River City Roll: Bowling Alley Acoustic Treatment

Kevin McIverKevin joined the team in 2006. His passion for sound began early, working with bands and venues. At 21, he bought his own PA and began renting it out and engineering sound. Kevin has worked on projects ranging from recording studios and broadcast facilities to worship facilities, schools, and noise control solutions for the U.S. Military.1-800-782-5742 Ext. 0119

Bowling lane area with ceiling acoustic treatment

River City Roll bowling lanes with acoustic ceiling treatment above.

The Issue

River City Roll is a premier social spot providing boutique bowling, a seasonal menu of upscale dishes by a top chef, a hopping cocktail scene, a dog-friendly covered and heated patio, plus a live music venue. Top this off with corporate and private events, and this is a space with the potential for a very wide appeal. They really needed to make the room a more comfortable place for bands to play and clients to listen, bowl, and hang out with their friends and associates.River City Roll has two very large rooms with high ceilings and all hard surfaces. The sound of bowling stayed in the air for a long time and was quite loud. Speech was very hard to understand and music from the bands disappeared into the roar of the room’s space. The main room, where the bar and stage are, measures 95’ x 97’ x 18’ high with wood & polished concrete floors, walls comprised of brick, glass, and sheetrock, and a corrugated metal roof deck, which is a recipe for long reverberation times and low speech and music intelligibility. This space needed both ceiling treatment as well as some wall panels for a commercial acoustical treatment.

Bowling alley seating area with ceiling acoustic treatment

Acoustic ceiling treatments above seating area at River City Roll.

The Challenge

The primary challenge with this space is its size and the fact that every surface was hard. The larger the space, the more surface area of treatment is required, so we had a challenge to provide an aesthetically-pleasing treatment that fit their budget. Another challenge was finding locations for the large volume of treatment without disrupting the look of this business that had already been designed and finished with a beautiful look.

Bowling alley seating area with sound absorbing wall panels

A view of black fabric wrapped acoustic wall panels installed at the Hat Factory in Richmond, Virginia.

The Solution

Our team assessed the space for size, reverberation time, and available space for treatments. The ceiling was where the most surface area was available, so an affordable acoustical ceiling treatment — our AlphaSorb® PVC Plastic Acoustic Panels flush mounted with color-matched washer plates — is how we approached it. These panels provide a high NRC rating of 1.15, come in a variety of colors, and are a very effective and affordable product. There were some additional areas available and these were treated with acoustical wall treatments, our Alphasorb Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels, in colors that were very close to the paint color. For issues on the stage where the bands were getting feedback from their monitors, we provided a portable acoustical partition — VersiPanel Partition Walls — that can be rolled up and stored when not in use and placed where needed when the stage is in use.

The Result

The acoustical sound panels used for the ceilings and walls reduced the reverberation time down to about 1 second and the portable acoustical partition walls helped reduce feedback for the bands who perform on their stage. The space is a much more comfortable and intimate space where their customers can socialize comfortably while listening to crystal-clear performances from their favorite bands.

In the Customer's Own Words

“Things have been sounding SO much better and bands that have played here prior to the treatment can definitely tell a difference! We really appreciate the awesome work your team did!” — Rob Long, General Manager, River City Roll

To learn more about how Acoustical Solutions can solve your noise control problems, use our contact form, call one of our Acoustical Sales Consultants at (800) 782-5742, or visit us on the web at acousticalsolutions.com.

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