The Windsor Road Christian Church in Champaign, IL was founded in 1977 with only a handful of members. Thirty-five years later, the number of members has grown to more than 900. The church continues to expand to meet this growth and now hosts many social groups and activities including youth and adult ministries, Sunday school, and weekly seminars.

During a recent renovation, the WRCC converted an unused space into two classrooms to be used by student ministry classes, weekly home school groups and meeting space for non-profit organizations.

Identified Problem – Hard Surfaces and Harsh Sounds

In order to keep renovation costs to a minimum, the Windsor Christian Church did not install carpet over the existing tile floors in the rooms. These floors, coupled with the room’s bare walls, were a cause of concern for some class participants. They noted that the sound echoing off of the room’s hard surfaces created a feeling of loudness and harshness to speech in the rooms.

Bare floors and walls created reverberation problems

Mark Aardsma, owner of ATS Acoustics and a attendee of the church, suggested to Mike Simmons, WRCC’s Administrative Minister, that acoustic panels might be an easier and more cost-effective solution than adding carpet.

Treatment Provided -Microsuede Acoustic Panels

After completing a room analysis, ATS calculated that twenty 24′ x 24′ acoustic panels in 2 ‘ thickness would be an effective acoustical treatment for the size and shape of the two classrooms. The WRCC decided on the peat color from the ATS Microsuede fabric selection. ATS Acoustics donated these panels to the church.

Installing Acoustic Panels in the Small Classrooms

ATS Acoustic Microsuede Panels have a Noise Reduction Coefficient Rating of up to .90, meaning they absorb a large percent of the sound that reaches them, greatly reducing the amount of echo in the classrooms. The panels were installed in groups of four. Twelve panels went into the larger of the two rooms and eight panels were installed in the remaining room.

Results – Improvement in Speech Intelligibility

Finished Installation

Since installation, class members have noticed an improvement in speech intelligibility. Reverberation time has been reduced and there is a significant overall noise reduction within the rooms.

Mike Simmons highlights that, “the panels have helped create a better learning atmosphere for the students, church community and other organizations who use the facilities.”

Life is harsh in the world’s poorest countries. In Ethiopia, where food shortages, access to safe drinking water and periodic famine-like conditions put lives at risk, many children die before reaching the age of 5 and only a small percentage are able to attend school.  Yet, high on the plateau of Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia, a non-profit organization aptly named Blessing the Children International is bringing hope for a brighter future.

Since opening their doors in 2008, the BCI Academy has cared for and placed more than 600 orphaned and impoverished children in loving homes.  The epicenter of BCI, the Adana Children Center, functions as an orphanage, a school for grades 1 -12, a community center and a foster care program for more than 140 children.

Adana Students Learning English

ATS Acoustics’ CEO, Mark Aardsma, volunteered at the BCI Academy in June 2012. During his two week sojourn, Mark taught an English class, led a training for BCI Academy staff, and visited local villages to see the positive effects BCI is having on surrounding communities.

Lunch Line at Adana Academy

Since returning to the States, Mark continues to influence the lives of BCI’s children through his work with dedicated BCI volunteers. In August, Mark helped send enough donated children’s books to fill an empty library at the Adana Center. Today, thanks to the generous contributions of BCI donors, the gracious efforts of Andy Hudson at Hudson’s Drugs, and Mark’s logistical planning, twenty-three boxes of children’s vitamins are ready to travel to Debre Zeyit. These 550 bottles of supplements will provide the necessary vitamins and minerals vital to a child’s daily well-being.

In regard to his unique experience with Blessing the Children International, Mark reflects, “I saw firsthand the great work they do at BCI, and the incredibly loving staff of people that do it. I’m glad we could do a little bit of logistics to help provide nutrition to these 140 children.”

Mark Aardsma and Hymanot Sisay, an Adana Student

The children’s vitamins are but a small stepping stone towards helping BCI Academy students and other village children have access to a healthier lifestyle.  If you would like to help the BCI further improve the life’s of Ethiopia’s children, please visit www.blessingthechildren.com for more information.

With the right room acoustics, you’ll get clear and powerful sound in your home theater. Here are some guidelines.

1. Control Reverb

Reducing Reverb with Room Decor

Furniture – Fabric covered cushions, chairs and couches are perfect for absorbing sound energy.  Hardwood furniture, glass tables and cabinets will only cause an increased reflection of sound and should be removed or covered with blankets or tapestry.

Floor Treatments– Hardwood floors and laminate should be covered as much as possible to prevent sound waves from being reflected.  Try to use a carpet with natural fibers and thick padding or consider a large area rug if wall-to-wall is not an option.

Windows and Doors – Windows and doors are large sources of sound reflection and loss.  Simply covering these areas with thickly draped curtains or blinds will help reduce sound reflection.

Reducing Reverb with Acoustic Panels

Many home theaters will benefit from acoustic panels to bring the amount of reverb in the room down to an ideal level.

Once you’ve chosen the flooring and other surface materials for your room, it’s time to determine how many acoustic panels, if any, you need. It’s not necessary to cover every surface in a room with acoustic panels to achieve ideal room acoustics. Our Free Online Room Acoustics Analysis is a great tool for determining the right amount of acoustical treatment for your room.  Just provide some information about your room dimensions and surfaces, and our system crunches the numbers for you and provides an instant report and recommendation.

2. Determine Panel Placement

The most important thing is to have sufficient square footage of acoustic panels to bring the rooms overall reverb into an ideal range. Specific placement is less important, but can still make a difference. Often attractive appearance will guide placement just as much or more than specific acoustical considerations will.

There is some benefit in placing panels at first reflection points. These are places where the sound can come from the source, bounce once, and reach the listener.  For example, on the side walls of a listening room approximately midway between the listener and the speakers.

Here’s a common method for finding first reflection points:

• Have a friend hold a mirror along the wall near a certain speaker at speaker height.
• The listener sits in a spot of normal viewing.
• The friend then moves slowly toward the listening position (stay along the wall).
• Mark each spot on the wall where the listener can see any of the room speakers in the mirror.
• The marked spots are the reflective areas in the room that make good locations for acoustic panel.

3. Control Low Frequency Sound

Low frequency sound (bass) has longer wavelengths, and is thus more susceptible to “piling up” in some areas of the room and cancelling itself out in others. This can produce uneven bass from one seating location to another. This is especially true in small rooms, like the size of most home theaters. Bass traps are designed to reduce this type of problem. Use ATS Bass Traps in two or more corners to even out your bass.

4. (Optionally) Get Artistic

While absorbing sound, acoustic panels can also add artistic appeal to your home theater. ATS Acoustic Art Panels are custom made with any image or photo you can think of. You provide the image, we print it on fabric, and build your panel with the printed fabric. Family photos, old movie posters, your favorite movie stars, anything is possible.

A classic movie poster image used in an Acoustic Art Panel design.

We also offer custom size acoustic panels when you need to fit a certain space or work around a door opening, etc.

5. Enjoy!

Sit back, crank up the volume, and enjoy the action with clear, powerful sound.

We are extremely excited to announce that ATS Acoustics has once again made Inc. Magazine’s list of the fastest growing businesses in America.  This marks the third straight year that we have been recognized as one of America’s rising companies, and we have no plans of slowing down now.

Our incredible growth would not be possible without the dedicated employees and great customers we have had throughout the years.  We would like to sincerely thank everyone involved with our success, and we are now looking forward to another record-breaking year.

ATS Acoustics of Piper City recently received the Patriotic Employer Award. The award recognizes companies who actively support their employee’s participation in the National Guard and Reserve.

Mark Aardsma, Owner and CEO of ATS Acoustics said “In the last few years we’ve received a lot of recognition for the business results we’ve produced. It’s a different and special honor to be recognized for treating people with support and respect, something we also care deeply about.”

The award was based on a nomination from Sgt. Randy Eichler II, Army Reservist, an ATS employe who serves with the 342nd CM CO. The award was presented on August 3rd by Terry McCollum, the Military Outreach Director of Illinois.

ATS Acoustics manufactures Made-in-USA sound control products used in schools, churches, music studios, and homes.

The ATS Acoustic Diffuser is a precisely calculated Quadratic Residue Diffuser (QRD) designed to evenly scatter sound energy which eliminates acoustical problems such as comb filtering and flutter echo.

Comb filtering and flutter echos can seriously affect the detail and clarity of the sound in your room.  Diffusion is a popular and effective solution used in professional recording studios, listening rooms, and even large auditoriums.

Absorption panels can control these problems as well, but they sometimes cause a space to sound dead if too much absorption is used in a small room.  Diffusion on the other hand, adds a sense of spaciousness and retains the natural ambiance of the room.  Since all diffusers are relatively ineffective controlling very low frequencies, absorption is still a must for recording and listening rooms.  Generally a mixture of absorption panels, diffusers, and bass traps provide the best overall results.

Diffusers are most commonly used on the rear wall behind the listening position, but they can also be used at first reflection points on the walls or ceiling.  We recommend the diffusers are at least 6 ft away from the listener’s ear to allow space for the even diffusion to take place.  For more details, please click here.

Here at ATS Acoustics, we are excited to introduce our new Tackable Acoustic Panels.  These panels are the perfect combination of a tackboard and a high quality sound absorber.  We take the same core material used in our standard acoustic panels and add a special high density layer that creates a surface with good tackability while still maintaining the impressive acoustical performance you expect from ATS Acoustics.  These panels are ideal for classrooms, conference rooms, offices, and any other space that needs sound absorption and a tackable surface.

As your one-stop acoustical shop, we carry both fabric-covered fiberglass acoustic panels, and foam acoustic panels.

Here are some guidelines when choosing between our foam panels and our fabric covered panels.

1. Cost

Foam: For simple noise control foam panels absorb the most sound per dollar invested. If the factors mentioned below are not a concern, foam panels will do the job for about half the price.

Fabric: These panels cost more. Decide what’s best for your situation based on your budget and the factors below.

2. Appearance

Foam: A technical look suitable for control rooms, informal practice areas and utilitarian spaces.

Fabric: An architectural look suitable for any space including living areas, home theaters, auditoriums, etc. More appearance options are available including custom-printed art acoustic panels.

3. Frequency Absorption

Foam: Highly effective at high frequencies, and mid-range frequencies down to 500Hz. Not effective at bass frequencies.

Fabric: Broader, more even absorption across frequencies. 2-inch panels are effective down to 250Hz. 4-inch panels are effective down to 100Hz.

4. Wall Coverage

Foam: Almost twice the wall coverage as fabric panels to achieve the same sound absorption at mid-range frequencies. Plan on covering more empty wall space.

Fabric: Requires about half the coverage as foam panels, leaving more wall space open.

5. Installation and Removal

Foam: Install with spray adhesive. Spray and stick, pretty simple. However if you plan to move out or take the panels down, adhesive residue could be an issue.

Fabric: Install with screws and z-clips. We include a handy full-size install template that takes the measuring out of the job, but it is more work than installing foam panels. On the up side, z-clips leave no more wall damage than hanging pictures.

Shop foam panels.

Shop fabric covered panels.

We’ve just added a new type of acoustic insulation to our lineup. Applegate Acoustical Cotton Batts are a great alternative to fiberglass acoustic insulation. They have a higher NRC value than any 2-inch other product we carry at 1.05. There is no itch or skin irritation which makes them comfortable to handle, glove free. The natural cotton fibers are 100% recyclable and are made from at least 85% post-industrial recycled content, making them ideal for LEED certified projects.

We are proud to announce that ATS Acoustics will be attending the Worship Facilities Expo in Dallas, Texas. This event will be held on the 9th and 10th of November, 2011. The hours of this show are as follows: Wednesday the 9th – 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. And Thursday the 10th – 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. We will have a variety of our products on display, along with all the information you might need about our products and our company. Come check out our booth and enjoy the event!