insulation for control room walls??

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joey5spot

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what kind of insulation should I use for my control room walls?? I seen owens corning makes some acoustic battes, ??, I seen it on their site??

What would be the most effective for blocking the sound thouhg.?
 
Insulation actually does very little for sound PROOFing - most of that is accomplished with MASS and air space between the mass. In a typical home/project studio wall, the insulation is responsible for only about 6-9 dB of sound reduction - the rest is accomplished by having only TWO centers of mass, and only ONE air space. The greater the mass, the better the Transmission Loss (TL for short) the wider the air gap between the two centers of mass, the greater the TL. In any case, without TOTAL caulking of ALL possible air leaks in and out of the room, you're wasting your time. If you have single, hollow core doors, you're REALLY wasting your time.

Cruise more of the threads here on sound proofing, and you'll get a better idea of what's involved. Then, when you have a better idea, come on back and ask the other 99 questions you'll have by then... Steve
 
So, far I have the stud walls built-- 2x6 frame with 2x4 studs staggered, 16" oc.

I'll be putting a couble layer oof sheetrockon the outside but the inside is what I'm not sure of. I've read that the rock wool is used often, and the 703, i think.

The caulking is already to go, I just have to find some acoustic caulk, which I'll probobly have to end up ordering.

I'll also have a 4'x3' window on one side that will be 4 panes thick.

any more suggestions would be cool.
later
 
"the inside is what I'm not sure of. I've read that the rock wool is used often, and the 703, i think." -

For insulation inside walls, 3 pounds/cu ft rockwool (mineral wool) gives best overall STC rating. The paneling over that should be slightly different than the other side of the wall - if you used 2 layers of 5/8 rock, use one layer of 1/2 and 1 layer of 5/8, or better yet a layer of 5/8, layer of soundboard (celotex) and another layer of 5/8 rock. The idea is to make opposite leaves of the wall have different resonant frequencies, so that particular frequency range has a harder time getting through the wall.

I'd put RC-1 over the studs on one side before paneling it, even though the studs are staggered - it will add several dB of isolation.

I finally found a 1 quart caulking gun at Home Depot the other day, they had two -one for $7 and one for $15 - got the $15 one, much heavier duty. They have absolutely NOTHING in either size tube that's usable for sound proofing caulk - if you can find it locally at a commercial insulation or drywall place, it will probably run around $3.50-$4.50 a tube for the quart size - otherwise, here's a link to one source, it's $7.50 a tube :=(

http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/products/sealants/caulk.asp

"I'll also have a 4'x3' window on one side that will be 4 panes thick" - Please describe this in detail - there may be a problem... Steve
 
The window is now going to have to bigger than i thought. My dad has some glass that I'm going to use but it's 6'4" long. I was going to cut it down to 4' but it's tempered so I can't. I have like 6 panes of this glass though. I was going to put four in because I figured thicker would be better, the panes would be spaced about 1/2 to 3/4 in. apart.

Is that bad??

Couple more dumb questions:

what is rc-1, how much is it, and where can i get it?

how much is the rockwool, and where would i find that?

And what kind of door should I use, I'm going to have a double door, my buddy has two hollow core doors but I figured that probobly wouldn't work.?

Thanks for the link steve and please pardon my ignorance.
joe
 
joey5spot said:
The window is now going to have to bigger than i thought. My dad has some glass that I'm going to use but it's 6'4" long. I was going to cut it down to 4' but it's tempered so I can't. I have like 6 panes of this glass though. I was going to put four in because I figured thicker would be better, the panes would be spaced about 1/2 to 3/4 in. apart.
Click to expand...

The general theory for now (will probably change in 6 months) is that the maximum STC is achieved with only 2 barriers and as large an air space as possible. The idea being that the air acts like a spring and the longer the spring the more gentle the motion. If you have more than two layers than you have a series of short springs and they can pass vibrations on easier. Soundproofing is all about isolating vibrations (bass) and air (treble).

There are some cool charts showing the different construction methods and the STC acheived. I don't have the link handy but it's in a few of the threads.
 
So 2 panes with as much air space would actually better than? Ok. So I could have about 5 1/2" between the two panes. Would that be tight? The window is so damn big though? my wall is only like 10ft. and my window is 6'4".

Is that bad news?
 
That's pretty big. The question is more will having a hard reflective surface be a problem in the mixing or tracking room. That depends on the location.

One trick is to slightly angle the panes in at the bottom so that you don't have a parallel surface to the opposite wall and to reduce light reflections. The trade in is that you sacrifice some of your air gap. 5" seems pretty good.

With all the hassle and expense of windows I think I'm going to just use a video camera when I get to that point.
 
Well, my control room is going to be a bit small-- it's about 10'x10'.

There is alredy a window to the outside on one wall and one interior wal is going to have the window to my tracking rooom.

It's kind of small but it's all I have to qwork with.

I like the video camera idea.

What's up with this rc-1 stuff??
 
RC-1 is the part # for US Gypsum's Resilient Channel - it's shaped sort of like a "Z", it's fastened on the studs then the wallboard is screwed onto that. Some Home Depot's either carry or can order it, others don't even know what you're talking about.

Auralex.com sells their RC-8, I've not checked out what the difference is - probably just 8x as expensive :=)

Search this forum for resilient, RC, and channel - there are some threads that several, including myself, have gotten pretty deep into that... Steve
 
Alrighty, thanks guys.

I'll do a search and see what i can find, I'll probobly ave a couple more questions but I'm content for now:)

Oh yeah, a buddy of mine gave me 2 big tubes of acoustic caulk, and he's got like 8 more he said, best luck i've had in years!!
 
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