Before You Commission Acoustic Work: A Checklist for Studio Managers

Start with what the room does today

Before anyone is booked, listen to your own output. Record a presenter reading a short script at the desk, then a guest answering questions from the other side of the set, and play both back on decent headphones. Note where the voice sounds boxy, where consonants smear, and where a hum or ventilation hiss sits underneath the speech. Those notes are worth more than any general description of the room, because they tell a consultant what the audience actually hears.

Write down the room's basic facts as well: rough dimensions, ceiling height, wall and floor materials, and whether the set includes glass, hard flats or a cyclorama. Add anything that changes between shows, such as a moving riser or a curtain that is sometimes drawn. A measurement visit goes faster and costs less when this is ready on paper, and it stops the first hour being spent on questions you could have answered at your desk.

If the studio shares a building with offices, a workshop or a car park, say so now. Outside noise is a separate problem from reverberation inside the room, and the two are solved in different ways.

• Record a presenter and a guest, then listen back on headphones
• List room size, ceiling height and main surfaces
• Note any glass, hard flats or moving set pieces
• Mention neighbouring noise sources

Separate noise from reverberation

Two faults are often described with the same words. Reverberation is the room speaking back: reflections arriving a fraction of a second after the voice, making speech sound distant or hollow. Noise is anything else the microphone picks up, including air handling, lighting fan whine, camera pedestals on a hard floor and the low rumble of traffic. Treatment panels help the first and do very little for the second.

Ask yourself which one you hear most. If a presenter sounds fine in a quiet moment but the sound changes whenever the extraction fans start, you have a noise source to trace and control at its origin. If the voice always sounds roomy, even at night with everything off, the surfaces are the issue.

It is common to have both. In that case agree an order of work, because quietening a fan before adding panels means the later measurements reflect the final conditions rather than a moving target.

• Reverberation: voice sounds distant or hollow in every show
• Noise: fans, hum, rumble or floor thumps under the speech
• Fix noise at its source before judging the room

Decide how you will judge success

Agree before the work what counts as better. A measurement report will give figures for how quickly sound decays in the room, but your crew will judge by ear and by how little time the sound operator spends rescuing a bad take. Settle on a few plain tests: the same script read at the same positions before and after, one guest at the far end of the sofa, and a rehearsal run with the doors closed and the studio fully lit.

It also helps to decide who has the final say. Producers, engineers and presenters hear speech differently, and a treatment that satisfies a measurement can still leave a presenter feeling shut in. Name one person who signs off, and give that person the recordings from the first step.

Keep the comparison fair. Use the same microphones, the same gain and the same people, so that any difference you hear comes from the room rather than from the kit.

• Repeat the same script at the same positions afterwards
• Include the awkward guest position in every test
• Name one person who signs off the result

Plan microphones alongside the room

Treating a room without looking at microphones solves half the problem. A lavalier pinned to a jacket, a boom held above frame and a desk microphone on a stand each pick up the room differently, and each needs a different amount of control around it. Before deciding on treatment, list what you really use on air: how many presenters, how many guests, whether they are seated or moving, and whether the show ever goes out on location.

Think about placement habits as much as equipment. A desk microphone set too far from the speaker forces the gain up and brings the room with it. A boom operator working in a corner of the set may be sitting right next to the worst reflecting wall. Small changes to positions, agreed with the crew, often cost nothing and shift the result more than a purchase would.

Bring your current microphone list to the first conversation, including the models, the stands and the cable runs. It saves guesswork and keeps recommendations tied to equipment you already own.

• List every microphone type used on air
• Check distance from mouth to microphone at each seat
• Note where boom operators actually stand

Be realistic about budget and disruption

Acoustic work ranges from a few well-placed panels and a rug to rebuilt wall linings, and the sensible answer depends on how often the studio is used. A room that is on air every day cannot be closed for a week, so ask early whether treatment can be installed in stages, in the gaps between programmes or overnight. Staged work also lets you hear each change before committing to the next.

Ask what is fixed and what can move. Free-standing absorbers and curtains can be rearranged for different sets, while panels fixed to walls and ceilings stay put. For a venue that hosts different productions, flexibility may be worth more than a perfect single configuration.

Finally, check how the finished room will be kept in good order. Panels get knocked, covered in tape or taken down for a set change. A short note on what must stay where will protect the work long after the visit is over.

• Ask whether work can be staged around transmission days
• Separate fixed treatment from movable absorbers
• Agree who looks after the panels afterwards

Questions to put to any consultant

When you speak to someone about the work, ask how they measure, what they will give you in writing and how they will explain it. A good report names the problem frequencies, shows the decay time in plain terms and says which recommendation matters most. If you cannot follow it, the report has not done its job.

Ask what they will not promise. Honest advice admits that a room with a low ceiling and glass walls will never sound like a purpose-built booth, and says how close it can get. Ask for the reasoning behind each suggestion, not just a list of products.

Lastly, ask who will be in the room. You want the person who measures to be the person who explains the results, so that what you hear in rehearsal and what you read in the report come from the same source.