What Acoustic Optimisation Costs and What Moves the Price

Every acoustic job we quote begins with measurement, because the figure depends on what the room is doing, not on what it looks like. A site visit with a calibrated microphone and a test signal tells us how long sound lingers, where low frequencies pile up and which surfaces throw reflections back at the presenter. That visit is priced on its own, so a client can read the findings and decide whether to go further.

For a single small studio the measurement usually takes part of a day, with a short written summary afterwards. A larger studio, a stage or a festival tent takes longer, since the readings have to be repeated at several positions and sometimes at different times, with and without an audience present. The more positions and conditions we need to cover, the more the first line of the quotation grows.

Volume is the first thing that moves the price. A larger room needs more treated surface to bring reverberation down to a level speech can live with, and more surface means more material and more hours on site. Shape matters almost as much. Parallel hard walls, a high ceiling or a glazed side all create problems that a plain box with soft finishes does not.

We have seen two rooms of similar floor area come out at very different figures because one had a low, even ceiling and the other a vaulted roof with exposed brick. Neither is wrong for television, but the second asks for more careful placement and usually for heavier treatment overhead. When you send us a plan or a few photographs with the dimensions, we can give a realistic range before any visit takes place.

Materials are the largest visible part of the bill, and they vary a great deal. Mineral wool panels in fabric frames, bass traps for the corners, diffusers on the rear wall and heavy curtains each do a different job and cost differently. A news desk in a quiet building may need little more than absorption behind the camera positions, while a studio beside a busy road needs more thought about isolation.

We specify only what the measurements justify and list each item so you can see what it is for. Where a cheaper product would do the same work, we say so. Where a cheaper product would leave a problem in place, we say that too, and explain what the presenter and the audience would hear as a result.

• Absorption panels for mid and high frequencies
• Bass traps for corners and wall junctions
• Diffusion where a room would otherwise sound dead
• Door seals and window treatment for outside noise

Installation is priced by the time the crew spends on site, and that time is shaped by access. A ground-floor studio with a loading door is quick to fit out. A room up two flights of stairs, or one that can only be entered at weekends, adds hours and sometimes a second visit. Working around a live schedule, with fitting done between programmes or overnight, also changes the figure.

Power, rigging points and fire requirements come into it as well. Panels fixed to a ceiling need safe anchor points, and some venues require certified materials. We ask about these early, because they are easier to plan than to discover on the day. A venue that can clear the room for a clean run of work will usually pay less than one that needs us to work in short windows.

A quotation for acoustic work covers measurement, specified treatment, delivery and fitting, and a final check against the original readings. It does not cover building work such as new walls, ceilings or ventilation changes, and it does not cover equipment like microphones or monitors, which belong to the integration side of our work. Keeping these separate lets you compare like with like.

Revisions after fitting are a fair question. If the final readings show the room has not reached the agreed target, we return and adjust at no further charge for the work in scope. If the brief changes midway, for instance a desk moved to the other end of the studio, that is a new measurement and we price it as one, in writing, before we begin.

The quickest route to a sound estimate is to tell us what the room is used for, how many people speak in it, and what currently goes wrong. Complaints such as echo on guests, hum from a neighbouring unit or voices that sound thin on air point us to the right readings. Dimensions, photographs and any earlier survey help us narrow the range before a visit.

We then send a written quotation that separates measurement, materials, fitting and any extras, with the assumptions behind each line. Payment follows our standard terms: an enquiry through the contact page, a written quotation, then an invoice paid by bank transfer. If you decide to stop after the measurement stage, you keep the report and owe nothing further.