Where can I get coloured burlap?

[Ignace Dhont]

I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.

Thank you for your time!

Beste wishes,

Ignace

[Scott Dorsey]

Ignace Dhont > wrote:
>I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
>wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
>inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
>acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
>Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
>this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
>and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
>postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
>be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.

No, you can purchase specialty cloth that is intended to be acoustically
transparent and is much nicer-looking than burlap.

It is sold at specialty acoustical suppliers. In the US, I would suggest
Alpha Acoustics or Acoustics First in Richmond, VA, although there are
plenty of other folks selling the stuff and there is almost certainly
someone in Holland with a good line of acoustically transparent fabrics.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Jay - atldigi]

In article >,
(Ignace Dhont) wrote:

> I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
>
> Thank you for your time!
>
> Beste wishes,
>
> Ignace

There are colored fabrics that are coarse weave that are somewhat like
more refined versions of burlap, but not actually burlap (yuck). Many
fabric stores will have such items. I'm not talking about Michael's or
Joanne's where your wife shops for crafts and calicoes for quilts (US
stores, I imagine you have something similar in the Netherlands); there
are places that have bolt after bolt of upholstry fabrics and such.
Those are the places you'll find it. There are other fairly coarse weave
fabrics without backing that will also do the job, so you have some
flexibility. If it's very tight, finely threaded, shiny, or with some
kind of backing, it will probably reflect more than it lets through, so
these you don't want to use.

The old "classic" fabric for this purpose is from a company called
"Guilford Of Maine", or just Guilford for short. I think they have a
website, and the RPG diffusor company used to have it for sale as well
(they definitely have a website). You could even view the color swatch
booklet online. I believe the specific fabric type often used for
studios and acoustic panels is Guilford 701, if I remember correctly.
Ownes Corning 703 was the classic compressed fiberglass choice for sound
absorption, with the denser 705 also being used, and Guilford 701
covering it all. Too many seven-zero-something combinations!

--
Jay Frigoletto
Mastersuite
Los Angeles
promastering.com

[hank alrich]

Ignace Dhont > wrote:

> I understand burlap is the
> acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.

Years ago at onion audio in Austin TX we used coarse linen over cotton
batting in one area, and Lanis dyed it in place using a Windex spray
bottle and RIT blue dye. She wound up doing a kind of fade that turned
out looking a lot like sky. Was pretty groovy looking and worked nicely.
Cheap, too.

--
ha

[Romeo Rondeau]

"Ignace Dhont" > wrote in message
om...
> I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
>
> Thank you for your time!

Felt looks good and works nice. You can get it cheaply at most fabric stores
and it comes in many colors.

[Eric K. Weber]

One of the advantages of burlap is that it shrinks well.... you can give it
a light spray of water after tacking it down to make it tight.

Rgds:
Eric

"Romeo Rondeau" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ignace Dhont" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> > wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> > inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> > acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> > Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> > this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> > and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> > postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> > be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
> >
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> Felt looks good and works nice. You can get it cheaply at most fabric
stores
> and it comes in many colors.
>
>

[xy]

www.coloredburlap.com

[Richard Crowley]

"Romeo Rondeau" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Ignace Dhont" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> > wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> > inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> > acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> > Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> > this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> > and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> > postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> > be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
> >
> > Thank you for your time!
>
> Felt looks good and works nice. You can get it cheaply at most fabric
stores
> and it comes in many colors.

Cheap polyester doubleknit seems to be acousticaly transparent
enough for this purpose. Available in dozens of colors/shades,
really inexpensive, and stretchy for holding shape, even around
corners, etc.

[Ignace Dhont]

Thanks for all the useful info. I really appreciate it!

One footnote though: I have found that fabric that is sold as
"accoustically transparant" not always is what you would expect. When
you put the fabric tightly in front of your mouth and find you can't
breathe freely and easily I guess it's not transparant, is it? Luckily
I only ordered a sample from the stuff.

Regards,

Ignace

[DJ]

http://www.blanksfab.com/burlap.htm


"Ignace Dhont" > wrote in message
om...
> I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
>
> Thank you for your time!
>
> Beste wishes,
>
> Ignace

[Ignace Dhont]

Thanks for the links, only the www.coloredburlap.com link doesn't work
(guess their site is temporarily unavailable?).

Polyether would be excellent, but while it IS possible to buy them in
all kind of nice bright colours, after about a year they have all
taken on the very same colour: grey. Please correct me if you have a
different experience.

Regards,

Ignace

[Richard Crowley]

"Ignace Dhont" wrote ...
> Thanks for the links, only the www.coloredburlap.com link doesn't work
> (guess their site is temporarily unavailable?).

I think it was a joke. There is no "coloredburlap.com"
registered, at least not on *this* planet.

> Polyether would be excellent, but while it IS possible to buy them in
> all kind of nice bright colours, after about a year they have all
> taken on the very same colour: grey. Please correct me if you have a
> different experience.

Perhaps it depends on the quality, environment, (and color?)

[James Perrett]

Jay - atldigi wrote:
>
> In article >,
> (Ignace Dhont) wrote:
>
> > I have made some absorption modules (you know, rockwool and chicken
> > wire) and covered it with Dacron (to keep the rockwool particles
> > inside). Sounds good, looks godawful. I understand burlap is the
> > acoustic best fabric to dress it up with.
> > Unfortunately one can't get hold of that in the Netherlands. I know
> > this sounds strange but it's true; I'm at the end of a six weeks quest
> > and still: no burlap in any nice colour. Any foreign
> > postorder/internet companies that do coloured burlap? The weave must
> > be fairly course to allow sound to pass thru it without resistance.
> >
> > Thank you for your time!
> >
> > Beste wishes,
> >
> > Ignace
>
> The old "classic" fabric for this purpose is from a company called
> "Guilford Of Maine", or just Guilford for short. I think they have a
> website, and the RPG diffusor company used to have it for sale as well
> (they definitely have a website). You could even view the color swatch
> booklet online. I believe the specific fabric type often used for
> studios and acoustic panels is Guilford 701, if I remember correctly.
> Ownes Corning 703 was the classic compressed fiberglass choice for sound
> absorption, with the denser 705 also being used, and Guilford 701
> covering it all. Too many seven-zero-something combinations!

Take a look at the Inteface Fabrics web site at
http://www.interfacefabrics.com/frame-home.htm who are the parent
company behind Guilford. Their fabrics are widely used in European
studios (including mine).

Cheers.

James.