need expert sound proofing advice

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sheppard

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just moved in to my new house and i am ready to begin converting my 20 x 24 un attached garage into my studio.
at present this structure is finished on the exterior only.(no sheet rock on walls or ceiling of interior) i have been researching for about 3 mos. now and have a faily good idea of what i want to do
but i still have some things that i need answers to.
complete sound isolation is a must, as the structure is in a residential area and my city has a noise ordanance.(250.00 fine)
let me lay out what i plan to do and ya'll feel free to pick it apart.
first i will go over the interior and caulk(100% silacon)all the places i feel air might escape.then i will insulate and hang 1/2 inch sheet rock.(on resilient channel)then tape and mud all joints and corners and caulk where the sheet rock meets the floor.
will also do same to ceiling.
after this i will use the room inside a room method.after framing in the inner walls and ceiling ,i will hang sheet rock (again on r.c.)on both,followed by a second layer(of different thickness)of sheet rock hung perpendicular to the first and adhered instead of screwed.both layers will be taped and mudded.
lastly i will install a floating floor and go over every thing that needs it with the caulk gun.
btw my entrance thru 2 sets of doors to access the live room,each door being solid wood 2 inches thick.by set i mean that each doorway will be two doors (opening in oppisite directions from one another)with a 12 inch air gap.
my nearest neighbor is abuot 25 to 30 feet away from the structure,so you guys tell me if you think this will work.
thanks
 
Sounds good.

You may want to go with 5/8-in sheetrock on your exterior shell and eliminate the channel on this wall--there's some school of thought that low frequencies are actually reduced better by non-resilient hung mass.

For insulation, use 3-in mineral wool batts.

Make sure you have a fairly large air gap between you interior and exterior walls. Air can act as a spring and transfer sound between the two surfaces. Check out the "Accoustics" section over at Studiotips.com for a more detailed discussion of this phenomenon.

Think about ventillation and electrical. If the room-within-a-room gets overly complex, you could probably achieve good isolation by adding mass (up to three layers of drywall) to a single resilientally hung wall.

Alex
 
thanx alex,
i was considering adding a layer of dur-rock in between my layers of sheet rock to provide some mass.(and to further empty my pockets)how big should my air gap be?would 5 inches between walls suffice?
ventalation wont be a prob;just gonna put a window unit in the controll room and open the doors to get it cool enough to jam then close.i will use a wall hung ventless gas heater for winter time.
i am going to check the site you mentioned.
one of the things i really need to know is how much isolation can i get with what i am going to do.
 
Unfortunately it's tough to predict since there are so many variables. Most charts are put out by drywall manufacturers and don't cover exactly the type of construction you're considering. In addition, STC is an average rating across the audible frequency spectrum and can be particularly problematic at low frequencies, where the transmission loss can be significantly less.

The "files" section over at studiotips has some good spreadsheets with different wall construction parameters as well as several ratings specific to music studios put together by a Danish acoustics wizard over there. You might also consider posting your proposed room construction to the forum there to get some additional opinions.

Alex
 
sheppard - check out the construction of LEFT BANK at the construction site. This construction works well yet uses around half the materials you are suggesting and is built in a typical US barn. The only sound to get out is a low low thud of the kick drum when a drum kit is in the piano room. Otherwise, it's totally soundproof. I've been in the control room when there was a thunderstorm outside and heard nothing.:)

cheers
John
 
John Sayers said:
sheppard - check out the construction of LEFT BANK at the construction site. This construction works well yet uses around half the materials you are suggesting and is built in a typical US barn. The only sound to get out is a low low thud of the kick drum when a drum kit is in the piano room. Otherwise, it's totally soundproof. I've been in the control room when there was a thunderstorm outside and heard nothing.:)

cheers
John
Click to expand...


John,

I appreciate the floor plans of Left Bank Studios, but they don't have a lot of construction detail. What I am interested in is near to complete sound isolation. I will probably be in the home we just bought for the rest of my life, and I have to be able to get along with my neighbors. I don't want to start my construction process until I am certain that the plan that I have will achieve the goal of complete isolation.

I am very handy at construction, as I have been in the business all of my adult life, so I could do most of the work myself. If only I had the plan. Would it be possible to pay a fee for you to design something for me, that would give me complete sound isolation. If so, how much would that fee be?

I have been researching for the last three months and just couldn't wait to get into this house, where I could start the construction process on my studio. However, now I have so many unanswered questions about my design and what sort of sound isolation I can achieve with it. I just really need some help here! Anything you can do will be really appreciated. Not to mention, I haven't forgotten about that bottle of Grand Hermitage??

Cheers, Sheppard.
 
Sheppard....

I have no doubt John can help you.... I'm one of his clients --- he's in the process of designing the new Blue Bear Sound....

On top of his excellent design skills - he's a very likable chap... I'd strongly recommend you enlist his services!

Bruce
 
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