Help with building a soundproof room

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sir_Smaks
  • Start date Start date
S

Sir_Smaks

New member
Can someone tell me what would be the best way to go about building a 10'x10' soundproof room to practice drums and guitar in.

-What materials should be used?

-How should it be built?

- About how much would it cost?

Thanks for your help
 
Try checking this site out (it's not up yet but should be in a few days....hopefully). It has pretty much everything you need tio know about studion building and more.

http://www.lis.net.au/~johnsay/Acoustics/

Check out the thread "what's up with John Sayers site" for details on this AWESOME site. :cool:
 
there's always Auralex Acoustics 101 to help keep you busy while John's site gets transferred.
Really good info in that document.

It's hard to come up with a "best way" solution for what you want to do. There's a lot of variables that will affect what you can/will do. Your budget being the primary variable.

What's the exterior structure like that you want to build this room in? Basement? Shed? nuclear bunker? that would be cool ;)

One possible plan could include installing drywall/plywood on all exterior walls, caulking and sealing all of those walls so they're airtight.
Then building your stud walls and a suspended ceiling that is physically isolated from the exterior structure. Same with the floor. You want to remove as much vibration to the exterior structure as possible. Then you want to also caulk and seal the interior structure so it is also airtight.
Then, since, all sound will be contained in this small room, you definitely want to control the sound waves in it .... this involves installing insulation, foam, building slot resonators, bass traps, etc etc etc. There's LOTS of options here. And this is the trickiest thing to do, IMO.
Of course, you need to consider all electrical and ventilation stuff too ... audio cables & connex, outlets, etc etc.

That's a very minimal summary of what's involved. What's it gonna cost? Well, it depends ... I spent about $6k on my studio space about 4 yrs ago (2 13'x15' rooms ... and NO acoustic control stuff ... yet). For what I accomplished ... I think I spent too much ... but I learned a lot so it comes out even, I guess.

My advice is to learn as much as possible now before you do anything. Also, get a plan early and stick to it ... this can be a pretty big money pit if you don't have something to keep you on track. Definitely check out John's manual when it gets back online. I liked his writing style much better than the Auralex stuff.

Good luck!
 
Go out, buy a shitload of egg crates, and Mono foam......
Just kidding!! Do not do these two things... I actually almost used mono, but sjoko2, warned me of it.... To answer your questions..... Drywall..... 2 layers with resiliant channeling in beween.... and if budget allows.... 3 layers... Gotta space em with resiliant channeling though........ For 2 layers, taped and finished, i would estimate about 800$, give or take $500, depending of who, when and where... (work is being done).. it's nice to insulate the channels from the drywall also... Cheap too... get some weather stripping, and when you screw the channels in, make sure your weather stripping gets squashed in between.... This all may not be standard practice, but worked for me!! DONT FORGET TO DO ALL THIS ON THE CEILING ALSO! (if you can't afford 3 layers everywhere, at least give it to the ceiling.....
 
sound proof room

I have researched this topic in great detail before building my sound proof room. I'll tell you one thing... be smart and spend your money where it counts and not on stupid foam crap that only dampens high frequencies. build your wall using the thickest plywood you can find as the main part of the walls. you want the wall to be thick and solid. i used 3/4 plywood on both sides with r-13 pink insulation in the wall itself. be sure to use a lot of studs and cross supports to make the wall solid and heavy to stop bass from vibrating the wall. next, make sure all seams between the plywood sheets are filled with some kind of sealer(caulk, expanding foam, etc..) because the high frequencies will go right through the cracks! cover the walls with carpect pad and carpet just like you would the floor to control highs. this is a cheap and very easy way to make your room virtually sound proof. I did all this using brand new supplies for about 400$.
 
Sound Proof room

First off try changing the demensions of the room. A square room (10 X10) is a nightmare for standing waves no matter what you do in the way of treatment!! I would do this by off setting a false wall near one of the existing walls aproximately 5 to 7 degrees on center. This should give you a rather odd trapezoid to work with.

Good Luck!
 
I agree Hamerhead with creating a non square room, but in my experience I've found that a wall needs to be at least 12 degrees off from the opposing wall to stop *pinging*. :eek: Try two walls at 6 degrees. :)

cheers
john
 
-What's "resilient channeling?"

-What's so important about the ceiling- or is this mentioned because it's usually neglected?
 
Resilient Channel................. as I understand it is a shaped metal channel which is attached to wall studs and then your lining material is attached to the channel..................the point being to reduce the contact surface area between the studs and the wall lining, therefore reducing transfer of sound vibrations.

Anyone care to expand upon this please feel free.........

Peace......ChrisO
 
sound room

if you can't afford all the fancy stuff like resilient channel and all that, try building it smartly.. build your control room to the side of the instruments and have them play away from the walls you are building.. that way your walls don't have to be built to resist the full soundwave.
 
Svart - just one small comment - you mentioned sealing with either chaulk or expanding foam.
Please note that expanding foam has NO acoustic properties whatever, it will happelly transmit whatever you put against it on one side to the other.
The only good sealant is a minimum 20 year rated chaulk

Plywood is a good and cheap material to use, as 4 and more ply has slightly better low frequency blocking properties compared to drywall. However - it has much worse properties than drywall in the upper frequency ranges. For sound ply is therefore a very good and cheap material PROVIDING it is used as part of a sandwich. (for instance ply / soundboard / drywall)

Also, resilient channel is very cheap - if you buy it from a merchant and not from some acoustical products companies who feel the need to mark the stuff up by seemingly 500% plus.
 
sound

i'd have to disagree with you, the plywood is very good at blocking higher frequencies. granted it is not nearly as good as something designed specifically for the job but it is very good none-the-less. i still use carpet on the walls on the exterior and the sound transmission is very little even with the drums facing the wall about 3 feet away. i still think the foam is very good at sealing cracks and areas that need filling with odd shapes (such as around pipes and electrical wires) but i cut my wood very carefully and made sure there were no gaping holes between sheets. i'm sure caulk would be better but for spaces too big for caulk foam will have to do.
 
svart - I'm not trying to discredit you are anything like that. I'm not talking "I've tried this and think.......", but pure tested data. Laboratory tested STC ratings are readily available for almost every building method and material.

A ply vs drywall STC rate comparison shows a steep downward curve for drywall around 125 hertz - where the ply outscores drywall. from approximately 125 to 400 hertz the STC curves for both materials are similar, above that the drywall efficiency continually outscores that of ply.

The above is also the reason why a ply / drywall sandwich is more effective than for instance a sandwich of 2 layers of drywall.
 
Resiliant channel is hardly fancy.... it cost's about $1.00 for a 12 foot length... To do my whole studio whole studio, was in the ballpark of $35.00 for this item
It's benefit's are worth a million to me.

Resiliant channel looks like the cross section of a top hat on a smaller scale......

Joe
 
Ok, so where do you find resilient channeling without paying for the hype. Home Depot? Sam Ash? Does a regular Joe Contractor know about this stuff?
 
Yes Home Depot sells it - cheaply
Apart from that, most drywall contractors will be able to supply you with it, or tell you where to get it.

Now drywall - that is the one and only job I love to leave for the experts to do............
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top