Why film and TV production HVAC is its own engineering discipline
Most commercial HVAC engineering aims at occupant comfort, code-compliant outdoor air and an NC-35 to NC-40 acoustic envelope quiet enough that office conversation is not effortful. A film and TV production campus breaks that template in five different ways inside a single building footprint. The soundstage demands NC-25 to NC-30 across a 2,000 to 5,000 cubic metre volume with lighting heat loads that swing through a four-times thermal range as the rig cues. The virtual production LED volume layers a tight 20 to 22 degree thermal envelope and 40 to 50 per cent humidity onto an acoustic spec that already pressures every duct termination. The ADR booth pushes the acoustic target down to NC-15, which is among the quietest occupied spaces in any building type. The mix theatre adds Dolby Atmos certification, where a sealed acoustic envelope and stable supply temperature carry through eight to twelve hours of an active mix session. And the VFX render farm pushes the same campus into 20 to 30 kilowatt per rack data-centre density on the back side of the facility.
A facility-wide HVAC design has to deliver all five room categories simultaneously, in the same building, fed from a single mechanical plant room or a small cluster of plant rooms. The ductwork that connects this network is not interchangeable from one zone to the next. Branch by branch, the construction class, the velocity ceiling, the attenuator strategy, the lining specification, the material grade and the vibration isolation detail shifts as the duct crosses from one acoustic and thermal class into the next. A 304L stainless run feeds the wet greenroom and the makeup wash-up. A welded longitudinal seam spiral feeds the ADR booth. A galvanised double-skin acoustic-lined rectangular feeds the soundstage perimeter displacement plenum. A heavy-gauge angle-iron flanged plenum feeds the VFX render farm CRAH manifold. A spark-resistant extract serves the prop shop wood dust. A bonded ducted spray booth serves the prop paint operation. A pyrotechnic storage exhaust serves the SFX workshop.
This guide is the working reference SBKJ engineers in Box Hill North VIC use when our customers are quoting a duct package for a new build or refurbishment across a major Australian film and TV facility. It covers the standards stack, room-by-room acoustic and thermal targets, virtual production volume thermal architecture, the prop and set fabrication dust and fume extract package, the post-production and VFX climate envelope, the Australian operator landscape, and the SBKJ machine configuration that produces the duct mix economically from a single workshop.
The standards stack: AS 1668.2, AS 4254, AS 1530.4, ASHRAE Chapter 4 and the screen-industry overlay
Australian film and TV production HVAC sits on a stack of building codes, mechanical standards, acoustic standards, exposure standards and industry-body guidance. An experienced design engineer keeps all of them within reach of the desk.
AS 1668.2 — The use of ventilation and airconditioning in buildings, Part 2: Mechanical ventilation in buildings. AS 1668.2 anchors the outdoor air rates that govern minimum supply volumes for every zone. For office and editorial occupancy the rate is 7.5 litres per second per person, and the same rate applies to crew and on-camera talent in production studios. For studios with a working audience — the talk shows, live audience comedies and some television drama formats — the auditorium rate of 5 litres per second per audience occupant applies, plus 7.5 litres per second per crew occupant in technical positions. The standard also dictates exhaust and makeup volumes for greenrooms, makeup rooms, wardrobe wet rooms, catering kitchens and lavatories, and these auxiliary loads add up to a meaningful fraction of the air handling plant on a campus-scale facility. For more on the application of AS 1668.2 across acoustic-sensitive occupancies, see the AS 1668.2 Australian ventilation code reference.
AS 1668.1 — Fire and smoke control. AS 1668.1 sets the rules for fire-mode operation of the mechanical ventilation system, including the smoke spill capability for places of public assembly. Large soundstages with audience seating or working talent crowds are classified as Class 9b assembly buildings under the National Construction Code, which triggers the AS 1668.1 smoke spill provisions on top of the AS 1668.2 comfort ventilation.
AS 4254 — Ductwork for air-handling systems in buildings. AS 4254 is the duct construction standard that governs sheet metal gauge, transverse joint class, longitudinal seam class, hanger spacing and pressure leakage rating across every duct in the project. Parts 1 (flexible duct), 2 (rigid duct) and 3 (fire-rated duct) cover the typical scope. For acoustic-sensitive zones, the AS 4254 construction class is supplemented with welded longitudinal seam specifications drawn from SMACNA seismic and acoustic provisions. For details, see the AS 4254 Australian ductwork construction reference.
AS 1530.4 — Fire-resistance test of elements of construction. Fire-rated ductwork through fire-rated walls and floors must demonstrate compliance with AS 1530.4 through tested constructions. The standard applies to smoke spill ducts in audience-occupied soundstages, fire-rated duct risers through multi-level production buildings, and the kitchen exhaust ductwork through any back-of-house catering kitchen.
AS 4072 service penetration fire-stopping. AS 4072 governs the detailing at every duct penetration through a fire-rated barrier. Studio walls, plant room walls and corridor walls all carry fire ratings, and every duct crossing must be fire-stopped to the wall's rating using tested systems.
AS 1851 — Routine service of fire protection systems. AS 1851 governs the periodic inspection, testing and maintenance of fire dampers, smoke dampers, smoke spill fans and associated control sequences. Production facilities that operate 24/7 against tight broadcast schedules can defer no element of AS 1851 maintenance — the fire compliance record is part of the operating licence.
AS 2118 — Sprinkler systems. Soundstages are typically protected by wet-pipe or pre-action sprinkler systems above the lighting grid, with the AS 2118 design integrating around the HVAC supply and return ducts. The HVAC engineer's job is to keep the duct routing out of the sprinkler pattern and to ensure that no diffuser, attenuator or duct elbow obstructs the sprinkler array.
AS 1276 — Acoustic insulation. AS 1276 covers the acoustic insulation of duct walls and lagging. The standard is the source reference for the lagging used on supply ductwork serving Class A acoustic rooms where break-out noise from the duct envelope itself is a design risk.
AS 1428 — Design for access and mobility (DDA). Talent dressing rooms, makeup positions, control room access and audience seating arrangements all carry AS 1428 DDA obligations, which the HVAC design must respect through diffuser placement and floor-level air movement at accessible operator positions.
AS/NZS 60079 — Hazardous areas. Pyrotechnic and SFX workshops storing or handling propellants and effects materials require zone classification under AS/NZS 60079, with HVAC fan motors, control panels and electrical penetrations rated for the relevant zone.
AS 1940 — The storage and handling of flammable and combustible liquids. The SFX workshop and prop paint storage areas carry AS 1940 obligations on the storage configuration, fire protection and ventilation rate of any flammable liquid hold.
AS 4485.1 — Records management. Long-term archive storage of master tapes, LTO cartridges and physical production materials sits inside the AS 4485.1 envelope, with HVAC providing the controlled temperature and humidity required for archival media longevity.
AS 4114 — Spray painting booths. Prop painting and aged-surface treatment work uses an AS 4114 compliant spray booth, with bonded ductwork, fire-rated dampers and a documented airflow specification.
ASHRAE Applications Handbook, Chapter 4 — Places of Assembly. ASHRAE Chapter 4 is the most detailed international reference for assembly occupancy HVAC, covering theatre and live performance space, sports facilities, places of religious worship and exhibition halls. Soundstage HVAC borrows from both Chapter 4 (places of assembly) and Chapter 8 (Communications Centers, which underpins broadcasting facility design — see our broadcasting TV and radio studio HVAC guide).
ASHRAE Standard 62.1 — Ventilation for acceptable indoor air quality. Standard 62.1 cross-references the AS 1668.2 outdoor air rates and adds the breathing-zone ventilation calculation method used on international productions and co-productions with US studios.
Industry standards and exposure limits. The Australian Screen Sound Guild publishes practice guidance on production sound recording environments. The ITU-R BS.1116 listening room standard and ITU-R BS.1770 loudness measurement standard set the acoustic context for any mix theatre. AES (Audio Engineering Society) standards for control rooms guide the design of audio mixing and monitoring spaces. DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) compliance governs screening rooms and preview theatres. Safe Work Australia workplace exposure standards set the air-quality envelope for back-of-house craft spaces: ozone at 0.1 ppm for UV-curing and certain lighting installations, tungsten carbide dust at 5 milligrams per cubic metre at the metal fab bench, softwood dust at 1 milligram per cubic metre and hardwood dust at 5 milligrams per cubic metre at the carpentry bench, MDF formaldehyde at 1 ppm STEL, isocyanate at 0.005 ppm STEL for polyurethane foam carving, styrene at 50 ppm for fibreglass prop moulding, formaldehyde across the wider materials envelope, methyl ethyl ketone at 200 ppm for adhesives, smoke fluid glycol fog at 50 to 60 milligrams per cubic metre for atmospheric effects, and pyrotechnic combustion products in the SFX workshop.
NCC Class 9b assembly. The National Construction Code Class 9b assembly designation applies to soundstages and screening rooms that admit audiences, and triggers obligations on egress, smoke spill, sprinkler coverage and structural fire resistance that flow into the HVAC and ductwork specification.
AS 5061 and AS 5062 waste classification. Set strike, dismantled scenery and prop disposal generates timber, paint, foam, metal and miscellaneous waste streams. The production facility's waste segregation under AS 5061 and AS 5062 may dictate the layout of the loading dock, the recycling sort area and the associated extract HVAC.
Screen Australia and Office for the Arts production support. The Australian federal production support framework administered by Screen Australia and the Office for the Arts shapes the commercial pipeline through the facilities, and the HVAC engineer is occasionally asked to validate that the facility envelope meets the technical requirements of incoming international productions that bring their own technical riders.
Zoning a production campus by acoustic and thermal class
The single most useful early design step on any production campus project is a campus-wide acoustic and thermal zone plan. Every room is colour-coded into one of seven classes, and the duct package follows from the zoning rather than the floor plan.
Class A1 — ADR, voice-over and dialogue replacement booths (NC-15). The most aggressive acoustic envelope on the campus. The recorded subject is the human voice in isolation at close-microphone distance, and any continuous HVAC signature prints into the take and survives any subsequent post-production. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam, with dual attenuators, internal acoustic lining on the last several metres of branch, vibration-isolated hangers throughout, dedicated air handler decoupled from the central plant, and a branch velocity capped at 1.5 metres per second.
Class A2 — Foley stage and small-scale music recording (NC-20 to NC-25). The Foley stage records prop, fabric and footstep performance synchronised to picture. The recorded subject is at close-microphone distance, often in different floor surface positions across the room, and the HVAC has to be quiet across the speech-frequency bands without disturbing the floor surfaces themselves. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam, dual attenuators, acoustic-lined supply, displacement diffusion through low-level perimeter terminals at floor velocity below 0.15 metres per second.
Class B1 — Working soundstage (NC-25 to NC-30). The 2,000 to 5,000 cubic metre stage that hosts a working production day. Production sound is recorded on-set with boom microphones, lavalier microphones and plant microphones, and the HVAC contribution at the sound recordist position must be at least 6 decibels below the NC target to leave headroom for crew movement, ventilation registers and the natural reverberation of the empty stage. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam where the duct enters the talent envelope, with acoustic lining on the last 10 to 15 metres before the supply diffuser. Displacement ventilation from a low-level perimeter plenum is the gold-standard approach for fixed-camera shows where talent moves through a predictable envelope.
Class B2 — Virtual production LED volume (NC-25 with 20 to 22 degrees Celsius envelope). The Mandalorian-style ICVFX stage built around an LED wall and ceiling cap. Acoustic targets follow the soundstage Class B1 envelope. The added complexity is the thermal load from the LED panels themselves (150 to 300 watts per square metre of LED surface) and the tight temperature window required to keep panel pixel pitch consistent and prevent thermal drift in the colour science. Duct construction is a dual circuit: a low-velocity displacement supply at the talent space, plus a sealed back-of-wall plenum drawing the panel exhaust to a dedicated air handler.
Class B3 — Mix theatre, screening room and preview theatre (NC-20 to NC-25, DCI compliant for the screening room, Dolby Atmos certified for the mix theatre). Long-session occupancy where the engineer or executive audience sits for eight to twelve hours under controlled acoustic and visual conditions. Temperature stability of plus or minus 1 Kelvin and humidity stability of plus or minus 10 per cent relative humidity are required across the session window. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam, dual attenuators, sealed penetrations, dedicated air handler with redundancy.
Class C — Control rooms, edit suites, colour grading bays, audio control rooms and VFX artist seats (NC-25 to NC-35 with monitor humidity control). The continuous production work happens in these rooms at high screen and equipment density. The acoustic target is comparable to a high-end office; the thermal load is two to three times typical commercial because of the workstation and monitor density. Climate envelope is 21 to 23 degrees Celsius with 40 to 60 per cent relative humidity to maintain display panel longevity and operator comfort across long sessions.
Class D — Back-of-house craft spaces (NC-40 with heavy extract). Prop fabrication, set construction, scenic painting, costume and wardrobe, makeup and dressing rooms, greenrooms, catering kitchens, loading docks and waste compounds. Each space has its own ventilation requirement and contaminant capture: wood dust at the joinery bench, MDI fume at the foam carving station, styrene at the fibreglass moulding bay, paint overspray in the spray booth, kitchen exhaust at the cooktop, refrigerant venting in the cool room and so on.
Class E — VFX render farm and post-production server room (data centre density). The VFX render farm, broadcast playout server room, archive vault and Master Control Room run at high rack density and full data-centre redundancy. Hot aisle containment with CRAH cooling and N+1 plant. Climate envelope 18 to 27 degrees Celsius supply at the cold aisle, with the long-term tape vault held at 16 to 22 degrees Celsius and 30 to 50 per cent relative humidity.
Soundstage HVAC architecture: the working-stage problem
A working soundstage is the heart of a film and TV production facility. Australian soundstage volumes range from approximately 1,500 cubic metres in a regional drama unit up to the largest stages at Docklands Studios Melbourne (Stage 6 is among the largest in the southern hemisphere) and Disney Studios Australia at Moore Park. The typical NC target inside the working envelope is NC-25 to NC-30 with the HVAC at design flow, and the typical air change rate is 4 to 6 ACH minimum with a sensible cooling allocation sized for the peak lighting rig load.
The thermal load on a modern Australian soundstage is dominated by the lighting rig. Traditional tungsten and HMI rigs ran at 150 to 250 watts per square metre of stage floor with the rig fully energised, and the cooling system had to absorb the full load on a few seconds of cue notice. The wholesale industry shift to LED rigs (ARRI SkyPanel, Aputure Nova, Litepanels Gemini, ARRI Orbiter, Aputure Light Storm) has reduced peak lighting load by 50 to 70 per cent for the same illumination output, with current Australian stages running at 30 to 80 watts per square metre at peak. The cooling plant is still sized for the peak rather than the average, because the stage is unforgiving when the air handler lags the lighting cue by even thirty seconds: talent skin tone shifts visibly under-camera, condensation rings start to drop on the boom microphone and dialogue intelligibility falls off the operating envelope.
Three design strategies dominate Australian soundstage HVAC. First, oversize the chiller and air handler plant for the lighting peak with at least 15 per cent margin, and use variable-speed fan drives that ramp cleanly without inducing duct rumble. Second, deliver air at low velocity and high volume — 4 to 6 ACH minimum, often closer to 8 ACH on a high-key production day — to keep the bulk room temperature stable as the rig cycles. Third, use displacement ventilation rather than ceiling diffusion: deliver air at floor level around the perimeter at a temperature differential of 2 to 4 Kelvin below room temperature, allow the cool air to spread across the floor and rise gently through the heat plume from the rig, and extract at the ceiling above the grid. Displacement diffusion offers two advantages over conventional ceiling diffusion: air movement at face level is essentially zero (talent never feels a draft, microphones never pick up wind noise, lighting key shots are not disturbed by visible air currents), and the warm-air-rises convection captures the contaminant load from set materials, fog effects and human emissions at the ceiling rather than mixing it back through the breathing zone.
The displacement plenum is detailed as a sub-floor or perimeter-wall plenum with a low-velocity supply face. Typical face velocity is 0.10 to 0.15 metres per second, well below the threshold at which a condenser microphone picks up the air movement as a continuous signature. Supply temperature is typically 17 to 19 degrees Celsius for a 22 degree set point, with the temperature differential limited to keep the stratification stable. The plenum is fed from a welded longitudinal seam duct branch with a secondary attenuator within 2 to 3 metres of the plenum entry, and the duct material is galvanised SBKJ SBAL-V output with acoustic lining on the last branch sections. The plenum face is detailed with a filter cassette accessible from the stage side to allow filter replacement without breaking the acoustic envelope.
Where displacement is not practical — smaller stages, cluttered floor plates, productions that move equipment around the perimeter — the alternative is concealed ceiling diffusion through slot diffusers integrated with the lighting grid soffit. Supply air projects upward and outward to mix with the rising heat plume from the rig rather than downward into the talent zone. Diffuser concealment behind the grid is a coordination exercise: every diffuser position aligns with the grid beam pattern, the lighting plot must not block the diffuser throw, and the camera angles must not show the diffuser face in any master shot.
Return air is almost always through the ceiling void above the lighting grid, with the void itself acting as a stratified plenum that captures the warm air from the rig and conveys it back to the air handler. The return penetration through the ceiling is detailed with an acoustic plenum to maintain the NC target — the ceiling void is part of the acoustic envelope, not separate from it. Return ductwork is sized for low velocity (3 to 5 metres per second) to suppress regenerated noise, and is hung on spring isolators where it crosses into the stage perimeter wall.
Heat capture above the grid also serves the smoke management function under AS 1668.1 for stages classified as Class 9b assembly. The same ceiling-level extract that returns conditioned air during normal operation can be re-purposed as the smoke spill path during a fire alarm condition, provided the duct construction is rated to AS 1530.4 for the relevant temperature and duration. The duct material for a dual-purpose smoke-spill-and-comfort-return duct is galvanised AS 4254 with fire-rated wrap (Promat 25 or 50 mm board, Cafco K150 spray, 3M Interam wrap) applied at the fire-rated penetrations, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line in the standard configuration.
Virtual production LED volume HVAC: the Mandalorian problem
The virtual production LED volume — the technology popularised by The Mandalorian and now widely deployed across the global production industry — combines a soundstage acoustic envelope with a tight thermal envelope driven by the LED panel array. Australian deployments include Stage 23 by Wētā Workshop (with footprint across Australia and New Zealand), the Garage Studios volumes, the Disney Studios Australia virtual production capability, the Docklands Studios Melbourne LED stage, the Inflatable Volume mobile arrangements, and a growing network of permanent and semi-permanent ICVFX installations across the major facilities. The technology stack typically combines an ICVFX LED wall and ceiling cap (Disguise, ROE Visual, Vu, Brompton Tessera processors, Mo-Sys camera tracking) with ARRI cameras and Disguise media servers.
The acoustic envelope inside the volume follows the Class B1 soundstage spec (NC-25 to NC-30) because the volume is used for production sound capture of talent in front of the LED wall. The added complexity is the thermal load from the LED panels themselves. A modern ICVFX panel runs at 150 to 300 watts per square metre of LED surface across the panel face, with the heat dissipating through the back of the panel into a back-of-wall plenum. A 12-metre wide, 6-metre tall LED wall with a partial ceiling cap can sum to 80 to 200 kilowatts of waste heat dissipation across the back-of-wall, which represents a major HVAC duty on top of the comfort cooling for the talent envelope.
The standard architecture is a dual-circuit HVAC. The talent-side circuit follows the soundstage displacement pattern: low-velocity perimeter plenum supply at 17 to 19 degrees Celsius, 0.10 to 0.15 metres per second face velocity, 4 to 6 air changes per hour at design flow. The back-of-wall circuit is a sealed plenum drawing the panel exhaust to a dedicated air handler — commonly a packaged DX or chilled-water unit located adjacent to the volume in a dedicated plant room. Supply temperature to the back-of-wall plenum is typically 18 to 22 degrees Celsius, with the air handler sized to maintain the panel back-face temperature within the manufacturer's specified operating window (typically 35 to 45 degrees Celsius depending on the panel model and pixel pitch).
The thermal stability of the panel array directly affects the colour science of the production. LED panels exhibit measurable shift in colour temperature and intensity as panel junction temperature drifts, and the post-production colour pipeline relies on the on-set capture being stable within the manufacturer's calibration window. Australian virtual production stages have measured panel temperature drift of 1 to 3 Kelvin between an unstabilised stage at the start of a shooting day and the same stage two hours into a high-content shot — enough drift to require a colour grade pass that would not otherwise be necessary. The HVAC engineer's job is to keep the panel array thermally stable throughout the shooting day, which means the back-of-wall plenum runs continuously rather than cycling.
Dust control on the LED face is the second design risk. LED panels accumulate dust on their front face from set construction, costume movement and ambient particulate, and the dust eventually requires a cleaning pass that takes the volume out of production. The HVAC supply filtration is therefore specified at F7 (MERV 13) minimum on both the talent-side and back-of-wall circuits, with the talent-side return filter at F7 to prevent dust recirculation, and the back-of-wall supply filter at F8 to F9 to prevent dust seeding onto the LED panels through the panel cooling pathway.
Humidity control inside the volume is held at 40 to 50 per cent relative humidity. Lower humidity creates static charge build-up on costume and set materials that attracts dust to the LED face. Higher humidity creates condensation risk on the panel back-face if the back-of-wall plenum is operating at a supply temperature significantly below dew point. The humidity control is delivered by the central air handler with a chilled water coil sized for the latent load plus an electric or steam re-heat coil to deliver the supply at neutral temperature without over-drying.
Duct construction for the LED volume is welded longitudinal seam for the talent-side supply (because the supply enters the same acoustic envelope as production sound recording), galvanised SBKJ SBAL-V output for the back-of-wall plenum (which sits outside the acoustic envelope), with acoustic lining on both circuits to suppress break-out and regenerated noise. Filters are accessible from outside the acoustic envelope to allow filter replacement without breaking the acoustic seal during a shoot.
Lighting grid heat extract and the catwalk soffit
The lighting grid above a soundstage carries both the production lighting load and a substantial fraction of the HVAC return path. The grid sits typically 6 to 10 metres above stage floor, and is built as a steel-framed lattice carrying the lighting fixtures, dimmer racks, audio reinforcement and rigging hardware. The ceiling void above the grid is typically 1.5 to 3 metres deep, which gives the HVAC engineer room to route return ductwork, catwalks, sprinkler arrays and electrical infrastructure without conflict.
Heat extract above the grid runs at substantial volume because the lighting rig is the dominant heat source on the stage. Typical return rates are 15 to 25 cubic metres per second across a 2,000 to 5,000 cubic metre stage, which means the return ductwork in the ceiling void is the largest duct cross-section in the facility. The return is collected into a header above the grid, ducted to the perimeter, dropped through a riser to the plant room, and routed back to the air handler via attenuators that suppress regenerated noise from the grid-level dampers and turning vanes. The header is detailed as a plenum rather than a sized duct — lower velocity in the plenum means less noise generation, and the plenum geometry also accommodates the variable extract pattern as the lighting rig moves around the stage between productions.
The duct material for the lighting grid extract is galvanised AS 4254 rectangular, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line, with acoustic lining on the runs that cross the stage perimeter wall back to the plant room. Hanger detail is critical: the grid moves during rig changes, and the return ductwork has to be hung from the structural roof rather than from the grid itself, so that grid movement does not transfer into the duct envelope. Spring isolators on the hangers crossing the stage perimeter wall suppress any structure-borne vibration.
Control room cluster: mixing booth, ACR and PCR
The control room cluster on a film and TV production facility includes the production control room (PCR) and audio control room (ACR) for each studio, the central master control room (MCR) on a TV-format facility, and the network operations centre (NOC) on a production facility that interfaces with live broadcast. From an HVAC perspective these rooms share three attributes: high equipment heat load from racks, consoles and monitor walls; tight NC targets in the 25 to 30 range; and a redundancy requirement that escalates to mission-critical for the MCR and broadcast playout server room.
The mixing booth on a feature film or high-end TV drama facility is the audio engineer's primary workspace. The room sits adjacent to the mix theatre and serves as the engineer's console position during the mix session. Typical NC target is NC-20 to NC-25, with a sensible cooling allocation of 250 to 400 watts per square metre driven by the mixing console (a typical Avid S6 or Solid State Logic console runs at 3 to 6 kilowatts including outboard rack), the monitor controller, the recorder/server stack and the talent monitors. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam supply with dual attenuators, hangered on spring isolators, with acoustic lining on the last branch into the booth. The supply temperature is held at 22 degrees Celsius plus or minus 1 K across the mix session, with humidity at 50 per cent plus or minus 10 per cent.
The PCR for a TV studio handles vision mixing, graphics insertion, replay machines and the production director's seat. NC target NC-25 to NC-30 with sensible cooling 250 to 400 watts per square metre. The PCR for a feature film unit is rarer (most film productions go from soundstage directly to post-production rather than mixing live to picture) but appears on episodic TV drama and large-scale variety production.
Cooling redundancy in the control room cluster is industry standard at N+1 on chillers, air handlers and pumps. The MCR on a TV broadcast facility steps up to dual-path supply ductwork from independent air handlers with automatic isolation dampers, concurrent maintenance capability and 24/7 monitoring with alarm escalation. The same redundancy applies to the broadcast playout server room and the VFX render farm where production schedules cannot tolerate a cooling outage.
Edit suite, colour grading bay and VFX artist seat
The post-production floor of a major Australian facility — the Animal Logic campus in Sydney, Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide, Cutting Edge in Sydney, Spinifex in Sydney and Melbourne, Framestore Australia (the merged Method Studios Australia), Digital Pictures, Photon Studios and the others — carries dozens to hundreds of artist seats organised into edit suites, colour grading bays, VFX compositing seats, sound design rooms and producer review spaces. Each seat carries a workstation, two or three monitors, a control surface, a comfort chair and a long-session occupancy pattern. The aggregate equipment heat load can be 200 to 400 watts per square metre across the artist floor, which puts the post-production envelope ahead of a typical commercial office on cooling load even before any project-driven peak.
The colour grading bay deserves specific design attention. The colourist sits in a controlled-lighting room with a calibrated reference monitor (a Dolby PRM, Sony BVM, Flanders Scientific or similar reference display) and a control surface (Blackmagic DaVinci, FilmLight Blackboard) that drives a high-performance compute stack in an adjacent server room. The reference monitor's calibration depends on stable ambient temperature and humidity across the grading session — drift of more than 1 to 2 Kelvin shifts the monitor's white point measurably. The HVAC envelope is therefore held at 21 to 22 degrees Celsius plus or minus 0.5 K with humidity at 45 to 55 per cent relative humidity plus or minus 5 per cent. Air movement at the colourist's seat is below 0.1 metres per second to prevent any draft on the operator. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam supply through dual attenuators with acoustic lining on the last branch.
The VFX artist seat cluster is more permissive on acoustic and thermal envelope but still demands stable conditions across long sessions. NC target NC-30 to NC-35, temperature 21 to 23 degrees Celsius, humidity 40 to 60 per cent. Duct construction is galvanised AS 4254 with conventional swirl or perforated diffusion. The dominant design challenge is the heat density — a busy compositing or rendering seat runs the artist's workstation at 500 to 1,000 watts plus monitor and control surface load, and a cluster of 30 to 50 such seats on a single floor plate requires substantial chilled water capacity and careful return air management to prevent stratification across the room.
Monitor longevity is a secondary but real consideration. Reference displays and high-end OLED monitors have predictable lifetime profiles that depend on ambient temperature and humidity. The artist floor is therefore filtered (F7 supply filtration) and humidity-controlled to extend monitor service life and protect the production facility's display capital investment.
ADR booth, voice-over booth and the NC-15 target
The ADR booth (Automated Dialogue Replacement, also called looping or ADR) and the voice-over booth are the most acoustically demanding rooms on a production campus. The recorded subject is the human voice in isolation at close-microphone distance, and the recording is intended to be cut into the production master with no audible distinction between the on-set production sound and the looped or recorded dialogue. Any continuous HVAC signature prints into the take and survives any subsequent post-production noise reduction with audible artefacts.
The acoustic target inside the booth is NC-15 — an integrated sound pressure level of approximately 25 to 30 dBA across the speech-frequency bands. At NC-15 a calibrated condenser microphone at 30 centimetres from the talent's mouth picks up the room ambience as a barely-detectable floor in the recording. The implication for HVAC design is severe. Outdoor air supply through AS 1668.2 occupancy rates is small in absolute terms (one to three people times 7.5 litres per second per person), but that small volume has to be delivered through a duct system whose contribution at the microphone position is essentially inaudible.
The standard SBKJ design pattern for an NC-15 ADR booth is as follows. Supply ductwork is welded longitudinal seam spiral or rectangular, fully sealed with no detectable air leakage, fabricated on the SBKJ SBTF-1602 spiral tubeformer with welded longitudinal seam tooling or on the SBKJ SBAL-V rectangular line configured for welded seam. A primary attenuator within 2 to 3 metres of the air handler outlet suppresses fan tone propagation across the 125 to 500 hertz octave bands where fan noise concentrates. A secondary attenuator within 2 metres of the booth penetration suppresses regenerated noise from upstream dampers and turning vanes. Duct velocity is capped at 1.5 metres per second in the last 5 metres of branch before the booth.
The supply terminal inside the booth is a low-velocity perforated-face diffuser or a linear ceiling slot with face velocity below 0.5 metres per second. Return is through a ceiling-void plenum with a parallel attenuator path back to the central system, and the return ductwork is sized for the same low velocity as the supply. All penetrations through the booth acoustic envelope are sealed with double-leaf isolation: two layers of resilient lap (mineral wool packing plus elastomeric sealant on each face) so airborne noise cannot pass around the duct through the wall annulus. Any rigid duct hanger crossing the booth wall is replaced with a spring isolator.
The air handler feeding the ADR booth is on a separate, vibration-isolated unit dedicated to the Class A1 acoustic zone, not shared with the office, post-production floor or back-of-house side of the facility. The air handler sits on an inertia base (concrete-filled steel frame, 2 to 4 times unit operating weight) on spring isolators sized for 95 per cent isolation efficiency at the dominant fan tone, natural frequencies in the 4 to 6 hertz range. Flexible canvas or rubberised collars at every fan inlet and outlet break the rigid path from fan to duct, replaced on a 5 to 10 year maintenance cycle.
The cost penalty of this specification is real — an NC-15 booth might add 30 to 50 per cent to the per-square-metre HVAC cost relative to a general office target — but the cost of failing the NC target after commissioning is far higher. Reworking ductwork inside a finished ADR booth means demolishing acoustic wall lining, refabricating duct branches with welded seams and integrated attenuators, and re-commissioning the room. We have seen facilities that tried to save 15 per cent on the original duct package and then spent 4 to 5 times that figure on rectification within the first year of operation.
Foley stage HVAC: floor surfaces and silenced ventilation
The Foley stage is a hybrid space that sits between the ADR booth and the soundstage on the acoustic spec. The recorded subject is the Foley artist performing prop, fabric, footstep and surface effects synchronised to picture, and the room is typically 80 to 200 square metres with multiple floor surfaces (timber, concrete, gravel, sand, tile, carpet, wet patch) arranged across the floor plate. The Foley artist moves between surfaces during a take, which means the HVAC has to deliver clean air across the entire floor plate without disturbing any surface or driving any continuous duct signature into the take.
The acoustic target is NC-20 to NC-25, with the lower bound applied to the most acoustically demanding Foley work (close-microphone fabric and footstep effects on a dry studio film with sparse music). Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam supply with dual attenuators and acoustic lining on the last branch, fabricated on the SBKJ SBTF-1602 spiral with welded seam tooling. Supply is through low-level perimeter displacement plenums at face velocity below 0.15 metres per second, so the floor surfaces themselves are not disturbed by air movement. Return is through ceiling void plenum at the back of the room.
The wet patch — the area of the Foley floor where water effects are recorded — has its own ventilation consideration. Standing water and damp surfaces generate latent load that the HVAC has to absorb without disturbing the acoustic envelope. Local exhaust above the wet patch (with the duct stub silenced for NC-20) draws the moisture-laden air away from the working surface, and the central air handler delivers a re-heat coil to control supply humidity. Duct material in the wet patch extract is 304L stainless to handle the persistent damp environment, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V line with stainless coil stock.
Mix theatre and Dolby Atmos certification
The mix theatre on a high-end film and TV facility is the dubbing stage where the final picture is matched to the final audio mix. The room is typically 150 to 400 square metres with a working mix engineer's position at the centre, a director's row behind, surround monitor speakers around the perimeter, ceiling speakers across the ceiling cap for immersive formats (Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D), and a projection or LED display at the front. Long-session occupancy is the norm: a mix engineer sits in the room for eight to twelve hours per day across the mix schedule, and the room must hold its acoustic and thermal envelope across the session.
Dolby Atmos certification adds specific HVAC obligations. The certified room must hold an integrated sound pressure level inside the NC-20 to NC-25 envelope during a calibration session, with the HVAC at design flow. The ceiling speaker array (typically 4 to 12 speakers across the ceiling cap, depending on room size) creates a coordination problem with the HVAC: the ceiling cap is shared between the speaker array, the supply diffusers, the projection booth window and the acoustic treatment. The HVAC engineer works with the acoustic designer and the systems integrator to place supply terminals where they do not interfere with the speaker firing pattern and where they do not create reflections that disturb the immersive image.
The standard architecture is sealed acoustic envelope construction. The room is built as a double-leaf isolated box (separate stud frames each face, no rigid connection between them) with all penetrations detailed for acoustic continuity. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam from the air handler through the dual attenuators into the room, with the duct material galvanised SBKJ SBAL-V output or SBKJ SBTF-1602 spiral with welded seam tooling depending on the cross-section requirement. Supply terminals are concealed within the ceiling acoustic treatment, with the diffuser face designed to minimise reflection signature. Face velocity is below 1.5 metres per second.
Temperature stability across a mix session is held within plus or minus 1 Kelvin of set point (typically 22 degrees Celsius). Humidity is held within plus or minus 10 per cent of set point (typically 50 per cent). The air handler runs continuously during the mix session, with the supply temperature setpoint locked rather than tracking outdoor conditions. The cooling capacity is sized for the peak occupancy load (8 to 15 occupants in the director's row plus the mix engineer plus auxiliary technical staff) and the equipment load (the mixing console, recorders, projection or LED display, signal processors). Redundancy is N+1 on the air handler if the facility runs back-to-back mix sessions and cannot tolerate a cooling outage.
The mix theatre projection booth carries its own minor HVAC obligation. The booth runs at higher heat load than the theatre proper because of the projector lamp and the rack of processors, and the cooling supply has to handle the projection load without crosstalk into the theatre acoustic envelope. The booth is typically vented through a separate small air handler with a dedicated supply and return path, with the duct construction matched to the theatre's acoustic class to prevent break-in noise from the booth into the theatre.
Screening room and preview theatre
The screening room or preview theatre is the executive review space where the production team, studio executives, distributors and the director audit cuts of the film or episode through the post-production cycle. The room is typically smaller than the mix theatre (50 to 150 square metres) and is configured for visual review rather than mix engineering. The audio system targets reference-grade reproduction but is not used for active mixing.
DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) compliance is the relevant certification for screening rooms intended to review theatrical-grade content. The DCI spec covers projection, audio reproduction, ambient lighting and room geometry; the HVAC contribution to the spec is the acoustic envelope (NC-25 to NC-30) and the thermal stability across the review session. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam supply with dual attenuators, hangered on spring isolators, with acoustic lining on the last branch.
Occupancy load for a screening room is higher per square metre than a mix theatre because the room is configured as audience seating rather than working positions. AS 1668.2 outdoor air at 5 litres per second per audience occupant plus 7.5 litres per second per technical occupant applies, and the air handler is sized for the peak occupancy load. The room is typically used in short sessions (one to three hours per session), so the steady-state thermal stability is less demanding than the mix theatre, but the air handler must reach set point inside a 15 to 30 minute window after the room is opened for a session.
Costume, wardrobe and dressing room HVAC
The costume and wardrobe department on a major Australian production facility holds the production's costume stock for the duration of the shooting schedule, plus the alteration, dye, washing and fitting infrastructure. The department is climate-controlled at 18 to 20 degrees Celsius and 50 to 55 per cent relative humidity to prevent moth damage, mildew growth and fabric deterioration in long-term storage. The room is dust-controlled with F7 supply filtration to keep airborne fibres and particulate off the costume stock.
The wash-up, dye, and wet processing area runs at higher humidity than the storage area (often 60 to 70 per cent RH) and generates latent load and chemical vapour. Local exhaust at the wash and dye station captures the vapour at source, with the duct material specified in 304L stainless to handle the persistent damp environment and the dye chemicals. The 304L stainless duct is fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line configured for stainless coil stock.
The dressing rooms and greenrooms attached to the soundstages are general comfort spaces with one specific complication: the makeup wash station and the wet greenroom shower (provided on some larger facilities for talent quick-change between scenes) generate latent and chemical load that the central comfort HVAC cannot absorb without a dedicated exhaust. The exhaust ductwork is 304L stainless on the wash-down sections and galvanised on the dry sections, with the boundary between the two materials at the first transition out of the wet zone.
Makeup positions (HMU — hair and makeup — trailers and rooms) are general comfort spaces with elevated cooling load due to hair dryers, curling tongs, lighting around the mirror and the talent's body heat under task lighting. Air change rate is 6 to 8 per hour with conventional ceiling diffusion, and the duct construction is galvanised AS 4254 standard.
Prop and set fabrication shop HVAC: dust, fume and spark control
The prop and set fabrication shop is one of the most ventilation-intensive zones on the production campus. The shop combines carpentry, metal fabrication, foam carving, fibreglass moulding, scenic painting and assembly work, often in adjacent or shared floor space, with associated dust, fume, particulate and overspray loads that the HVAC has to capture at source.
The wood dust extract is the largest single duty in most prop shops. Table saws, panel saws, mitre saws, routers, sanders and joinery machines generate softwood and hardwood dust that Safe Work Australia regulates at 1 milligram per cubic metre (softwood) and 5 milligrams per cubic metre (hardwood) eight-hour time-weighted average. Source extract at every machine through a dedicated dust collection circuit with a spark-resistant centrifugal fan is the standard architecture. The extract ductwork is heavy-gauge galvanised with bonded transverse joints to maintain conductive continuity, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line in the spark-resistant configuration. The collected dust is filtered through a baghouse or cartridge filter before discharge to atmosphere, with the filter design rated for combustible dust to NFPA 664 and Australian equivalent practice.
The MDI fume extract serves the foam carving station where polyurethane foam blocks are shaped with hot-wire cutters, knives and pneumatic sanders. Polymeric MDI (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate) fume is regulated at 0.005 ppm short-term exposure limit under Safe Work Australia WES. Source capture above the carving bench through a hood and dedicated extract circuit draws the fume away from the worker's breathing zone. The duct material is galvanised with bonded joints, and the fan is rated for the chemical service. The exhaust discharges through a tall stack with dispersion modelling to ensure ground-level concentrations meet AS 3580 atmospheric monitoring requirements at the facility boundary.
The styrene fume extract serves the fibreglass prop moulding area where polyester resin is mixed with styrene-based hardener and laminated into glass cloth or matting. Styrene is regulated at 50 ppm eight-hour TWA. The styrene extract is the largest single duty on most prop shops with active fibreglass work, with hood extract above each moulding bench drawing the fume to a dedicated central extract fan. Duct material is galvanised with bonded joints; for higher-throughput shops the duct material is upgraded to 304L stainless to resist the long-term effects of styrene condensation in the duct walls.
The MEK and adhesive extract serves the assembly bench where methyl ethyl ketone (200 ppm TWA), contact adhesives and solvent-based finishes are used to bond prop components. Local extract at the bench captures the vapour at source through a perforated face hood. Duct material is galvanised.
The MDF and engineered-board area carries a specific formaldehyde exposure risk. Formaldehyde STEL of 1 ppm applies to short-term exposure during cutting, sanding and routing of MDF and particleboard. Source extract at the machine through the same dust collection circuit as the wood dust extract captures the formaldehyde-bearing particulate. Continuous monitoring at the breathing zone during high-MDF days is best practice for facilities running long-form drama or sets with extensive panel work.
The scenic painting area combines spray painting, brush painting, ageing treatments and surface effects. Spray painting work is conducted in an AS 4114 compliant spray booth with bonded ductwork, fire-rated dampers and documented airflow specification, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V line with the bonded-joint specification. The booth captures overspray and solvent vapour through a dry filter array or a water-wash curtain, with the extract discharged through a tall stack. Brush painting and ageing treatments outside the booth rely on the general shop ventilation, supplemented by portable extract for solvent-heavy work.
The general shop ventilation rate is set to maintain breathing-zone concentrations well below the regulated exposure limits across the working day. AS 1668.2 occupancy rates apply on top of the source extract, and the makeup air is drawn from outside to balance the substantial extract volume. The shop is typically held at slight negative pressure relative to the adjacent soundstage and back-of-house corridors to prevent dust and fume migration into the talent zones.
Special effects (SFX) workshop and pyrotechnic storage
The SFX workshop on a major Australian production facility handles practical effects fabrication, pyrotechnics, atmospheric effects (smoke, fog, haze, snow) and on-set special rig assembly. The HVAC architecture combines general ventilation with specific exhaust circuits for the various contaminant loads, plus the hazardous-area provisions for pyrotechnic storage and handling under AS/NZS 60079 and AS 1940.
Pyrotechnic storage is held in a dedicated magazine that meets the relevant state regulator's licensing conditions (Victorian WorkSafe and equivalent in NSW, Queensland, SA, WA, Tasmania and the Territories). The magazine is ventilated to prevent vapour accumulation, with the ventilation rate sized to maintain the magazine interior below the lower explosive limit of any stored material under normal conditions. The HVAC fan motors and control panels in the magazine area are rated for the hazardous zone classification (typically Zone 1 or Zone 2 under AS/NZS 60079) with intrinsically safe or flameproof construction.
The atmospheric effects (smoke fluid glycol, water-based fog, haze generators) generate aerosol load during use on the soundstage. Smoke fluid glycol exposure is regulated at 50 to 60 milligrams per cubic metre under Safe Work Australia WES for the glycerin and propylene glycol fractions used in most modern smoke fluid. The soundstage HVAC clears the glycol aerosol between takes through the standard ceiling-level extract, with the air change rate sized to clear the stage from full smoke load to clear in approximately 5 to 10 minutes between takes. The duct material for the smoke extract from the soundstage is galvanised AS 4254 standard, with the air handler downstream filter sized for the glycol aerosol load over the production schedule.
Pyrotechnic combustion products from on-stage SFX shots (gas mortars, sparks, flash effects, controlled fires) are cleared through the same ceiling-level extract path. The production planning ensures that the air handler can clear the combustion load between takes within the production schedule, and the upstream coil and filter are sized for the predictable aerosol and particulate loading.
Catering kitchen and craft services
The catering kitchen on a production campus serves the unit catering function during the shooting day. The HVAC design follows NFPA 96 commercial kitchen exhaust guidance plus AS 1668.2 makeup air provisions. A canopy hood above the cooking line captures the cooking effluent, grease aerosol and combustion products, and discharges through a grease-tight duct riser to a roof-mounted exhaust fan. The duct construction is welded 16 gauge galvanised in line with NFPA 96 requirements, fabricated on the SBKJ stitchwelder equipment or the SBKJ SBLR-600 longitudinal welder for the welded seams. Fire protection is provided through a wet chemical hood fire suppression system tied into the kitchen fire alarm.
The craft services area — the snack and refreshment area for crew between takes — is a general commercial occupancy with conventional comfort HVAC. The fridge, coffee machine and warming appliances generate modest heat load, captured through the general ceiling extract.
VFX render farm and post-production server room HVAC
The VFX render farm on a major Australian VFX house — Animal Logic Sydney, Rising Sun Pictures Adelaide, Cutting Edge Sydney, Spinifex Sydney and Melbourne, Framestore Australia (the merged Method Studios Australia), Digital Pictures, Photon Studios, Iloura (now part of Framestore), Atomic Cartoons, Princess Pictures — runs at data centre density with GPU-heavy compute nodes, fast network fabric, parallel filesystem storage and a continuous active rendering load through the production cycle. Rack densities of 20 to 30 kilowatts per rack are common, with the largest VFX houses operating multi-row pods totalling several megawatts of active compute.
The HVAC architecture follows the modern data centre pattern. Hot aisle containment with sealed end-of-row doors, ceiling cap and floor plenum keeps the hot exhaust from re-circulating to the cold aisle. CRAH units (computer room air handlers) located outside the contained aisle draw the hot air from the ceiling plenum, cool it through chilled water coils, and return it to the cold aisle through a raised floor plenum or overhead supply manifold. Supply temperature at the cold aisle is 18 to 22 degrees Celsius, with the rack inlet temperature monitored continuously and the chilled water supply temperature adjusted to maintain the rack inlet within the manufacturer's specified window.
Redundancy is N+1 on the CRAH units, the chillers, the pumps and the chilled water reticulation. The cold aisle supply manifold is dual-path where the rack rows carry active project shots that cannot tolerate a cooling outage. The hot aisle return plenum is sized for low velocity (3 to 5 metres per second) to suppress noise transmission back into the adjacent artist floor.
The duct package for the render farm uses the heavier-gauge construction typical of data centre supply. The high-volume return plenum is fabricated as a stiffened rectangular duct on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line, with angle-iron flange joints produced on the SBKJ SBFB-1500 flange machine (7.5 kilowatt, 1.20 metres per minute) for the heavier sections. The cold aisle supply manifold is galvanised AS 4254 rectangular on the SBKJ SBAL-V line. The duct routing crosses the boundary between the render farm and the adjacent artist floor with acoustic attenuation on the supply and return to suppress fan and equipment noise transmission. For more on data centre HVAC architecture and the underlying duct manufacturing, see our data centre HVAC ductwork guide.
The broadcast playout server room on a TV production facility follows the same architecture at smaller scale. The playout servers, master control switchers, ad insertion stack and the on-air automation run at high availability and cannot tolerate a cooling outage during a live transmission window. The HVAC is N+1 redundant with dual-path supply and quarterly changeover testing under a documented procedure.
LTO tape vault and long-term archive
The LTO tape vault on a film and TV facility holds the master archive of finished productions, dailies, project files and long-term backups. Modern Australian facilities typically operate LTO-9 (18 terabyte native capacity per cartridge) with an active migration schedule moving older generations forward. The vault is typically operated as an on-prem facility (Spinifex, Rising Sun Pictures, the major broadcasters), with mirror copies at a separate physical location for disaster recovery.
The climate envelope for LTO tape vault storage is set by the LTO Ultrium media specification at 16 to 25 degrees Celsius and 20 to 50 per cent relative humidity for active media (cartridges in regular access), with the long-term archival envelope tighter at 16 to 22 degrees Celsius and 30 to 50 per cent relative humidity. Drift outside these envelopes accelerates magnetic media degradation and reduces the projected service life of the archive. The HVAC design holds the vault at 18 degrees Celsius plus or minus 2 K and 40 per cent relative humidity plus or minus 10 per cent across a multi-decade operating window.
The duct package for the LTO vault is conventional galvanised AS 4254 with the supply temperature controlled tightly through a dedicated air handler. Air change rate is 4 to 6 per hour to maintain the climate envelope without disturbing the cartridge handling. Filtration is F7 supply to prevent particulate accumulation on the cartridge surfaces. Humidity control is essential, with both a chilled water coil for dehumidification and a re-heat coil (electric or steam) plus a humidifier (steam, ultrasonic or evaporative) for humidification during winter operation. The duct material in the humidifier zone is galvanised with sealed transverse joints to prevent condensate weeping into the room below.
Production office, NOC and administrative spaces
The production office floor of a major facility carries the producers, line producers, production coordinators, accountants, schedulers, post-production supervisors, technical management and visiting talent agency representatives across the production cycle. The HVAC envelope is conventional commercial office (NC-35 to NC-40, 21 to 23 degrees Celsius, 8 to 10 air changes per hour at design flow), with the standard galvanised AS 4254 duct package fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line.
The network operations centre (NOC) on a facility that interfaces with live broadcast or remote post-production runs at higher equipment density than the general office, with monitor walls, server racks and continuous occupancy. NC target NC-25 to NC-30. The duct package is welded longitudinal seam supply with dual attenuators for the operator positions, hangered on spring isolators, with the air handler N+1 redundant on the cooling side.
Australian operator landscape and addressable market
Understanding the addressable market for film and TV production HVAC fabrication in Australia starts with the operator and facility map. Each of the operators below maintains either a campus-scale facility or a distributed network of production, post-production and VFX infrastructure that aggregates to a substantial HVAC fitout obligation.
Major soundstage operators. Disney Studios Australia at Moore Park in Sydney (the legacy Fox Studios Australia campus) operates multiple major soundstages and is the regular home of large-scale international features and high-end TV drama produced in Australia. Docklands Studios Melbourne is Australia's largest soundstage operator by floor area at approximately 38,000 square metres across six stages, hosting major Hollywood features and Australian production. Village Roadshow Studios at Oxenford on the Gold Coast operates Studio 9 at approximately 3,600 square metres and a cluster of supporting stages, hosting Marvel, Warner and DC features. Daydream Studios in Adelaide and the South Australian Film Corporation's Adelaide Studios run the major South Australian production. Screenwest and supporting facilities in Perth host Western Australian production. Sydney Showground Studios and Walter Reade Studios operate smaller-scale facilities in Sydney. Auckland Studios across the Tasman regularly host Australian productions on co-production schedules.
Virtual production operators. Stage 23 by Wētā Workshop operates virtual production capability across Australia and New Zealand. Garage Studios operates LED volumes in Sydney. The Inflatable Volume operates a portable LED volume for mobile virtual production. Disney Studios Australia, Docklands Studios Melbourne and Village Roadshow Studios all operate virtual production capability inside their existing soundstage campuses. The number of active LED volume installations across Australia has roughly tripled over the past three years and the technology is now an integral part of any major production schedule.
Animal Logic and the major VFX houses. Animal Logic in Sydney is Australia's largest VFX house by floor area and headcount, with credits across The Lego Movie, Happy Feet, Peter Rabbit and the broader Hollywood feature slate. Rising Sun Pictures in Adelaide built its reputation across Mad Max Fury Road, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the broader Hollywood pipeline. Cutting Edge in Sydney serves long-form drama and feature post-production. Spinifex operates from Sydney and Melbourne campuses. Framestore Australia (the merged Method Studios Australia and Iloura) operates the Sydney post-production hub. Digital Pictures runs Sydney and Melbourne post operations. Photon Studios serves the Australian feature slate. Atomic Cartoons and Princess Pictures serve the animation and children's content pipeline. Soundfirm in Sydney is the major sound post-production house with credits across the Australian feature slate.
Free-to-air broadcasters with major production infrastructure. ABC TV operates campuses at Ultimo (Sydney) and Southbank (Melbourne) with smaller hubs in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Darwin. SBS operates the Artarmon (Sydney) campus and Melbourne facility. Network Seven operates Pyrmont (Sydney), Docklands (Melbourne) and Mt Coot-tha (Brisbane) with Adelaide and Perth secondary facilities. Nine Entertainment operates North Sydney, Docklands (Melbourne), Mt Coot-tha (Brisbane), Adelaide and Perth. Network 10 operates Pyrmont (Sydney) and South Yarra (Melbourne). Foxtel operates Macquarie Park (Sydney). The broadcaster's facility profile combines production capability with the broadcasting envelope covered in our broadcasting TV and radio studio HVAC guide.
Streaming services with Australian commissioning. Stan (Pyrmont, Sydney), Binge, Disney+ Australia, Netflix Australia, Paramount+ Australia and Amazon Prime Video Australia all commission Australian production for their platforms, with the commissioned production typically delivered through the major Australian soundstages and post-production houses. The streaming services operate their own technical infrastructure (origin servers, edge servers, encoding stacks) inside carrier-neutral data centres rather than on production campuses.
Industry bodies and standards organisations. Screen Producers Australia (SPA) represents the Australian production sector. The Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) provides the cinematographic discipline. The Australian Screen Sound Guild publishes practice guidance on production sound recording environments. The Visual Effects Society (VES) Australia chapter represents the VFX discipline. The Australian Television and Radio Broadcasters (ABA) is the historical broadcaster body. Screen Australia and the Office for the Arts administer the federal production support framework.
Materials selection: galvanised, 304L stainless, welded seam, spark-resistant
The choice of duct material on a film and TV production project is dictated by the room it serves and the contaminant load it carries. The four primary materials are conventional galvanised AS 4254, welded longitudinal seam galvanised or stainless, 304L stainless steel, and spark-resistant galvanised. Each has a defined application across the production campus.
Conventional galvanised AS 4254. Standard commercial HVAC fabrication. Pittsburgh seam rectangular, snap-lock or roll-formed spiral round, transverse joints sealed with TDC, TDF flange or slip-and-drive. Suitable for all Class C, D and E rooms across the production campus — edit suites, VFX artist seats, render farm cold aisle supply, prop shop, back-of-house, machine rooms, production offices. Branch velocity up to 10 metres per second. Standard sealant class typical (Class B or C). Acceptable noise contribution at the diffuser is achieved through diffuser selection and attenuator placement rather than duct construction.
Welded longitudinal seam galvanised. The longitudinal seam is continuously welded on the SBKJ SBLR-600 or SBLR-600A longitudinal welder, creating an air-tight tube with no detectable air leakage at operating pressure. Used for all Class A1, A2, B1, B2 and B3 supply and return ductwork — ADR booths, voice-over booths, foley stages, soundstages, virtual production volumes, mix theatres, screening rooms. The construction is more expensive than standard Pittsburgh or snap-lock duct but is the only practical option for NC-15 to NC-25 spaces.
304L stainless steel. Used for damp greenroom, makeup wash-up, costume dye and wash area, foley wet patch and fibreglass styrene extract circuits. 304L is a low-carbon stainless variant with improved weldability and corrosion resistance for the persistent damp and chemical-bearing service environments. The SBKJ SBAL-V auto duct line is configured for stainless coil stock to fabricate the 304L variants. Welded stainless components (canopy hoods, special joints, plenum boxes) are produced using SBKJ stitchwelder equipment with TIG seam welding for full pressure-vessel integrity.
Spark-resistant galvanised. Used for prop shop wood dust extract and any extract carrying combustible particulate. The duct material is conventional galvanised with bonded transverse joints to maintain conductive continuity, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V line with the spark-resistant configuration. The fan downstream of the duct is also spark-resistant construction, with a non-ferrous impeller and conductive shaft and bearing assembly to prevent ignition from electrostatic discharge.
Acoustic lining is specified across all four material classes on the runs serving Class A and Class B rooms, with the lining typically 25 to 50 millimetres of fibreboard or fibre-blanket bonded to the inner duct surface. SBKJ supplies acoustic-lined duct as a fabrication option on the SBAL-V auto duct line, with the lining applied during the duct forming sequence rather than as a separate post-fabrication step. For more on acoustic lining materials, attenuator sizing and the duct-acoustic engineering trade-off, see our acoustic HVAC duct lining and attenuator guide.
Attenuator sizing and placement
Attenuators (duct silencers) are inline components consisting of a parallel array of acoustically absorptive splitters that reduce sound power propagating down the duct in each octave band. Selection is by required insertion loss in the dominant frequency bands, balanced against the silencer's pressure loss.
Primary attenuators sit close to the air handler fan, suppressing fan tone and broadband noise before it propagates into the building duct system. Sizing is driven by the fan sound power spectrum and the cumulative insertion loss required to bring duct-borne noise below the lowest NC target served by that air handler. Typical primary attenuators for production facility work are 1.5 to 2.5 metres long, with splitter spacings selected for the 125 to 500 hertz octave bands where fan tones dominate.
Secondary attenuators sit close to the supply terminal, typically within 2 to 5 metres of the room penetration, suppressing regenerated noise from upstream dampers, transitions and balancing devices. Where the room is Class A1 (ADR booth at NC-15), the secondary attenuator is supplemented by acoustic lining on the duct between the attenuator and the supply terminal, to suppress any final residual noise from the attenuator outlet itself.
Cross-talk attenuators are added to duct branches serving two acoustically sensitive rooms in series, where airborne sound can travel through the ductwork from one room to the other. Where two ADR booths share a corridor and a common duct branch, a cross-talk attenuator is fitted in the duct between the branch take-offs to prevent audio crosstalk through the duct.
Attenuator placement is as important as selection. A correctly sized attenuator in the wrong location does not suppress noise reliably — an attenuator downstream of a balancing damper allows damper-regenerated noise to travel straight to the diffuser. The design rule: attenuators always go downstream of the noise source they suppress, with no significant noise-generating element (damper, elbow, transition) between the attenuator and the room.
Vibration isolation and structural detail
Vibration is the silent killer of production facility HVAC acoustic performance. A perfectly sized attenuator suite delivers nothing if the air handler is bolted rigidly to the structure or if the duct is hung on rigid rod hangers crossing into the soundstage ceiling. Three isolation layers are essential.
First, the air handler and fan plant. Every air handler serving Class A or B zones sits on an inertia base (concrete-filled steel frame, 2 to 4 times unit operating weight) on spring isolators sized for at least 95 per cent isolation efficiency at the dominant fan tone, natural frequencies in the 4 to 6 hertz range.
Second, duct connections. Flexible canvas or rubberised collars at every fan inlet and outlet break the rigid path from fan to duct, replaced on a 5 to 10 year maintenance cycle — a failed flex connector is a common cause of progressive duct rumble months after commissioning.
Third, duct hangers. Where ductwork crosses into a Class A or B ceiling void, rigid rod hangers are replaced with spring isolators, natural frequencies 4 to 8 hertz. Even a small section of rigid hanger crossing the studio acoustic envelope can short-circuit the entire isolation scheme.
Beyond the three core layers, structural detail at every penetration matters. Where ductwork crosses an acoustically rated wall, the wall is built with double-leaf isolation (separate stud frames each face, no rigid connection between them) and the duct passes through isolated sleeves that maintain the acoustic seal. The penetration is detailed with two layers of resilient lap (mineral wool packing plus elastomeric sealant each face) so airborne noise cannot pass around the duct through the wall annulus.
Fire, smoke and life-safety integration
Australian building code provisions for fire dampers, smoke spill ductwork and emergency ventilation must be integrated into a production facility HVAC scheme without compromising the acoustic envelope. Any duct crossing a fire-rated wall requires a fire damper rated to the wall's fire resistance level per AS 1530.4, and for Class A studios the damper is selected for low pressure loss and minimum acoustic signature, with additional acoustic detailing on both sides.
Large soundstages with audience seating and screening rooms classified as Class 9b assembly require dedicated smoke spill ductwork sized for high temperature operation (300 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes per AS 4254 Part 3 fire-rated duct provisions), routed independently of the comfort HVAC. Smoke spill fans are typically roof-mounted and activated by fire alarm in coordination with the building fire trip sequence. The smoke spill duct material is heavy-gauge galvanised, fabricated on the SBKJ SBAL-V line in the fire-rated configuration.
Sprinkler integration follows AS 2118 with wet-pipe or pre-action sprinkler systems above the lighting grid in the soundstage, and the HVAC duct routing coordinated to keep diffusers, attenuators and elbows clear of the sprinkler array pattern.
Fire damper testing and maintenance follow AS 1851, with quarterly visual inspection and annual functional testing as the baseline schedule. The facility's fire compliance record is part of the operating licence, and any failure of the AS 1851 schedule is a material issue at audit.
Service penetration fire-stopping at every duct crossing follows AS 4072, with tested systems documented and inspected periodically.
Commissioning and acoustic measurement
Commissioning is where the HVAC design meets reality, and production facility commissioning is more demanding than most building types. Five measurement protocols are essential.
First, NC measurement at every Class A and Class B operating position. With HVAC at design flow and the room in operational configuration (lighting rig at production peak in the soundstage, console at mix-session config in the mix theatre, microphone at recording position in the ADR booth), an acoustic engineer measures sound pressure level in octave bands from 63 hertz to 8 kilohertz at each microphone and operator position, compared against the NC curves and acoustic specification. Any band exceeding target requires investigation and remediation before sign-off.
Second, duct-borne noise spectrum at the supply diffuser. Via close-microphone measurement, separated from room reverberation to identify attenuator deficiencies or regenerated noise from upstream dampers. The diffuser-level measurement is the diagnostic that catches attenuator under-sizing before it becomes a production sound complaint.
Third, vibration measurement at the air handler and at duct hangers crossing acoustic boundaries. Accelerometers verify inertia base isolation efficiency (typically 95 per cent or better) and hanger isolation performance.
Fourth, thermal and humidity stability across operational duty cycles. A four-hour live-shoot simulation at full lighting and occupant load in the soundstage. A twelve-hour mix simulation in the mix theatre. A 24-hour render burn-in in the VFX server room. The HVAC must maintain set-point within 0.5 to 1 K and humidity within 5 to 10 per cent RH across the test window. Drift outside these bounds during a real production leads to visible camera issues, monitor calibration drift and audio artefacts.
Fifth, life-safety system commissioning. Fire damper actuation, smoke spill fan activation, smoke control sequence verification under simulated alarm condition. The fire and smoke commissioning is signed off by the facility's accredited fire commissioning engineer and the relevant building surveyor.
The commissioning report becomes part of the facility's permanent acoustic and life-safety certification and is referenced at every subsequent maintenance or refurbishment activity.
Maintenance and lifecycle
Production facility HVAC maintenance is more demanding than commercial office maintenance because the acoustic and climate performance of every component degrades on a known schedule and must be refreshed before the degradation becomes audible on the production master or visible in the colour grade.
Flexible duct connectors at fan inlets and outlets fail in 5 to 10 years through ozone exposure and thermal cycling, and a failed flex connector transmits fan vibration directly into the duct and produces a low-frequency rumble that prints into ADR and Foley recording. Replacement on a planned cycle prevents the unplanned acoustic failure.
Attenuator splitter material absorbs moisture and particulate over decades and loses absorption coefficient — inspection and replacement on a 5 to 7 year cycle maintains insertion loss at design.
Spring isolators under air handler plant settle and shift natural frequency. Re-adjustment on a 10 to 15 year cycle restores design performance.
Duct sealant at Class A penetrations dries and cracks over decades, creating pinhole leaks that allow noise break-out into ceiling voids. Periodic re-sealing maintains the acoustic envelope.
VAV control loops drift over years of operation and can develop audible hunting that requires periodic re-tuning.
Filter replacement is on a continuous cycle, with F7 supply filters typically replaced every 3 to 6 months on the production-side circuits and every 6 to 12 months on the back-of-house circuits.
LED volume back-of-wall plenum filters are replaced more frequently (monthly) because of the higher dust load from the soundstage side, and the panel face is wiped down on a weekly cycle during active shooting.
The annual maintenance budget for a major production HVAC installation is typically 4 to 6 per cent of installed capital value, higher than the 2 to 3 per cent typical for commercial office.
SBKJ machine configuration for a film and TV production fabrication scope
A duct fabricator quoting a film and TV production project needs to deliver four duct construction classes from a single workshop: high-volume galvanised AS 4254 for the Class C, D and E rooms; welded longitudinal seam galvanised or stainless for the Class A and B branches; 304L stainless for the damp and chemical-bearing extract; and spark-resistant galvanised for the prop shop wood dust. SBKJ's recommended machine configuration for this scope is built around four cells.
Cell 1 — SBAL-V galvanised auto duct line. The SBAL-V is the workhorse for high-volume rectangular ductwork. The line runs 0.5 to 1.5 millimetre coil thickness at 16 metres per minute working speed with 87 kilowatt installed power, accepting coil widths up to 1500 millimetres on the SBAL-V-1500J model. It produces the galvanised supply and return ductwork for soundstages, virtual production volumes, control rooms, post-production floors, back-of-house, machine rooms and the VFX render farm cold aisle supply. The machine includes coil decoiling, levelling, longitudinal seam roll-forming, transverse end-forming for TDF or angle flange, and inline cut-to-length. The same SBAL-V platform configured for 304L stainless coil stock produces the damp greenroom, makeup wash-up, costume dye and styrene extract ductwork — the same machine handles both material classes through a coil-change procedure.
Cell 2 — SBTF-1602 spiral tubeformer configured for welded longitudinal seam. The SBTF-1602 spiral tubeformer is the platform for round spiral ductwork from 80 millimetres up to 1600 millimetres diameter, configured with welded longitudinal seam tooling rather than the standard mechanical seam. The welded-seam configuration produces airtight tube suitable for Class A1, A2, B1, B2 and B3 branches into ADR booths, voice-over booths, foley stages, soundstages, virtual production volumes, mix theatres and screening rooms. SBKJ supplies the welding integration as a factory option, including welding power source, seam tracking, gas shielding and inline weld inspection. The same SBTF-1602 base machine can be reconfigured back to mechanical seam for non-acoustic work, which protects the fabricator's investment across multiple project types.
Cell 3 — SBFB-1500 angle-iron flange machine. The SBFB-1500 flange machine produces angle-iron flanges at 7.5 kilowatt power input and 1.20 metres per minute throughput, supporting the flanged-joint construction that supplements TDF on the heavier-gauge plenum sections feeding VFX render farm CRAH manifolds, smoke spill duct risers and the heavy-gauge back-of-wall plenum on virtual production volumes. The flanged-joint construction also supports the field-installation requirements on the heavier rectangular sections that exceed the SBAL-V transverse end-forming capacity.
Cell 4 — Attenuator and acoustic-lined fabrication. Integrated attenuators (duct silencers) can be fabricated in-house using a combination of the SBAL-V rectangular line for the silencer outer casing, a dedicated splitter assembly bench for the acoustic splitter array, and a mineral fibre cutting and bonding workstation for the absorptive infill. SBKJ engineers can specify the attenuator dimensions, splitter spacing, absorption thickness and end conditions to match a given acoustic insertion loss target, and the fabrication can be integrated into the project ductwork delivery from the same shop. Acoustic-lined duct is fabricated on the SBAL-V auto duct line in the double-skin configuration, with the lining bonded to the inner skin during the duct forming sequence.
The four-cell configuration covers approximately 95 per cent of the duct fabrication scope for a typical Australian film and TV production project. The remaining 5 per cent — exotic transitions, custom architectural plenums, very large rectangular boxes, welded stainless canopy hoods for the catering kitchen — is typically handled as bench fabrication using the same coil stock and the same fabrication standards. Welded stainless components are produced using SBKJ stitchwelder equipment with the SBLR-600 and SBLR-600A longitudinal welders (7.6 metres per minute) handling the long stainless seams characteristic of canopy hood and large plenum fabrication. The SBHF hydraulic folder and the SBPC1500 plasma cutter handle the bespoke transitions, offsets and plenum cutouts that no automatic line can match.
A fabricator setting up for the film and TV production market with this machine configuration can quote a complete facility duct package competitively against any specialist acoustic ductwork supplier. The full SBKJ machine range is available with engineering support from our Box Hill North VIC office for Australian and Pacific projects, and our engineering team supports project quoting with specific guidance on duct construction class, attenuator integration and the practical fabrication tolerances required for the NC-15 to NC-25 acoustic envelopes.
Project case patterns: feature drama, episodic TV, virtual production retrofit and VFX house build
Four project case patterns recur on SBKJ's customer book across the Australian production sector. Each carries a distinct duct fabrication profile and a distinct commissioning challenge.
The feature drama soundstage refit. A major Hollywood feature locks in production at Disney Studios Australia, Docklands Studios Melbourne or Village Roadshow Studios with a 14 to 20 week prep period. The HVAC scope is a soundstage refurbishment to bring the air handler capacity up to the lighting peak of the rig the production is bringing in (often a tungsten or HMI legacy rig still in use for night exteriors), plus an acoustic upgrade on the supply and return ducts to bring NC down from the previous tenant's standard. The duct fabrication scope is welded longitudinal seam supply and return into the working envelope of the stage, with the existing back-of-house ductwork retained. Lead time on the duct fabrication is 6 to 8 weeks, with installation in the dark weeks between productions. The SBKJ SBAL-V and SBTF-1602 production cells run the fabrication in parallel.
The episodic TV drama production base. An Australian episodic TV drama series locks in a multi-year production base at one of the established facilities. The HVAC scope is the soundstage plus the production office, edit suites, audio post and wardrobe. Duct fabrication scope is mixed galvanised AS 4254 and welded longitudinal seam, with the post-production cluster carrying the welded-seam supply for the audio post rooms. Lead time on the duct fabrication is 8 to 12 weeks, with installation phased across the facility commissioning schedule.
The virtual production retrofit. A studio operator installs an LED volume into an existing soundstage to capture the virtual production market. The HVAC scope is the back-of-wall plenum (dedicated air handler and ductwork) plus the talent-side acoustic upgrade. Duct fabrication scope is heavy-gauge galvanised for the back-of-wall plenum (SBKJ SBAL-V with SBFB-1500 flanges) plus welded longitudinal seam for the talent-side supply (SBKJ SBTF-1602 with welded seam tooling). Lead time on the duct fabrication is 6 to 10 weeks. The commissioning challenge is to validate the panel back-face temperature stability and the talent-side NC target simultaneously, which requires both an acoustic engineer and a thermal engineer on the commissioning team.
The VFX house render farm expansion. A major VFX house expands its render farm capacity by 30 to 100 racks to take on a larger feature project pipeline. The HVAC scope is the new CRAH installation, the supply and return duct manifolds, the chilled water reticulation and the hot aisle containment integration. Duct fabrication scope is heavy-gauge galvanised on SBKJ SBAL-V with SBFB-1500 angle-iron flanges for the heavier sections. Lead time on the duct fabrication is 4 to 6 weeks, with installation phased to avoid disrupting the active production load on the existing farm. For more on data centre HVAC architecture and the underlying duct manufacturing, see our data centre HVAC ductwork guide.
Comparison to adjacent acoustic-sensitive sectors
Film and TV production HVAC sits within a family of acoustic-sensitive sectors that share design vocabulary while differing in specific obligations. Comparing across the family helps the design engineer transfer experience between sectors and understand the boundary conditions on each.
The broadcasting TV and radio studio sector overlaps the production sector substantially — many TV studios are dual-purpose between broadcast and production use. The broadcasting overlay adds master control room redundancy and the 24/7 mission-critical playout obligation that does not always apply to a pure production facility. The acoustic envelope and duct construction principles are essentially identical.
The concert hall and performing arts centre sector shares the displacement ventilation pattern, the welded-seam duct construction, the vibration isolation discipline and the long-session occupancy load. The difference is the audience occupancy density and the architectural integration with the venue's acoustic geometry rather than with the production camera and lighting rig.
The cinema and theatre entertainment sector shares the screening room and the audience-occupancy load. The difference is the lower acoustic obligation (cinema audiences tolerate NC-30 to NC-35 against the NC-20 to NC-25 mix theatre) and the higher peak-occupancy density.
The data centre sector shares the high-density compute cooling pattern that applies to the VFX render farm and the broadcast playout server room. The principal difference is that the production VFX farm operates inside a building shared with acoustic-sensitive rooms, which constrains the air handler placement and the noise transmission through the building structure.
How SBKJ supports film and TV production fabricators
SBKJ Group, headquartered in Box Hill North VIC, supplies HVAC duct fabrication machinery to fabricators across 100+ countries and has supported acoustic-sensitive and climate-controlled projects across the Australian market and internationally. For fabricators quoting film and TV production work specifically, our engineering team provides three layers of support.
First, the SBAL-V galvanised auto duct line, the SBTF-1602 spiral tubeformer with welded longitudinal seam configuration and the SBFB-1500 flange machine are all deliverable as turn-key fabrication cells from our Australian operation, with the welded-seam tooling supplied as a factory option from the original quotation. Lead times for the platforms are typical of large industrial machinery — 12 to 20 weeks from order — and our Box Hill North office handles commissioning and Australian installation directly.
Second, our engineering team supports project quoting with specific guidance on duct construction class, attenuator integration, acoustic lining specification, displacement plenum geometry and the practical fabrication tolerances required for the NC-15 to NC-25 acoustic envelopes characteristic of soundstage, ADR booth and mix theatre work. We have provided this support on acoustic-sensitive projects across the production, broadcasting, performing arts, cinema and data centre sectors.
Third, we maintain a deep reference library on the duct construction, acoustic lining and attenuator specifications used in Australian production and post-production work, which is published openly across our insights library. Combined with the acoustic HVAC duct lining and attenuator guide, the AS 1668.2 Australian ventilation code reference and the AS 4254 Australian ductwork construction reference, this gives a fabricator the technical underpinning to quote and deliver production HVAC work with confidence against the major Australian operators.
For project enquiries, machine configuration discussion, or technical sounding on a current bid, contact our Box Hill North engineering team through the SBKJ contact page. The 12-hour reply guarantee applies to every production HVAC enquiry as it does to every other SBKJ engineering enquiry.
Discuss a production duct package with an SBKJ engineer →
FAQ
What NC rating is required inside a film soundstage?
A working soundstage targets NC-25 to NC-30 with the HVAC at design flow — quiet enough that production sound can record clean dialogue without the duct system printing into the master. ADR booths target NC-15 and foley stages target NC-20 to NC-25. Achieving NC-25 on a 2,000 to 5,000 cubic metre stage requires displacement ventilation at very low face velocity, welded longitudinal seam supply duct, dual attenuators and vibration-isolated plant.
How is a virtual production LED volume different from a traditional soundstage?
The virtual production volume layers a tight 20 to 22 degree Celsius thermal envelope and 40 to 50 per cent humidity onto the soundstage acoustic spec, plus a back-of-wall plenum drawing 150 to 300 watts per square metre of LED panel waste heat to a dedicated air handler. Most Australian volumes use a dual-circuit HVAC: low-velocity displacement supply at floor level for the talent envelope, and a sealed back-of-wall plenum for the panel exhaust.
What climate envelope is required for a Dolby Atmos mix theatre?
NC-20 to NC-25 with HVAC at design flow. Temperature held at 22 degrees Celsius plus or minus 1 K, humidity 50 per cent plus or minus 10 per cent across an eight to twelve hour mix session. Duct construction is welded longitudinal seam, hangered on spring isolators, with all penetrations detailed as double-leaf isolation. The mix theatre is the most acoustically and thermally demanding occupied room on a typical film post-production facility.
What dust control is needed in a prop and set construction workshop?
Source extract at every machine with spark-resistant fan construction, sized to Safe Work Australia softwood 1 milligram per cubic metre and hardwood 5 milligram per cubic metre TWA. Separate MDI fume capture at foam carving, styrene capture at fibreglass, AS 4114 compliant spray paint booth with bonded ductwork, and integration with AS 1940 pyrotechnic storage if the studio has on-site SFX. The general shop is held at slight negative pressure relative to the adjacent soundstage to prevent dust migration.
How is a VFX render farm cooled?
As a data centre. Hot aisle containment with sealed end-of-row doors, ceiling cap and floor plenum keeps hot exhaust from re-circulating. CRAH units draw hot air from the ceiling plenum, cool it through chilled water coils, and return to the cold aisle through raised floor or overhead supply. Supply temperature 18 to 22 degrees Celsius at the cold aisle, N+1 redundancy on CRAH units, dual-path supply for racks carrying active project shots. Rack densities are 20 to 30 kilowatts on modern GPU-heavy nodes.
Which SBKJ machines produce ductwork for a film and TV studio fabrication scope?
SBAL-V auto duct line for galvanised rectangular supply and return across the campus, including 304L stainless variant for damp greenroom and makeup wash-up. SBTF-1602 spiral tubeformer configured with welded longitudinal seam tooling for Class A and B acoustic-rated round duct into ADR booths, voice-over booths, foley stages, soundstages, virtual production volumes and mix theatres. SBFB-1500 angle-iron flange machine for the heavier-gauge plenum sections feeding VFX render farm CRAH manifolds and virtual production back-of-wall plenums. Acoustic-lined duct fabricated on the SBAL-V double-skin configuration. SBLR-600 and SBLR-600A longitudinal welders for the welded stainless canopy hoods on the catering kitchen and the welded longitudinal seams on the welded variants.
