How effective is sound proofing?

J

J Wah

New member
We are looking at buying a different house. The one we are lookingat has an open bsement that is finished as a family room. I would frame in a corner for a studio room. The rest of the room we would still use as a family room. If done right, how effective would sound proofing the studio walls be? I mean would some one be able to be in the family room watching tv while I am working in the studio? Would I pick up the tv whenever I recorded?

What would I do to do it right?
 
Sure, you can soundproof this room.

Since you are building the room, you can isolate your room from the rest of the house fairly well by following these steps:

1. Build your studio with two stud walls placed 4 inches apart. Put sound insulation in between the studs and in between the two walls.

2. Finish the walls with 2 layers of 1/2" gyprock on each side. Stagger the sheets of gyprock so no seems run straight through.

3. Use screws for everything, not nails.

4. Seal your door frame with foam insulating tape.

5. If you have the space, make the entrance a double entrance. (Two doors leading into a little room before you get into the studio. You can make this room a storage space with shelves on each side.)

Then treat your walls on the inside of the studio.

That should do it!

I have put much less effort into my studio and it's fairly well isolated from the rest of the house.
 
I mostly agree, except for #2 -

go here -

http://www.homer.com.au/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=86

check out John's post on Mar 01, and my comments on Mar.17, in particular...

If you're going to build a double wall, there should be only one air space and only two centers of mass, or leaves - that's the point of my comments on mar.17. The difference between two constructions using the SAME AMOUNT of materials can be as much as 23 dB of isolation. It's all in what goes where... Steve
 
Thanks. I can build a double wall. Ceiling is currently finished with sheet rock, texture, paint, etc. I hate to tear it out. The ceiling is only 8' so I don't want to make it much lower. What could I do the sound proof this? Could I use 1"x1"'s, have a small air gap and finsh with sheet rock?
 
You could, but that would give you two air gaps and three leaves, which will very likely make the ceiling even LESS soundproof than it is now. The same concepts apply as with walls.

If you don't want to remove the existing ceiling panels, you'd be better off just adding two more layers of sheet rock with staggered seams.

Part of this depends on how much noise you get/give from upstairs, and how much it matters. If it's critical, then you should remove the ceiling panels, put two layers of tightly fitted sheet rock between the joists and tight against the upper floor, caulk well and support with cleats, then add at least 3" of 3 lb/cu ft rockwool insulation, then resilient channel screwed to the bottoms of the joists and two layers of 5/8" sheet rock over that. Build everything like it was going to be a boat and you didn't want it to leak. Use the expensive silicone caulk at the very least, or try to find acoustic-rated caulk locally if possible.

Doing that should get you close to 60 dB of sound attenuation between upstairs and down, provided there are no "sneak paths" for the sound to travel along. The only difference between sound leaks and water leaks, is that water doesn't usually leak uphill... Steve
 
Man, It's been a long time since I've seen out and out, bald-faced LIES in an ad - don't walk away from that company, RUN...

The only thing that works for real sound PROOFING is proper design and MASSSSSS...

Go back and re-read my earlier posts in this thread and read the link I posted as well - this works. That gyppo foam place is full of shit, to put it as subtly as possible... Steve
 
Bigger air gaps increase the STC of double wall construction, right? So the next question is, how much difference in STC can you expect for a given air gap?

I'm considering the "reverse wall" construction, which I've seen John Sayers mention, in order to save space. The only problem is that when the interior wall is "reversed" (or inside out or whatever you want to call it), you decrease the air gap by the width of the stud. You could always space the wall more to make up for it, but that would be defeating the purpose of using that construction in the first place.
 
dumass said:
hey...how effective is this???

http://www.soundprooffoam.com/studiofoam.html

im planning on getting that for my studio. when it says that the NRC is .9 out of 1, is that really true? so basically, i should barely be able to hear it when right outside of the room?
Click to expand...

When a company posts specs like that they need to specify what frequency they are measuring. Chances are their spec is correct for 18khz and above. Obviously that isn't worth shit.
 
AP, it's not linear but in the normal range of studio wall thickess you get about 1-2 dB per inch of air space. As usual, that assumes you did everything right in both cases... Steve
 
Cool page, Herwig - I hadn't seen it before.

I can't help but notice, however, that in their haste to sell you SheetBlok (at over $2.50 per square foot, which translates to $80 US per 4 x 8 sheet) that they don't show examples of replacing the $80 per sheet Sheet Blok with a third layer of $5.50 per sheet, 5/8" firecore sheet rock on each side...

For that matter, materials for 8"x8"x16" concrete block wall can be had for about $60 per 4x8 foot section - filled with concrete, this wall goes to about $95 per 4x8 foot section.

Kinda makes $80 for 4x8 SheetBlok look a little steep, unless you absolutely HAVE to keep thickness down to a bare minimum.

It's like anything you look at - Good, Fast, Cheap - pick ANY TWO - you can't EVER have ALL THREE... Steve
 
knightfly said:
Cool page, Herwig - I hadn't seen it before.
Click to expand...
Indeed cool page, helped me A LOT in understanding STC values and what to shoot for. Try putting the last example at a volume that would bother you when watching TV.
Then -without touching the volume- play the first example again..

:D :D I won't be held responsible for any damage to ears, gear or whatever from this experiment, do at your own risk.


It's like anything you look at - Good, Fast, Cheap - pick ANY TWO - you can't EVER have ALL THREE... Steve
Click to expand...
completely off-topic: all things come in three. Reminds me of a simple rule I have: if you're offered a gig there's 3 factors of which at least 2 must comply, if not refuse the gig. Those factors are: good money, good music and good/nice musicians.
Think about it you can live with a well payed gig with friends/good musicians where you have to play ... - fill in your least favorite music style here, but when the musos suck as well... you'd better stayed home with the wife.

Sorry for the OT.


Herwig
 
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