CategoryAV Tips and Tricks Archives - Audio Visual Bend Blog

Heard and not seen

June 8th, 2021
 
 
What AV systems can be hidden away.

Photo and Graphics by: Kate Couch with Canva

Written By: Kate Couch and Tony Sprando
 
Design over function is often an argued topic amongst the design community. We think that these things are in lieu of the other. That isn’t always the case. In many circumstances, the ability to get maximum function and purpose out of a system can in tandem blend in seamlessly with the design. Design with functionality is becoming more popular in the 21st century. With people living in less and less space, we need to maximize our design pieces so they can serve as both. Be that storage, organization, or just having a second purpose. This can go into the corporate office as well. It’s important to be able to maximize space when you don’t have that much and this is very plausible in most corporate workspaces. There’s also a lot of corporate workspaces that might need an AV system but the design is very important to their business. Any sort of waiting room or conference room that needs to look sleek and professional and represent the company can not have a bunch of wires and AV odds and ends sitting on a three-legged table in the corner. Visible AV systems aren’t always the most attractive option. So what is?
 
This is where AV systems are heard and not seen. There are certain things that you can install to make your AV systems tucked away or have them seamlessly blend in with your design. The first and most easy way to hide an AV system is to have it in a nearby closet. Having sort of a command center for your AV rack is an easy way to make your AV system accessible and keep it protected while it also being out of sight. But if you’re crunched on space there are other things you can do.
 
There are a couple of ideas when it comes to hiding audiovisual systems. It depends on what you have installed but for the most part, you can get low-profile speakers and microphones installed on the ceilings. People are less likely to look up so they’re out of the way while still serving their purpose.
When it comes to managing wires there is the molding that you can get that can be installed on the corners of a space. This molding similar to a baseboard can go vertically or horizontally on the ceilings, floor, or in between two walls. Inside the molding is a space for wires. This is an easy way to hide wires when you’re installing an audio-visual system after a house or office has been built. It’s important to keep in mind that you do want your AV system to be accessible for easy maintenance though. Make sure that just because you might not be able to see it that doesn’t mean you can’t get to it.
 
There are also lots of design pieces that are secretly AV systems. TVs that look like framed pictures have become very popular in recent years. AV has been easier to hide in furniture pieces. This can be numerous amount of things, couches, tv consoles, desks, and pictures on walls can all hold and hide cameras, wires, and other AV corporate or home needs.
 
The last option would be to have an AV system that is only displayed when in use. For example, having a remote control system where your tv retracts from a picture frame on the wall. Or a projector or camera comes out of the ceiling. Though this is a slightly more expensive option this is the most streamlined and user-friendly. It is also easier to implement than many believe. Putting equipment on retractable tracks has become popular and is more accessible.
 
Keep all these things in mind when trying to implement new AV equipment and systems in your home or corporate office and make sure to ask your local AV company like AV Bend if these are possible for your project!
 
*This article is Tony Sprando of AV Bends intellectual property. To use or reference this article please contact: Tony@avbend.com*
 
To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:
 
 
 
 
To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:
 
 
 
 

Where customers fall down

May 18th, 2021

Photo by: Kate Couch with Canva

Written By: Tony Sprando and Kate Couch 

 

What we believe and what we feel about a situation has strong ties. This usually circulates around the value we put on something. Like when you reach for that apple in the grocery store, you hesitate and hover for a moment to grab the one that looks the best… without knowing where it was grown, what care was taken to get it there, and how it was carefully or handled by the grocery clerk. You are putting a certain amount of trust in that purchase, oftentimes based on how you were treated at the door. You buy based on what you need, price, influencing of marketing and item placement, and personal assessment of the item. When you think about it we put a lot of thought into these things subconsciously.

 

When it comes to something much more expensive, there is a higher level of feeling and assumption involved… or not. Over the past 20 years, I’ve done many audiovisual jobs. But for as many jobs I’ve done I’ve also calculated twice as many bids. end as somebody who works delivering a service you notice a pattern when giving a bid. You will find that when you go out and you assess what client needs, finding them the right services for a fair price, for some people it’s never enough. Oftentimes no matter how much you try to give some a deal, or explain why something is costly they will not think it is cheap enough. 

 

Where customers “fall down” starts as a client drilling the service provider to get the price down possibly to please a boss or to make them feel better about the service. Another example is leaning into friends, family, or a church friend for a deal. We might do this because “in the name of making an eternal difference” may guilt them into giving you a good deal, or believing that God demands we are “frugal” and we can’t have nice things because “the humble will inherit the earth” … a bible verse that is so often taken out of context. 

 

Lastly, we can go wrong by blindly going with the lowest bid and trusting the provider that they know what they are doing, this would be coined as the belief in poverty theology. This is a trap many frugal people fall into. Unfortunately doing something cheap isn’t always doing something right. When you go with the cheapest option then find out that it’s not working properly after. I find that they patch the problems with their audiovisual system and suffer through it until… eventually calling out for help to rescue them from a subpar system installation. Unfortunately at this point, the price tag is usually much higher. It’s a well-known fact that it is easier to build something new than try to salvage or demo an existing audiovisual system.

 

In all my years of AV, I have seen a much higher success rate in investing in people and not worrying as much about the money. Set the profit you need to run a business, then stand tall as you hand over the bid or proposal… and if the customer does his or her due diligence then they will find an Audiovisual integrator that is highly spoken of and then just spends the money once. Though your job may cost a bit more than you may have thought, your actions will give the AV group confidence that they are not being squeezed. This will allow them to work freely, giving you a quality system you can stand up to with confidence.

All that being said this doesn’t mean a job can’t be cost-efficient. We always want to work with our clients to find a cost-efficient solution for them that gets their goals completed and that will last. Quality over quantity, vice-versa, is an age-old debate and each one has its time and place. But I will settle it for AV, when you build a quality AV system using a reliable service provider, you will be happy with results that will stand the test of time and meet your needs: the first time. 

 

*This article is Tony Sprando of AV Bends intellectual property. To use or reference this article please contact: Tony@avbend.com

 

To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonysprando/

 

https://www.ravepubs.com/author/tsprando/

 

www.tonythevguy.com 

 

To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-couch-a7318220a/

 

https://k8couch.wixsite.com/katecouch

 

Digital Marketing for your Business in 2021

May 4th, 2021

What is a digital marketing and how to take advantage of it? 

 

Written By: Kate Couch

 

Digital marketing is a form of online marketing, it usually circulates video and virtual marketing such as video advertisements or video placement on websites. It can also refer to virtual advertisements, gifs, and other animations. Digital marketing in the world of IOT and technology is very prevalent for businesses. In audiovisual we work to present digital marketing for clients and cater to clients who need screens and audio for digital marketing. But as a business, it’s also important to note that digital marketing is something that every business should consider integrating. 

 

There are four main types of digital marketing, pencil drawing animation, character animations, graphic animations, avatar animations. These are all displayed across the internet and other forms of virtual marketing. A lot of these are achieved through apps like Adobe Photoshop, Canva, Procreate, and more. It is graphic design geared towards marketing and oftentimes animated graphic design. But digital marketing can also be purely video and live actors as well. Digital marketing as a whole means how you can mark your product or service using the internet. How can you sell a product using audio-visual? With everyone using the internet 24/7 it’s an easy question. The hard one is: where and how? 

 

One of the main helpers of digital marketing and SEO is Google. Which has a lot of digital marketing plans. The nice thing about the internet of things (IOT) which we talked about in our last article is that it’s all about collecting data. With this data, you can see your customer bases and get their analytics. See what your customers need and what they’re using. You could use this in any form of audio-visual or small business. With this information, you can go even deeper into digital marketing. Once you understand what you need to mark it and who to, is developing digital advertising. 

 

With graphics design apps like Adobe or Canva, you can create ads. If you want to display video digital marketing you could use apps such as Vidivy, Lumen5, or Avairy which helps aid video marketing. You can then use local audiovisual companies (like AV Bend) help to display your video marketing or even help you create it. 

 

It’s important with digital marketing to develop a goal. After you identify what your customers need you can then identify what form of digital marketing you would like to use to reach these customers and why you want to reach them. Then you can come up with an action plan of how you’re going to reach them and what things you are going to do to reach them. It’s also important to identify why you are reaching these people. By using the data from IOT and other analytics like Google you can identify why you are doing this type of marketing to avoid wasting time or money. 

 

The most general form of digital marketing is Media. Media has is been an up-and-coming job title in recent years. Because we are always on our phones media and marketing through media can play a really huge role in your business. Making sure you’re connected to popular social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Reddit. Will help you market to a younger generation and keep your business streamlined for the future. Below are a few tips that you can follow to help keep up on social media.

  • Assign somebody from your team to take photos of projects before and after
  • Post frequently frequency reminds  customers that you’re around and that you have good communication
  • Join groups on social media to stay connected with people that are interested in areas of your business
  • Keep it clean and consistent. Consistency is important with social media to properly display your business format. Keep it clean by being picky with where you post making sure it’s only on relevant sites. 
  • Make sure to invest locally. You can do this through local papers or websites or blogs. When you establish your business as part of the community You build loyalty among it. Integrating locally is extremely important.

 

Digital marketing is going to become the only form of marketing in the future so the sooner you understand it and start to integrate it into your company the easier the transition will be. These last few years have been very technology-heavy, and the technological advancements that have been made even in the last year are insane. It’s important as a business owner and of clients of audio-visual to understand these changes and hop on the trends so our technology doesn’t start to run us; we run it. 

 

*This article is Tony Sprando of AV Bends intellectual property. To use or reference this article please contact: Tony@avbend.com

 

To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonysprando/

 

https://www.ravepubs.com/author/tsprando/

 

www.tonythevguy.com 

 

To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-couch-a7318220a/

 

https://k8couch.wixsite.com/katecouch

 

“Alexa clean out my desk”

April 6th, 2021

Image and graphic design by, Kate Couch and Canva

How will smart devices be used in the corporate world in years and months to come?
 
Written By: Kate Couch
 
Last year the corporate office took a large turn as many of us had to begin working remotely from home. This created an entirely new world for audiovisual- Zoom. Zoom as most companies are aware is an online video conferencing platform that is for personal, educational, and corporate use. Since this is now one of the primary ways that offices and businesses have meetings a lot of them have been needing a dedicated space or what we at Audio-Visual Bend call a zoom-room. These zoom-rooms have become very popular over the last year and many corporate offices have incorporated them into the workspace. It can look like only an audio-visual setup or accompanied by complete acoustical treatment. But with this drastically new technology becoming popular so quickly it poses the question, what other highly technological things will be introduced into the corporate world in the upcoming months and years?
 
The statements, “Alexa schedule my meetings for next week” or “hey Google what conference room is open?” Might sound a little outlandish, they’re actually both current technology used in the corporate world. Starting in 2018 Amazon launched Alexa for business which is an Alexa platform designed for more business-type use, scheduling meetings, general questions around the office, dimming lights, etc. It’s a very unique idea that something we use in our homes could also be so useful in the office. These AI personal assistants are now available to anyone no matter their title of job. With Alexa for business, Alexa can communicate with the Amazon Echo devices (full-size, dot, or other) assigned to each room and answer you with something like, “The conference room near the IT deck is empty.” You can also say things like, “Alexa, book me a conference room” with the time and date. You can also schedule it out further or see if any are available right away.
 
This new tech is extremely efficient but also goes to show how much audio-visual will be part of almost every corporate business in years to come. Virtual conference rooms, acoustical treatment plans, high-tech phone systems, Wi-Fi, and possibly even Echo and Alexa setup and design could all be things that are more common in years to come. It currently hasn’t caught on as well as it probably will in the next year, In Unit4’s 2017 Enterprise Tech End-User Sentiment Survey, they found that 38% of professionals affirmed that they use a digital assistant like Alexa for personal reasons; only 11% use it in their professional lives. They asked that 38% if they would trust a digital assistant like Alexa for a work-related task, 54% thought they would. This shows the interest is there and it will just take time for it to trickling into our offices and workspaces.
Because of what has happened in the past year all corporate offices have been forced to rise to the level of tech. Unfortunately, we will see a lot of small businesses fall behind because they can’t keep up with it. The idea that everything is going to be high-tech and connected to Wi-Fi is called The Internet of Things or IOT. On our blog, we will be doing more articles in the weeks to come on this topic. The internet of things is going to affect the corporate world and a very large way and it’s going to affect Audio Visual in even a larger way; as we both have to incorporate it into our offices but also be able to incorporate it into others as our clients. So follow along if you want to know more about IOT and high-tech things that audiovisual will be incorporating and general corporate offices will be incorporating in the future.
 
To know more about Tony and his professional profile see these:
 
 
 
 
To know more about Kate and her professional profile see these:
 
 
 
 
 
Sources:
 
 
 

Whistle While You Work

March 17th, 2021

Photo and Art By: Kate Couch and Canva

Written By: Tony Sprando and Kate Couch

 

Like many other people, I enjoy listening to (somewhat loud) music while I work. I can zone out of the background noise and get to the important stuff. I have noticed something recently that it is a shared interest, as I also hear other’s loud music while I work. Naturally, this poses a bit of a noise problem, luckily it can be easier to fix than it appears. With most people working in different environments these days little noses add up and can become unbearable. With some quick identification and problem solving you can fix your noise issue before the next work week. 

 

Music has been proven to help improve the efficacy of work. In a study done by, Tayyari, Fariborz, and James L. Smith. “Effect of Music on Performance in Human-Computer Interface.” “It was found that, while the music did not disturb the overall accuracy of the task output, it increased the subjects’ speed in data processing and overall productivity. The subjects showed a favorable attitude toward music being introduced at workstations.” Music can be help keeping us focused but a hindrance when others do it. The solution might seem to stop listing to loud music. This is not always the case. What people forget is our homes are filled with lots of sounds every day and when they get above a certain DB we notice them and they become disturbing. 

 

No offense to my neighbors but their HVAC unit is loud as all get out. Or the sounds of my children running up and down the halls, traffic, and the occasional annoying bird. This can be the difference between getting stuff done and not being able to get in the zone. So now that we have identified a noise issue where the solution can’t be stoping the root of the noise we have a few options. 

 

Door sealing kit. 

A door sealing kit is going to be the best option when reducing noise in a small room from outside contributors. You can also do this on the windows as well. This will reduce the amount of noise from the outside getting inside and from the inside getting outside. Contrary to a typical acoustical treatment plan where you might have noise reduction materials on the inside; the objective of this acoustical treatment plan is to prevent small, but loud noises, from outside from getting on the inside.

 

There’s a little bit of science to this as well. Which has to do with DB. The DB is essentially how loud a noise is. Below is pictured a chart of the common DB of household noise. Figuring out the DB of certain things around your home will help you when making a goal for where you want the noise level to be. The average household with some or no conversation is between 40-60 DB so if you find yourself disturbed by noise a good goal is to get your room back to 60<. Like we mentioned earlier this can most likely be achieved with a door and window sealing kit. 

Photo By: Sound Proof Guys

Working at home the noise of neighbors, family members, and roommates can sometimes be disruptive. But when the problems identified you’ll find it with the most basic noise issues there is a basic noise solution. 

 

To know about Tony and his professional profile see these:

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonysprando/

 

https://www.ravepubs.com/author/tsprando/

 

www.tonythevguy.com 

 

The Silence of the lam(p)s

February 7th, 2021
 
Solving volume and noise problems in a home.
noice tony

Photo By: Verywell Mind

By: Kate Couch and Tony Sprando
 
When most people contact Audio Visual for noise control and noise solutions they often don’t realize what’s truly contributing to the volume of the sound. When you’re in your home trying to get work done and you can hear the birds clattering outside or someone listening to music in the next room the noises meld together. Clients often think that their walls are too thin. Though this may be true what is actually bringing that noise to your attention is the other contributing quieter noises which in tandem compose that loud hum drumming in your ear.
 
In a client’s home working on solving an audio and volume problem, the first thing our employees do is listen. Much as we talked about in our last article listening is super important when it comes to having a reliable business with a good reputation. When solving volume and sound problems listening is also super important. Walk into a home and ask everyone to be quiet: when the initial noise they can identify is silenced you can open your ears to other disruptive noises. Things like the refrigerator, the dishwasher, heating and cooling, plumbing, creaking of cabinets, a distant train, traffic, and other clicking and fan noises of technology all slowly add up to increase the decibel count in a residential area.
 
Once you can identify these other noises in the home you can then make a structural plan to minimize how much of that your client hears on a day-to-day basis. If you go in and solve the problem that the client thinks they have it’s often a temporary fix that might not even fix the overarching problem. If the client believes that their son is too loud and just wants the room to be soundproofed, you can most certainly do that for them. What they will frequently find is it they still can’t focus because it wasn’t just their son’s loud bedroom that was contributing to their distracting noises, but, it was also the refrigerator and the birds outside. When you listen to a client’s home, listen to the extra noises around their house, you will find very quickly that the other noises contributing often go unnoticed. When recognizing these noises you can make a better plan for the client to achieve a more quiet home (or office) and satisfied with a job well done.
 
At AV Bend we promote listening to a client and listening to their home first before making an acoustical plan. This is why when giving quotes it is super important to go out and do so in person. Someone might call us on the phone and say “my kitchen is too loud because my entire family likes to cook.” Once you are there you may find, as we mentioned earlier, that there are a lot of other things going into that problem. When working with a client it’s important to solve the overarching problem, not just the one that they can identify. After you’ve identified the sounds that are contributing to the problem it’s also important to consider other things about a space like the ceiling walls and angles. These things all contribute to how noise is distributed throughout the home. It’s good to keep in mind that the solution for one home is not going to necessarily be the solution for another. Rooms are noisy for varying reasons and sound emanates off of walls differently based on their material and angles. These are all important things to take into account when building an acoustical treatment plan.
 
After listening to a client, listening to their home, considering the angles and materials in their home, an acoustical treatment plan almost makes itself. When you properly identify the problems, where they are, and how they need to be fixed, you will leave your client satisfied and their home quiet.
 
To know about Tony and his professional profile see these:
 

Like a fine wine

January 21st, 2021

Photo By: Ion Ceban

Written By: Tony Sprando and Kate Couch

 

“Age appears to be best in four things, – old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” – Alonso Of Aragon

 

Age is something we have been redefining for many years as a human race. In the 40s children were seen and not heard, today children are brought to work and meetings and expected to be kept entertained by their 8×12 screens that they are constantly glued to. When I was a teenager I knew all the latest tech but now I’m (slowly) slipping behind. My mother-in-law though, not tech-savvy, picks up things as fast as ever. She is I presume sharper than most people her age. My beautiful wife does not keep up with technology and prefers to be outside. Due to this, she has much better eyesight than I do, however, I have better hearing. It’s a two-way street of what we choose to invest our time in. 

 

As we get older and more mature the brain changes drastically. Most people are aware of this, it’s called cognitive decline. It’s a sad thing to go through and to see others go through. When things that are so drastically important to us like, hearing, seeing, our ability to learn, and our memory slowly worsen with every year. It can be hard as a parent, friend, loved one, or business owner to know how to properly help people experiencing this. Age Is something not a lot of people take into account when doing custom work for clients. It’s something that’s overlooked but extraordinarily important. 

 

It’s important to understand at what ages different needs need to be met. As someone reaches the age of 60 they have a hard time keeping things organized, remembering things, and hearing and seeing things. If you have someone over the age of 60 for a client you want to make sure that you’re catering to these needs. For example, in audiovisual, if you have an older client it is important that you are making sure that the speakers in an in-home speaker system are arranged properly so they can hear it.  Checking that older clients technology you might be installing is easy for them to use, and that they understand what you’re putting in their home is another important thing you can consider. Solving organization problems and making sure that your clients know how to properly use what you’re installing and understand its function. Just because somebody comes to you with a problem, doesn’t necessarily mean that they understand the solution.

 

When it comes to this in Audio Visual it’s important to take into account age with any client you have. For example, if you are installing soundproof panels into a nursery something that is professional, business style, and chic probably wouldn’t cater to that age or audience. You need to take into account the problems that you are solving will also considering the age of the client installing something that is more child-proof and childlike is more likely to leave the customer satisfied.

 

 If you are installing a meeting room for a business whose employees are young and tech-savvy you can keep that in mind when integrating the latest and smartest technology. Integrating a necessary thing like a zoom room into a company that has older employees that don’t know how to use technology but are going to rely on Zoom calls. You can use technology that’s more straightforward organized and easy to use. It’s very easy to cater to a client’s age if you just consider the problem that they need to solve and how their age affects that problem. 

 

What is Smart?

January 14th, 2021

Defining the word that has had so many meanings over the past one hundred years.

Written By: Kate Couch

 

“Okay, Einstien.” “That was smart!” “You’re baby is so smart.”These are all common sayings we’ve heard that center around the idea of smart or intelligence. But what is smart? As we progressed further into the 21st century, technology seems to be out doing itself every day. The stock market is skyrocketing, the way we interact with each other and do business has changed completely, and the internet seems to rule our lives. So when we hear the word “smart” how has its meaning changed? Most of you have a smartphone in your pocket, many teachers have smart boards (a technology integrated touch screen whiteboard with a proprietary pen with software) and our kitchen is filled with “smart” appliances. 

 

How this applies today

 

Today the word smart can be used to reference technology, specifically artificial intelligence technology. AI was a word that scared a lot of people a decade or two ago. Now it’s nearly unavoidable. With the word smart directly correlating to an item having some sort of artificial intelligence, smart devices, and AI devices, are in more places than we realize. The demonizing of artificial intelligence through science fiction movies is what caused a lot of pandemonium when it came to the idea of your technology being “smart.” The truth is, there’s a lot of benefits to having smart technology. We know it’s constantly making our lives easier and more efficient. Especially right now, as we heavily rely on technology to carry our schools and jobs. 

 

Where does AV come in?

Audio and visual technology and setup have become extremely important during the pandemic; especially relating to zoom rooms. Audio Visual Bend does Zoom rooms for clients since the pandemic. A Zoom room is essentially a room with an acoustical treatment plan, cameras, microphones, and a speaker setup for Zoom meetings. It’s an essential function to help schools and businesses have effective and efficient meetings. Having properly set up cameras, speakers, and microphone systems make the stress of having a zoom meeting melt away. In addition to this, the soundproofing and acoustical treatment plan will diminish the possibility disrupting of others and minimize others disrupting you. 

 

Audio Visual and smart technology doesn’t end with Zoom meetings though. Before the pandemic audiovisual mixed with smart technology often looked like integrating smart devices and appliances. Often customers would want in-home speaker systems and automatic lighting that can be adjusted with simpler panels or even from their phones. Customers often strived for a result that was less autonomous. 

Where is it going? 

Audio-visual definitely has some changes coming in the future with the way technology is going. 10 years ago audiovisual was more corporate-based and for wealthier clients. But as technology progresses audio-visual becomes more affordable. Audio Visual Bend predicts that more of our customers want to be integrating systems into their homes like speakers, cameras, projectors, and acoustical treatments over the next few years. It will start to look more like an in-home service industry model, rather than a one-time installation of a product or solving a problem. It’ll be something that’s ongoing integrating new technology into homes and corporate offices. 

 

Smart is definitely a peculiar word with lots of meaning. But with new waves of technology coming out all the time and audio and visual being thrown into an entirely new pool of opportunities the word “smart” really has developed its own new meaning. 

DIY Music and Workout Studio

January 9th, 2021

 

 

Earlier this year I found myself in predicament. Late at night, I would like to lift weights, work out, and do a bit of overtime, all while blasting music to keep the energy up. This quickly caused a problem as the rest of the household didn’t appreciate the concerts I held in the middle of the night, not to mention the neighbors that didn’t want that either. So I had a couple of options, I could go to a 24-hour gym (which at the time were open but little did I know that would have been a temporary fix) Or I could design my own workspace that would reduce the sound by drafting an acoustical treatment plan. 

 

Avoiding the sweaty gyms and having the freedom of being in my own home while having the option to have my music through a speaker was a no brainer choice. So my wife and I designed an acoustical plan. 

What is an acoustical treatment plan? 

 

In short, it is a design that will solve your problems and make the room better for recording and listening to audio. When making an acoustical treatment plan you need to decide what your main problems are and how much coverage you need. Most people need between 25% and 75% coverage. This is only for the walls and ceiling. Most people forget when treating a room that the ceiling is just as important when it comes to treating a room as the walls are. So when buying or collecting materials make sure to pick up some for the ceiling too. 

 

How do you go about it?

 

When I was making mine I decided to use scraps from a previous project. I had odd shapes of sound silencer material, which was perfect for the outcome but the shapes would be a creative challenge. My wife and I spent time maneuvering the pieces into intricate designs that would get the job done while still being aesthetically pleasing. This process saved us money and kept our room design unique, compared to the typical soundproofing methods. 

 

Find a store that sells soundproofing materials then draw out a design for your room while placement is important that doesn’t mean you can’t make pieces that look good in the right places. The sound silencer is a unique product, from an initial look it looks like styrofoam but it is actually tiny engineered beads molded together, which is both functional and pleasing to the eyes.

 

After implementing this plan the sound was reduced drastically. I now have a place where I can do work and be as loud as needed while others can sleep peacefully just a wall away. My wife and I had a great time working on this together it was a good problem-solving experience and gave us some extra time together. Most people think that acoustical treatments are eyesores…and they wouldn’t be completely wrong. It’s great that we were able to come up with something that worked for our space and looked cool. 

Putting soundproof panels behind canvas pictures, or cutting them into unique designs are simple ways you can make acoustical treatments a designing choice instead of a functional eyesore. This project was cost-effective, made use of old material, and solved our main problem. 

By Tony Sprando

Sources used

https://advancedacoustics-uk.com/pages/how-much-acoustic-treatment-should-i-install

 

Is Digital Wayfinding Right for You?

November 21st, 2017

Consider helping your customers find their way around your campus by looking into a digital wayfinding solution.

The Dilemma – You are Lost

When you visit a large school campus, or a hospital, or a large corporate center for the first time you do your best to find the main entrance. Sometimes it is easy to spot, but other times you end up in the wrong place or across the campus from where you are supposed to be.  Now, try to find someone to ask for directions.  There is a good chance you may not find someone, or if you do, just hope they give you good enough directions. Maybe I am alone in this, but this has happened a lot to me. Read more »