Sonex™ acoustical foam panels keep broadcast facilities at WSS Media acoustically sound.

When acoustic products work well, no one comments or complains about them. That’s how Steve Levens, director of engineering at Worldwide Shopping Source (WSS) Media in Minneapolis, knows the Sonex Classic Colortec foam panels that he installed are working. “No news is goods news when it comes to acoustics in a broadcast studio”, says Levens.

WSS Media is a live television home shopping network, in conjunction with an extensive Internet shopping site. WSS broadcasts live 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on the Internet and cable broadcasts. WSS Media moved into their new facility in February of 2005. The facilities were existing construction and the space had not been acoustically treated for broadcast. The challenge here was to improve the live /end dead end characteristics of each of the various rooms while staying on a budget.

“My goal was to reduce reverberation to an unnoticeable level, I had used Sonex acoustical foam previously in broadcast facilities and had been happy with it”, says Levens. Knowing that they needed a Class A fire rated foam that they could install themselves they contacted Acoustical Solutions, Inc. (http://www.acousticalsolutions.com) to discuss their options. Acoustical Solutions recommended the Sonex Classic Colortec, because it meet their desired acoustical rating, desired fire ratings and was available in the desired color, charcoal.

The WSS studios include a modern, sleek set with wood floors and painted CMU block walls. The Sonex Classic Colortec acoustical foam panels were placed behind the scenes to absorb reflected sound as well as background noise emanating from equipment and people around the set. The main problem was that the sound reverberating off all of these hard surfaces in the main control room and audio control rooms, combined with the buzzing from equipment, challenged the technician’s concentration.

Treatment of these spaces with the Sonex acoustical foam, resulted in less slap back echo, reduced reverberation and near field reflections for greater focus during live feeds. Levens added, “After the Sonex product was installed in WSS Media broadcast facilities, we noticed a huge improvement. Going live around the world, we wanted everything to sound just right.”

The Sonex acoustical foam is available in natural, painted, hypalon or colortec finishes. The advantage of using the colortec finish is that the foam is class A fire rated and the charcoal or light grey color is actually dyed throughout the entire thickness of the foam panel, creating a consistent look even when the panels are cut to fit around obstacles.

Acoustical Solutions offers a complete line of soundproofng and noise control products. For further information please visit us at http://www.acousticalsolutions.com or call us at 1-800-782-5742.