Drop Ceiling Tile Question

[WhiteStrat]

I'm going to putting a drop ceiling in what will be my studio. Rather than using panels for clouds in critical areas, my entire ceiling will be a broadband/bass trap cloud, as I have the ability to stuff it with nearly 2 ft. of insulation.

My question is this: Does anyone know of a particular ceiling tile that will work most effectively with the insulation above it? My main concern is obviously that the sound pass through (like it does the cloth on my acoustic panels) and not just reflect back into the room?

Thanks for your time and consideration!

 

[mshilarious]

The NRC is a pretty good indication of how reflective the tile will be at midrange frequencies. Bass freqs are gonna go through 'em to your insulation above. You can get tile that are basically rigid fiberglass, or cut the fiberglass yourself. I used some 0.65 NRC tile for my cloud, it looks good too.

 

[WhiteStrat]

The NRC is a pretty good indication of how reflective the tile will be at midrange frequencies. Bass freqs are gonna go through 'em to your insulation above. You can get tile that are basically rigid fiberglass, or cut the fiberglass yourself. I used some 0.65 NRC tile for my cloud, it looks good too.

Thank you sir!

 

[bpape]

If you want to extend the response, fill the cavity above the drop ceiling with insualtion - around the perimeter at a minimum. This will give you more broadband bass control without taking up a lot of floor space.

Bryan

 

[WhiteStrat]

If you want to extend the response, fill the cavity above the drop ceiling with insualtion - around the perimeter at a minimum. This will give you more broadband bass control without taking up a lot of floor space.

Bryan

Hey Bryan! Don't know if you recall, but I'm the "local" you helped with some room design. Still loving the panels--even if the room's not built around 'em yet.

I guess you missed it in my original post, but the plan is to fill the cavity with insulation. So I'm just concerned about getting a tile that lets the sound pass through so the insulation can do it's job.

Thanks for weighing in!

Bob

 

[bpape]

Hi Bob.

Sorry about that - I did miss it (though not sure how )

Bass will go through most anything that doesn't have a ton of mass to it. It's more a matter of how much upper mid/high frequency absorbtion you want the ceiling to also do.

Bryan

 

[Dani Pace]

Use tiles with a more porous surface finish. Some of the vinyl coated or smooth finishes may add to reflection issues. You can remove the finish from the panels, put two together, cover with cloth then hang on the walls for extra absorbtion panels, this works almost as well as panels made from 703 rigid for most high frequencies.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Bass will go through most anything that doesn't have a ton of mass to it. It's more a matter of how much upper mid/high frequency absorbtion you want the ceiling to also do.

You can remove the finish from the panels, put two together, cover with cloth

Remove the vinyl from half the tiles and cover them with fabric. Alternate these fabric covered tiles with the vinyle tiles(think checkerboard). This will give you not only added absorption due to the "edge effect", but a bit of cieling diffusion to boot. Be sure to spray the fabric tiles with a fire retardant though.
In fact, you could use 1/4" fabric covered ply for half the tiles, which would reflect even better than the vinyl covered fiberglass tiles(due to mass), which should provide a more pronounced "diffusion"....although my disclaimer is in full force here. However, tests have confirmed, that using patches of absorption placed on a boundary in checkerboard fashion not only increase the absorption compared to the same amount of material used in one piece, it provides diffusion as well. The increased absorption is due to diffraction effects. Although, these tests were made with absorption panels placed against a boundary(floor), and the panel faces were not in the same plane as the boundary, it would appear that what I suggest is a similar situation. The difference is, the plywood tiles and absorption tiles are in the same plane. And the absorption "areas" actually become 2 feet thick. I can't prove it is the same situation, but it would appear so. Some people claim the additional absorption is due to more edge "area being exposed, and some people claim tests have proved this is false. If it IS false, then my hypothisis would be CORRECT. Maybe Ethan can chime in on this. as HE is one of the opponents in this long winded argu....er...debate.

this works almost as well as panels made from 703 rigid for most high frequencies.

Most "rigid fiberglass" acoustical ceiling tiles ARE 703. Most are about 5/8" thick. See the pic below, as I used some of these tiles as a scaled representation of 4" thick 703 in a model.

Even used it to model a "Superchunk"

fitZ

 

[WhiteStrat]

Rick--thanks for the great info!

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

You're welcome. Is this room a control room, studio(live room), or combination?
fitZ

 

[WhiteStrat]

You're welcome. Is this room a control room, studio(live room), or combination?
fitZ

Combination. It's about 16' by 26' and will have a fairly large workstation/mixing desk set so that I'm monitoring at 38% percent away from the short wall. There'll be bass traps in all 4 corners, broadband & bass traps on the walls. and diffusers mixed in on one end to keep that area sounding more "alive."