by ABD Engineering and Design | Acoustics
Blocking sound is often analogized to plugging the holes in a leaky bucket. If you plug up all the bucket holes except one, the bucket is still going to drain. In acoustics, an outstanding partition design will not adequately block sound if holes and weak spots exist...
by ABD Engineering and Design | Noise and Vibration
It is common belief that a series of elbows near an air handling unit (AHU) can accomplish the same insertion loss as a manufactured duct sound attenuator. It's true that elbows are less expensive than sound attenuators, but what acoustical performance is really...
by ABD Engineering and Design | Audiovisual
Perhaps the toughest and most critical element of designing AVL systems for auditoriums is proper coordination with all the other teams. As audio-visual and theatrical lighting designers, we find ourselves being selected to join teams all throughout the process, from...
by ABD Engineering and Design | Audiovisual
This past week, as we took acoustical measurements at the Calvin College Fine Arts Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a music teacher poked her head into the auditorium and asked if aliens had landed. "Well, not exactly", I said. But I admitted that it did look and...
by ABD Engineering and Design | Acoustics
It seems like everyone is talking about decibels these days: "5 dB of this" and "3 dB of that." As acoustical consultants, we hear people using these metrics and often wonder to ourselves, "Do they really know what a decibel is?" Occasionally, someone is brave enough...
