If you’ve been in the studio lately, you may have noticed me up on a very tall ladder, carefully placing gray acoustical sound boards high up on the walls of our large ballroom.
Yes, in my spare time I am renovating the studio. (Insert laugh track.)
When we bought this building three and a half years ago, carpet squares were stapled to the top perimeter of the large ballroom as a way to muffle sound. It was a fire hazard which was grandfathered in – not to mention the carpet likely held dust and other allergens.
Recently, the fire marshal returned for his regular inspection and said it was time to take the carpet down and replace it with a more fire-proof material.
And anyway, I knew it was time to improve the sound, and the aesthetics, in our ballroom.
After consulting with a sound engineering firm, I set about making the renovations. We pulled down the carpet and donated it to Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County. We painted the walls a smooth, clean gray.
And then we started attaching these sound boards in the same gray as the paint. It makes an amazing difference in the sound level – our music is loud, clear and invigorating now!
Not only does the ballroom look better now, it sounds so much better – which improves our dance experience greatly.
These sound boards are the same ones that are used in concert halls and school auditoriums – just terrific!! I’m so impressed with the results that I want to add them to the front ballroom too.
At Fred Astaire, our focus is on making your dance experience incredible. If we can improve the sound so it envelops all of us as we move around the parquet, it is definitely a worthwhile investment. Who knows what we can improve next?