It's true that acoustic treatment is not necessary for a restaurant, café or bar.
Nor is lighting, furniture or music… but having them is a damn sight more pleasant for your customers, and they're all more effective when considered during design.
You've been there.
Great spot, great food, great company, but you couldn't wait to get the shit out of there for concern that your ears were about to explode.
There's no shortage of hospitality venues like this on the Sunshine Coast, and it's a total bummer. Venues that would otherwise be epic are reduced to venues you have to endure.
Anyone with sensitive hearing, or that is hard of hearing, is going to dread returning which is not great when you're trying to retain customers in a competitive market.
What's all that racket?
Every hospitality venue has fridges and loud patrons and music and extraction fans and coffee grinders and clumsy staff and blah, but generally speaking, the volume of these noise sources isn't the problem - it's what happens to the sound after it's made that crumbles the cookie.
Having a lively, noisy venue isn't a bad thing, but the noises need to work together at an even volume, with no particular frequencies spiking and putting your customers on edge.
In order for the sounds in your venue to create atmosphere it's pretty likely you'll need to acoustically treat your space.
Oh, and no, adding some rugs and cushions isn't going to cut it.
It's worth me pointing out the difference between sound proofing and acoustic treatment.
Sound proofing stops sound from leaving the space, and makes for happy neighbours.
Acoustic treatment makes the sound within the space sound better, and makes for happy patrons.
Soundproofing is a thing, and yeah, there's some overlap - but that's another post.
Today you're learning about acoustic treatment, so pipe down and listen up.
Why do some spaces sound worse than others?
Hang with me as I grossly simplify some basic wave principles…
Sound waves travel within a medium, air in this case.
Vocal chords, motors, speakers and dropped cutlery vibrate causing the air around them to vibrate, causing your eardrum to vibrate, causing magical brain things inside your head that result in you perceiving sound.
Sound waves reflect well off flat, hard, dense things (like a concrete wall), are absorbed by soft, less dense things (like a mattress), and are diffused by irregular surfaced things (like a pile of rubble).
We still good?
Right - picture a toy boat in the middle of a pond.
Now picture a wave passing the boat, then hitting a solid wall - It will rock the boat, bounce back at a similar height in a similar shape and then rock the boat for a second time.
Now picture that same wave passing the boat and colliding with reeds and grasses and rocks. It's going to rock the boat, shake the reeds and grasses (absorbing some of the wave's energy) then hit the rocks to come back much smaller and all wobbly-looking (after being diffused by the uneven surfaces of the rocks) and gently wobble the boat.
The wave is the sound in your space, the boat is your customer's ear, the wall is a wall and the reeds and rocks are the acoustic treatment.
You don't want to keep rocking the boat now, do you?
I'll leave the analogy there - just note that it was a really good one.
Correctly specified and installed acoustic treatment doesn’t simply absorb all the sound.
It will absorb and diffuse problematic frequencies to achieve a good balance between too live, and too lifeless.
The geometry of the space also has an impact, but it's probably best not to get into that today.
For now keep this mind, Captain Minimalism; If your space is made up of hard, smooth surfaces, sound will be reflected until it escapes or is absorbed.
This is known as a 'live' space and this sucks unless you're making a reverb chamber.
How is treatment designed and installed?
When budget permits, the best option is for your designer to work with an acoustic engineer on customised solutions.
The engineer will acoustically test the space with a heap of very unpleasant sound bursts to establish problematic frequencies in each of the areas. To lessen consultant costs, these tests should be coupled with the sound readings needed for Liquor Licensing.
The engineer will then specify commercially available systems that can be integrated into the design.
Commercial products are often unattractive, but a good designer will be able to integrate them so they don't stick out, or design custom systems that become a feature.
The images below show a system I designed where double thickness acoustic batts were retained by black fabric and covered by spaced timber battens. Using the walls within this space as the primary location for treatment meant that we could retain the original, newly exposed plasterboard ceiling with very little reworking. As this system was clearly documented, it was priced and installed by the builder, requiring no specialty trades.
Spot the acoustic treatment…
Just so you know, I made those 'light sabre' pendants myself.
If your budget is tight, select an interior designer with experience in acoustic treatment. Though not as detailed as an engineer, they will have a good idea of the amount of treatment that is required.
Suppliers and installers of acoustic treatments will also be able to specify systems, but make sure they are involved early, and don't order products until you've spoken to your designer.
This option is far more likely to have a negative impact on the overall aesthetic of the space.
It is critical that the system works in with electrical, HVAC and joinery installations.
I can't overstate this - Acoustic treatment should be considered as part of the design - not as a patchy, expensive response to complaints from patrons.
My theory on conversation - a side note
I'm not going to pretend I have any understanding of the psychology behind this, but I've been a human for the majority of my life and have made an observation or two about a thing or two.
My theory…
Candid conversation is the backbone of a great night out with friends, until the dancefloor urge kicks in - then communication gets all pre-verbal.
Candid conversation won't happen if you think that neighbouring tables can clearly hear your every word.
You subconsciously know that if you can hear what patrons at another table are saying, they too can hear you, ergo, when the space is too live, you're not relaxing into your conversation nor your company.
Ambient sounds should be heard - it's part of the eating out experience. But to create good ambience, those sounds should not be crystal clear, they should not be louder than your patron's preferred conversation volume, and they should certainly not bounce around the room until they finally are absorbed into the only absorptive medium on hand… your patron's bleeding eardrums.
Conclusion
Here's the takeaway…
If you're planning a fit-out and your designer or fit-out consultant isn't considering acoustics, ask them why not.
Acoustic treatment should be detailed during the design phase so the solution is embedded within the greater fit-out design, working in with all other design elements.
You don't want to be adding a heap of panels after completion - they're going to cost more, do less and look shitty.
Adios.
Navigate the links below for more blog posts related to design and construction, or email me if you're old school and prefer the personal touch.