Acoustic Optimisation: A Checklist to Work Through Before You Commit

Most decisions about studio acoustics are made by ear in an empty room, and that is the wrong place to make them. Before you decide anything, record a few minutes of a presenter reading at the desk position, then listen back on headphones. You are checking for three things: a hollow, boxy tone, a ring after hard consonants, and the hum or hiss that sits underneath speech when nobody is talking.

Those three symptoms point to different causes. A boxy sound usually means reflections from nearby walls or a low ceiling. Ringing points to parallel hard surfaces. A constant noise floor usually comes from ventilation, lighting fittings or equipment racks rather than the room shape. Write down which of the three you hear, because the treatment for each is quite different, and paying to fix the wrong one is the commonest waste of money in this work.

• Record the same read at every presenter position
• Listen on closed headphones, not monitor speakers
• Note the noise floor with the studio running, not switched off

A studio is not one room with one problem. The floor needs controlled reflections so speech sounds natural. The gallery needs a quiet, accurate listening position for the director and sound supervisor. Talkback and intercom need to stay clear of the floor microphones, or the presenter will hear instructions bleeding into the programme.

Walk through each space during a rehearsal and make a short note of where sound crosses over. Common culprits are a gallery window with no proper seal, a door that is left ajar for cables, and a shared air duct carrying chatter from one room into the next. These leaks are often cheaper to close than to hide with absorbent material, and fixing them first means any treatment you buy afterwards has less to do.

• Check the gallery window seal and door gaps
• Trace shared ducts between floor and gallery
• Test talkback at normal level with floor mics live

If you bring in a consultant, agree beforehand what you will receive. A useful visit measures reverberation time at several positions, records the background noise level, and maps where sound is strongest and weakest across the room. It should end with a written summary you can read without a specialist, not a folder of graphs.

Ask whether the figures will be compared against a stated target for speech, and which target that is. Ask too whether measurements are taken with the studio's normal equipment running, since fans and power supplies change the result. A visit that only produces a quote for panels, with no readings behind it, tells you what someone wants to sell rather than what the room needs.

• Reverberation time at more than one position
• Background noise with equipment running
• A plain written summary of findings and priorities

Treatment is not a single product. Thick absorbent panels, fabric-wrapped wall sections, ceiling clouds, bass traps and heavy curtains all behave differently, and they cost differently. For a news studio with a fixed desk, a handful of well-placed panels behind and beside the camera positions may do most of the work. For a multi-set studio that is reconfigured every week, movable screens may suit better than permanent wall fixings.

Consider the camera too. Panels that look fine to the ear can appear in shot, clash with the set colours or throw back lighting. Fire rating matters as well, since studios are public-facing workplaces with strict requirements. Ask for the fire certification of any material before it is specified, and check that it can be cleaned and replaced without taking the room out of use for long.

• Fixed set or changing sets
• Panels visible in shot or kept out of frame
• Fire certification and ease of replacement

Autumn is a busy period for most live programmes, and a studio that cannot be used for several days is a real cost. Decide early which jobs need the room empty and which can be done between broadcasts. Sealing gaps and fitting wall panels can often be done in short sessions, while ceiling work and ventilation changes usually need longer closures.

Write the sequence down: measure first, close leaks second, add absorption third, then measure again. The second measurement is the one people skip, and it is the only way to know whether the work did what it was meant to. Agree who will carry it out and what result would count as acceptable before the first panel is fixed.

• Which work needs the studio empty
• A repeat measurement after treatment
• An agreed result before work begins

Set a figure for the first stage rather than for the whole ideal room. Acoustic work rewards doing the cheap, high-effect things first, and many studios find that two or three modest changes give most of the benefit. Keep a short list of further improvements that can wait, so that they are a planned second stage and not a vague wish.

Ask for any quotation in writing, with materials, fitting and measurement listed separately, and check what is not included, such as electrical work, ventilation changes or making good the walls afterwards. If a figure is hard to compare with another supplier's, ask them to break it down the same way. A clear list of inclusions makes the comparison honest and removes most of the surprises later.

• A fixed budget for stage one
• Quotation split into materials, fitting and measurement
• A short list of work that can safely wait