Community halls and places of worship tend to be large open spaces. Because of this, the sound will often bounce around and echo, and this can ruin the acoustics of the place. If you are putting on a show, you want your music and singing to be heard crystal clear throughout the building, and if you are preaching to your congregation, you want everyone to be able to hear you. There are a number of ways that you can improve acoustics in such places as community halls and religious buildings. The main way is to think about whether you need all the space as one large room, or whether you can break it up. By breaking it up and making the areas smaller, you will have more control over the acoustics. However, it is not always possible to do this. Sometimes, you simple need a large open space. One thing to consider is to acoustically treat the floors. This is a simple procedure, whereby you will lie down soundproofing tiles on the original floor surface. You can also fit acoustic foam between any beams underneath your flooring. The same can be done for the walls, using special acoustic foam tiles. In some places you want the walls to still look pretty and decorative. In this case, then it is a good idea to put a layer of acoustic insulation on the walls, and then cover it up with plasterboard or something similar. You can then decorate as if the insulation wasn't there. If your floors are bare tiles or concrete, try putting down a carpet or using rugs. This will help to minimise the echoes, and keep sound clearer. The same goes for the walls. Hang up thick curtains around the windows, and decorative tapestries along the walls. If you have a high ceiling, consider bringing it down lower. A high ceiling means the echoes will bounce even more, and it will be harder to hear anything properly. If you can't bring down the ceiling, then use sound proofing tiles. These are similar to the ones that you would have used on the floors and the walls. The combination of these three tiles (floor, walls, ceiling), will help to maximise your acoustic space, and ensure that the sound echoes as little as possible. If you have a space for a choir, or other performances, minimise the space available to them. Don't leave them standing in a wide open area, because they will not be able to hear themselves properly. Build small walls around them, so that the sound will be kept in enough for them to hear. However, make sure that these walls aren't so big that the rest of the audience can't hear. It is always a good idea to experiment with different types of soundproofing, so that you can discover which will work best for you.
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