How to improve the acoustics in a club or pub

Room acoustics for Clubs and Pubs
In many entertainment venues, such as clubs and pubs, the acoustics is not what it should, or could, be. Poor acoustics in a club or pub can have more impact than you might think. With poor acoustics it’s almost impossible to have a normal conversation, music sounds incredibly loud and shrill, and the atmosphere is not pleasant to be in. Bad acoustics is the result of sound that keeps bouncing from walls and ceiling, sound gets amplified and mixed, filling up the room and becomes noise. Improving acoustics doesn't necessarily have to be very complicated and will benefit your venue instantly! Good acoustics in a club or pub means that music sound better, even at a lower volume. Good acoustics in club or pub also means that a conversation is possible without having to raise your voice. 

Akotherm Edge mounted to a ceiling to improve the acoustics

How to improve the acoustics in a club or pub?
Most venues have plenty of free space available on the ceiling to mount acoustic panels, such as Akotherm Edge in the picture above. This is the best spot to start with mounting acoustic panels, because depending on the size of the space, the amount of people and what already is present in the club or pub, you need quite a lot of acoustic panels. For clubs where (live)music is a selling point we advise to cover the ceiling for at least 40% with a product between 25 and 40 mm thick. In places such as restaurant or lunch room this amount of acoustic panels might be somewhere around 60%. People want to engage in to conversations so there is a difference in the use of the space and therefore the acoustic properties of the space.

Acoustic panels to improve club and pub acoustics
In pubs and clubs poor acoustics is mainly caused by medium and high frequencies. This makes selecting a product quite easy, since products with a thickness from 25 mm and up have sufficient absorbing properties to absorb these frequencies, provided that you install enough square metres of acoustic panels.

However, it remains true that thicker products absorb better, especially for medium and low frequencies. All of our products are easy to install with our fast-holding glue Stauf Extreme Tack. Mount absorbing panels throughout your venue so that the improvement of the acoustics is noticeable in the whole space. This is our top 5 in order of recommendation:

• Akotherm SF
  Firm smooth polyester wool panel available in black and white. Akotherm SF has excellent sound absorbing properties, and isn't that noticeable is when a ceiling has about the same colour. We do not recommend to cut these  panels to size, because of the strength of the material. Akotherm is ideal to mount to ceiling as well as to walls.
• Flamex Edge
  Melamine foam panel containing an angled faceted edge. Easy to process without special tools. Available in two sizes, colours white and grey. This particular acoustic foam, with open cell structure, has excellent absorption values in the mid- and high frequency range, ideal for speech and music.
• Akotherm Basic D40 
  Polyester wool panel containing excellent absorption values. This product is similar to the Akotherm Edge, except for the faceted edge. The front of the panel has a slight wavy texture. This Akotherm variant is perfect for budget projects!
• Akotherm Edge  
  Polyester acoustic panel with beveled edges. Akotherm Edge is has a slightly visible wavy texture on one side. If your budget is limited, you can achieve excellent results with this product. Competitively priced and yet aesthetically pleasing.
• Flamex Basic 
  A basic flat sheet sound absorbing product. Effective, easy to process, good balance between price, quality and properties. Best used to a ceiling.

Questions about room acoustics?
Do you have questions about acoustics or would you like product samples? Just send us an email with some photo’s of your venue, we are happy to help you!