it addresses. A modest set of well-placed absorbers can make a clear difference to a small interview set, while a room with serious noise leaking in needs a different conversation altogether.

Ask also about low frequencies. Thin panels do little below a certain pitch, and boomy male voices or a rumble from the building often need deeper, bulkier treatment in corners.

A good proposal explains what will improve, what will stay as it is, and what would need further work. If it only lists products, ask again.

A studio is a working picture as well as a sound space. Panels hung where a camera needs a clean background, or fabric that reflects badly under LED lighting, create new problems while solving old ones. This is why acoustic planning belongs alongside lighting and camera decisions rather than after them.

Priya Nair, who leads our lighting and camera work, often reviews the proposed positions with Callum before anything is fixed to a wall. Fixing points, cable routes and the sweep of a robotic camera all need to be considered together.

Think about what appears on screen. Treatment can be hidden behind scenery, built into set pieces or finished in colours that suit the look of the programme.

Also ask about access. Panels that block a patch bay, a fire exit or the route for moving set pieces will cause trouble long after the installation is finished.

• Camera sightlines and backgrounds
• Fixing points and cable routes
• Fire exits and access to equipment

Finally, decide how you will know the work has succeeded. The simplest method is to repeat the original measurements and the same rehearsal recording once treatment is in place, then compare. Numbers and ears should agree.

Name the people who will sign off. A presenter, a sound operator and whoever manages the budget do not always want the same thing, and settling this early avoids disagreement at handover.

Ask for the scope in writing: what will be measured, what will be installed, what is excluded and what happens if the result falls short of what was agreed. Our production manager role exists for exactly this kind of coordination, from first enquiry to handover.

Allow time as well. Rooms in daily use need a quiet day or an evening slot for installation, and rehearsal time afterwards to hear the difference properly.