carpeting walls?

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zrose27

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i'm converting my garage into a studio and i was going to add 2x4's on every wall, insulate the walls then put carpet padding over it then carpet. would that be okay for sound profing the walls? im making panels in this studio just fyi.
 
no! don't do that.
You're in the right place here. Do some homework and you'll come up with a bunch of reasons why thats a bad idea...
 
Jeff_D said:
no! don't do that.
You're in the right place here. Do some homework and you'll come up with a bunch of reasons why thats a bad idea...
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you could fall and break a leg? you could fall and split your head? you can't really do that, you're just real high?
 
zrose27 said:
i'm converting my garage into a studio and i was going to add 2x4's on every wall, insulate the walls then put carpet padding over it then carpet. would that be okay for sound profing the walls? im making panels in this studio just fyi.
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No. While that would do something to control the high frequencies bouncing around the room, and may translate to better acoustics for you and your mics...it would likely do little for room acoustics and absolutely nothing for noise reduction and transmission.

For true "sound-proofing" the only answer is MASS and ISOLATION.
Walls must be thick and heavy...as thick and heavy as your time, space, and resources will allow. Your room must be separated...physically separated from space you do not want "contaminated" with sound.

The best way to achieve this, is through a "room-within-a room" concept.

You must construct a totally isolated and free-standing "box" within an existing room...the walls of which are constructed of the densest material available.

This does a couple of things... the density of the new walls, will alone reduce the transmission of low frequencies and practically eliminate the transmission of high frequencies. This is good...but not enough.

Now...to further reduce the transmission of low frequencies... the boom-boom-boom we associate with powerful car stereos heard from 300 yards away... you need to have an air-gap between one wall and the next...with little to nothing physically connecting the two walls. This "void" of as little as 2 inches...is usually enough to "disconnect" the waves traveling from one wall to the next, effectively "sound-proofing" the room...within reason.

Dense walls alone are not enough, nor is simply an extra wall within a wall, but together, they usually get the job done.
 
thebigredhotdog said:
you could fall and break a leg? you could fall and split your head? you can't really do that, you're just real high?
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i was thinking more along the lines of a) it wont do anything to accomplish his goal, and b) its a fire hazard, and c) its a waste of his time and money. But, your reasons are fine too... :D
 
RAMI said:
Here we go again with the carpeting on the wall.
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...and let's cut him off before he asks about egg cartons. :laughings:


OP said:
i'm converting my garage into a studio and i was going to add 2x4's on every wall
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This has me curious. Does your garage already have walls?? If so, you don't want to add another space and barrier, that would create a third leaf system. Look it up and read why that's bad.

There's lots to read in the Studio Build forum. Be sure to check it out, most of your questions have been answered already.

welcome to the site.
 
it is such a fire hazard that its not even worth contemplating the idea.
 
My "studio" has carpet on the walls. it keeps the room warm, as in temperature. doesn't do much for acoustics, it's still a flat surface for sound to bounce off of. it muffled the highs a little, if at all, but we still practice down there and it's a mess. the soundproofing came from two layers of drywall and insulation. I've heard compressing the insulation with baffles is the way to go.

if you're going to build a room inside of your garage it's not too expensive, i knocked out my basement for about 200-300 bucks, two layers of drywall and a billion feet of insulation, plus studs and 2x4's.

i've been told the way to help knock out bass frequencies is after setting up the structure (2x4s or 4x4s) is to slap some silicone on the beams before you put the drywall to it, that keeps the structure from transmitting the low frequencies through the drywall and frame itself.

Be aware that even though your garage might have an insulated roof/addic a TON of noise will roll through the roof. the most of the volume emits out of the house above my basement and to the street. Like pyrroh said, mass and isolation.. Garages typically don't have sheetrock on the roof, maybe some particle board or flimsy crap for appearance but it'll provide little to no soundproofing. As far as acoustics go get a ton of foam and go picasso on the angles.
 
Foam bad

Carpet bad

Egg cartons bad

Rigid fiberglass/mineral wool in the 3.5-8pcf range good
 
zrose27 said:
i'm converting my garage into a studio and i was going to add 2x4's on every wall, insulate the walls then put carpet padding over it then carpet. would that be okay for sound profing the walls? im making panels in this studio just fyi.
Click to expand...

Carpet is actually a bad idea for acoustics within an enclosure as it's absorbency peaks at around 2-3kHz & it does nothing for the low frequencies. This will make the acoustics very bad.

For sound proofing, you will need mass. And better yet, a mass - air - mass system. See my pubs.. there are also some good photos of sound proofing here.

Cheers,
John
 
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gianelli280 said:
My "studio" has carpet on the walls. It keeps the room warm, as in temperature.
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I think that's what many peoples' fear is with carpet ~ as cute as it looks, if it ever catches fire, it'll certainly keep the room warm. Devastatingly warm, even.
 
yes, that would be nice, especially for those wall walks at night. :)
 
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