Nitpicky studio design questions

M

MikeDMusic

New member
Question 1: I am days away from beginning construction on my studio and the way it seems the room is going to work out is that it will be about 12ft by 16ft with 8ft ceilings. The only problem is that in a couple parts of the ceiling we will have to build around an existing sofet (sophet?...who really knows how that word is spelled) I was wondering whether or not the sofet will affect the sound of the room in a negative way...The way I look at it is that the sofet will act as a diffuser in the room and make the room sound bigger...I don't feel like it will have an adverse effect on the sound. My father who is helping me build it wanted me to research it first so I decided to run it by you guys...Let me know what you think.

Question 2: The studio is being built in my garage. We are building a room inside the existing garage...a room inside a room. All of the walls of the garage are made of cinder block. The back wall of the garage is cinder block with earth behind it. I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to attach the the wall of the studio that is closest to it or should I leave space between the studio wall and the garage wall. If I attach them would it help absorb some of the noise leaving the studio and therefore cut down on the noise that is entering the house through other avenues. The cinder block wall with earth behind it is connected to the house only by wooden studs sitting on top of it. If anybody has any advice I'd love to hear it. Thanks

mike
 
1. hopefully it isnt too big, and shouldnt be a problem

2. DO NOT ATTACH THEM. If you attach your existing wall to your new wall, that just means that vibrations can travel thru, and will kill your soundproofing. The entire idea behind a room withink a room is that the new room is not making contact with the old room in any way. This keeps vibrations from spreading into the structure, and our of your garage.
 
Mike,

> about 12ft by 16ft with 8ft ceilings <

If you haven't built the walls yet, I suggest you reconsider those dimensions. The best room dimensions are not multiples, like 16 and 8 feet which have 8 in common, and 16 and 12 and 8 which have 4 in common.

> (sophet?...who really knows how that word is spelled) <

Soffit. :D

Have a look at my Acoustics FAQ here:

www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

There's a lot of useful info, and you'll also learn how to determine good room dimensions.

--Ethan
 
MikeDMusic said:
Question 1: I am days away from beginning construction on my studio and the way it seems the room is going to work out is that it will be about 12ft by 16ft with 8ft ceilings.
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I agree with Ethan, you are going to have some mode problems with those dimensions. You need to investigate this some more.

Question 2: I was wondering whether it would be a good idea to attach the the wall of the studio that is closest to it or should I leave space between the studio wall and the garage wall. If I attach them would it help absorb some of the noise leaving the studio and therefore cut down on the noise that is entering the house through other avenues.
Click to expand...

ABSOLUTELY WRONG AND BACKWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike,

I do not mean to sound like a pompus ass here, but you need to study this some more - learn more about sound isolation - before you begin construction.

The questions you ask and the dimensions you give indicate that you don't have a basic understanding of either isolation or acoustics.

That is a good combination for spending a lot of energy and money - in the wrong way - and ending up with a lot less (of both) than you could have for exactly the same money and sweat.

I know you're looking forward to getting this going - but believe me - you are much better off to ask some questions - give us some idea of what exactly you plan to do - and get some feedback to explain the problems you will have by doing "A" instead of "B".........

Sincerely,

Rod
 
Reply

Thanks Rod,
I do understand what your saying and I'm not as big of an amateur as I sound. I get the idea behind a room within a room I was just wondering whether or not my situation would be an exception to the rule because of the amount of mass behind the wall. I appreciate your time Rod but frankly you haven't helped me at all. Responses like the one you just left me are the sort that make me not want to ask questions of the people on this forum. Just a tip try to be as helpful, informative and patient as you can ESPECIALLY when dealing with amateurs...which, by the way, most of the people are on this forum. I understand that it is frustrating when people keep asking the same questions over and over and you keep answering them out of the goodness of your heart, but I have researched studio design and acoustics for hours and hours both on this forum as well as others. So you see the only reason I posted this thread was because my situation is a unique one that I hadn't previously read anything about. Thanks for your time.
 
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