Custom Acoustic Curtains
Custom acoustic and sound-deadening curtains in Sherbrooke. Sound-absorbing velvet for restaurants, home theatre, hi-fi rooms and offices. Artisan-crafted in Estrie.
Sound-absorbing velvet curtains for demanding spaces
Acoustic curtains are the most elegant textile solution for reducing noise and improving the sound comfort of a space. I craft custom sound-deadening curtains in heavy velvet and acoustic wool for restaurants, home theatres, hi-fi listening rooms, offices, and commercial spaces in Sherbrooke and Estrie.
Velvet is the king of acoustic textile treatment: its density and thickness absorb mid and high frequencies, reducing reverberation and improving sound clarity. I aim for a blackout-lined velvet, or a dense multi-layer polyester, in the 250 to 500 g/m² band. What decides the result next, and matters more than the fabric's name, is the configuration: gathered into deep lobes rather than hung flat, standing at least 15 cm off the wall and covering the full surface, the same fabric can double its absorption. Published measurements for a gathered heavy velvet sit around NRC 0.60; hung that way, I aim for 0.75 to 0.80. Large dimensions are no obstacle: I sew long, wide curtains, but not stage curtains, which need different equipment.
For Sherbrooke restaurateurs wanting to offer their diners a pleasant sound environment, for audiophiles setting up a listening room in Magog, or for Estrie businesses looking to improve workplace comfort, my custom acoustic curtains offer a solution that is both functional and beautiful. Consultation, fabric selection, and artisan craftsmanship in my atelier.
“Soundproof curtain”, “noise reducing curtain”, “acoustic curtain”: three names, one curtain
These names all describe the same thing: a curtain heavy enough, dense enough and full enough to absorb sound. I use them interchangeably and so can you. What changes the outcome is not the word you search for, it is the noise you actually have. Here are the four cases, and what a curtain really does in each.
Echo inside your own room
Yes. This is what the curtain is for.
Voices carrying too far, a television that rings, a dining room where you raise your voice to be heard across the table. This is where a curtain works best, by a wide margin. Sound bounces off glass, drywall and hard floors, comes back to you late and smears everything else. Heavy velvet sewn with generous fullness absorbs those returns. The room gets calmer, voices get clear again, and people stop shouting without noticing they have stopped. If this is your problem, it is solved.
Noise coming in through the window
Partly. Useful, but no substitute for a good window.
The street, traffic, the neighbour's yard, snow clearing at five in the morning. A heavy, full curtain over a closed window softens what gets in, and a dense lining adds a little mass. You will hear a difference, especially in the high frequencies, the ones that cut. But let us be clear about the order of things: it is the window itself that lets the noise through, and no textile fixes a window. If yours is single glazed or no longer seals, the curtain will help a little and the window will remain the problem.
A neighbour's noise through a wall or floor
No. No curtain does this, mine included.
The apartment next door, footsteps above, music through a shared wall. I would rather save you the money: no. That noise travels through the building's structure, not through the air in your room, and it stops with mass and airtightness — a wall, a solid door, seals. A curtain hung in front of that wall does not touch it. If someone sells you a curtain promising to fix this, they are selling you something other than what they said.
Noise leaving your room
A little, indirectly. Start with the door.
A basement home theatre, an instrument, a room where someone works late. The curtain damps the sound inside the room, which already reduces what hits the walls and travels elsewhere in the house. The difference is audible, mostly on reverberation and voices. But it does not contain sound: bass goes straight through, and the room's door is almost always the real gap.
One last word about numbers. You will see curtains advertised with a decibel reduction. Always ask which test method produced the figure, in what room and in front of what. Without that the number means nothing, and I would rather give you no number than one that does not hold up.
Dividing a room with an acoustic curtain
The question comes up often: can a curtain split a room in two? It can, and it is one of the things it does best. A large, heavy panel hung across the middle of a room breaks the travel of sound between the two halves and gives each one its own acoustic. In a loft, a shared bedroom, an open office or a finished basement, it is the fastest and least invasive way to divide a space.
One thing no shop will tell you: a curtain dampens, it does not soundproof. You will not get the silence of a wall. What you get is a clear drop in reverberation and in the clarity of voices carrying across. In most cases that is exactly what people want: to stop hearing the television on the other side as though it were playing in the same room.
The real problem with a divider is the fixing, not the fabric. A full-height acoustic velvet is heavy, and that weight lands on the ceiling, not the wall. That is why the no-drill solutions you see online, tension rods and extendable poles, hold a sheer and will not hold an acoustic panel. I do not supply hardware: I make the panel to the exact dimension, and you work out with your installer or your landlord which track the ceiling can take. Tell me the planned fixing before I cut, because it changes the heading and the fullness.
Listening rooms, home theatres, restaurants
Three rooms, three ways of working the fabric. What they share: nobody is after silence. You want a room that stops answering back over the music, the film or the conversation.
Listening rooms
In a listening room, bare walls, the window and the floor send sound back to your ears a split second after the speaker, and the image blurs. A heavy velvet, sewn with plenty of fullness and hung clear of the wall, calms those side reflections and softens the room. It does not fix the bass: low frequencies need other tools, and I would rather tell you that before I cut.
Read the article: what curtains fix in a listening roomHome theatres
A basement home theatre often has drywall, a hard floor and one small window. A dark velvet dressing the screen wall and the side walls does two jobs at once: it cuts stray light and absorbs part of the echo that muddies dialogue. If the room has a window, I add a blackout lining.
Read the article: the home theatre and its curtains
Restaurants
A dining room gets loud when everything is hard: ceiling, concrete, big windows. The ceiling and walls come first, with panels. Curtains come next, on the glass, which is often the largest surface throwing sound back. They add absorption without construction, come down for cleaning, and close off an alcove when a group books the evening.
Read the article: a noisy restaurant, where to start
One reminder, because it matters: a curtain dampens sound inside the room, it does not soundproof it. It will not shut out the neighbour or the floor upstairs.
Acoustic curtain questions
Does an acoustic curtain replace panels?
No, it works alongside them. A panel fixed to a wall or ceiling treats one spot, all the time. A curtain covers the windows and glass where a panel cannot go, and it opens when you want the light. In a listening room or a restaurant, the two work well together.
Will a curtain block the neighbour's noise?
Very little. Sound travelling from one room to the next is stopped by mass and airtightness: a wall, a solid door, seals. A curtain absorbs sound inside the room where it hangs. Be wary of a curtain sold with a decibel figure and no test method.
Which fabric for a restaurant?
A dense cotton or polyester of 250 to 500 g/m² that is flame resistant in the fibre rather than treated: a treatment washes out, the fibre keeps its protection. Have your municipal fire service or your insurer confirm the requirement for your dining room. In food service, plan on dry cleaning about once a year for grease and odours; my cleaning and pressing service takes care of it.
Who installs the track?
You or your installer. I do not supply or install hardware. Tell me which track is planned and where it will be fixed: I make the curtain to the exact drop and choose the heading to suit.
Eastern Townships Manor
Michelin Dining
Executive Boardroom
“Silence is the greatest luxury of our time.”
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