Soundproofing my basement studio isolation booth

phriq

phriq

Freon Productions
Hey everyone,

I have started building a isolation booth in my basement in the hopes to get a room with little to no outside noise (i.e. furnace, computer noise, other random electronic buzzing, humming and whatever other ambient room noises one can think of) The basement is a cement floor with cement walls and the the ceiling is just the rafters for the floor above. I build a 8' by 8' room using 2 by 4's for the frame and then used basement gypsum drywall on each side of the frame with standard fiberglass insolation inside, I am wondering what can be done to make the room soundproof to the previously mentioned noise outside of the soundbooth. I have heard talk of doubling the drywall and having two sheets on the outside and inside, but what else can be done. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
phriq said:
Hey everyone,

I have started building a isolation booth in my basement in the hopes to get a room with little to no outside noise (i.e. furnace, computer noise, other random electronic buzzing, humming and whatever other ambient room noises one can think of) The basement is a cement floor with cement walls and the the ceiling is just the rafters for the floor above. I build a 8' by 8' room using 2 by 4's for the frame and then used basement gypsum drywall on each side of the frame with standard fiberglass insolation inside, I am wondering what can be done to make the room soundproof to the previously mentioned noise outside of the soundbooth. I have heard talk of doubling the drywall and having two sheets on the outside and inside, but what else can be done. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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Thick/double doors. Make sure it's all sealed properly (caulked and door seals). Staggered studs/double walls.

What did you do for the floor and ceiling? Why did you make it 8'x8'? Square rooms are bad acoustically. Cubes are even worse.
 
pandamonk said:
Thick/double doors. Make sure it's all sealed properly (caulked and door seals). Staggered studs/double walls.

What did you do for the floor and ceiling? Why did you make it 8'x8'? Square rooms are bad acoustically. Cubes are even worse.
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Hey, Thanks for the reply. I actually have not done anything yet to the ceiling and floor, I wanted to get some suggestions on that before doing anything. I actually made it 8' by 8' because of the ease of the build, I live in a rented townhouse with a unfinished basement, so in roughly 2 years I will be having to disassemble this room. I am also trying to be cost effective as I am still in college working toward an audio degree. I have tons of couch cousions from dumpster diving and was thinking that I could cut them up and put them in the corners of the room and hang a sheet in the back corner to make it more like a diamond shape. Is that something that will help?

The window I have is actually a patio window, so it is double pained glass that I laid horizontally into the wall frame. The door i know is a weak spot and is just a indoor bedroom door that I got from my father. I am hoping to find an outdoor door that is thick, but havent found one yet.

when yoy double sheet rock, would you do that on both the outside and inside of the walls? Are there any other matterials I can put to the walls to keep out that outside noise. Also, how well do styrophome inch thick sheets work for helping take out echo and reverb in a room?

Let me know if you need pictures or more info on the room. Any info will be much appreciated. Thanks!
 
phriq said:
Hey, Thanks for the reply. I actually have not done anything yet to the ceiling and floor, I wanted to get some suggestions on that before doing anything. I actually made it 8' by 8' because of the ease of the build, I live in a rented townhouse with a unfinished basement, so in roughly 2 years I will be having to disassemble this room. I am also trying to be cost effective as I am still in college working toward an audio degree. I have tons of couch cousions from dumpster diving and was thinking that I could cut them up and put them in the corners of the room and hang a sheet in the back corner to make it more like a diamond shape. Is that something that will help?

The window I have is actually a patio window, so it is double pained glass that I laid horizontally into the wall frame. The door i know is a weak spot and is just a indoor bedroom door that I got from my father. I am hoping to find an outdoor door that is thick, but havent found one yet.

when yoy double sheet rock, would you do that on both the outside and inside of the walls? Are there any other matterials I can put to the walls to keep out that outside noise. Also, how well do styrophome inch thick sheets work for helping take out echo and reverb in a room?

Let me know if you need pictures or more info on the room. Any info will be much appreciated. Thanks!
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The standard walls will be your strongest link before you sort the door, floor and ceiling. I understand 8'x8' being easy to build, but it is bad acoustically.
 
The first two albums I released, this was in the 80's, were done on a Fostex 4 track, and were done outside in my lanai area. It's about 40' from a very busy road and most of it is open air with dogs, birds and tour helicopters making all kinds of noise.

It's weird but very little background noise made it to tape. Actually to a surprising degree. That made me realize that when you close mic stuff, the room and background noise aren't as crucial as I initially thought.
 
We recorded in a studio across from this huge church, some church bells made it onto one of the tracks, it actually turned out really cool, it sounds like it was meant to be there!

And yeah 8x8 is terrible, especially since the ceilings are around 8'. If you could finagle that to 9x7 you'd be way better off.
 
Ditto pandamonks solutions. However, SOUNDPROOF is an ambiguous description of how well a given assembly's TRANSMISSION LOSS characteristics perform. In reality, there is no such thing as soundproof. Only levels of Transmission Loss, measured in db. So here is the rub. How much transmission loss do you need...vs...your budget. In other words...why build a group of assemblys with a transmission loss of 55 when you only need 40.

Furthermore, weak link syndrome can negate all your hard work and money...ie..installing a door/jam assembly with a TL rating of 25 into a wall assembly you've worked diligently to reach a TL of 40. Or a ceiling which transmits the slightest foot traffic even though your walls will stop the sound of an adjacent train. In other words, you have to address EVERYTHING. Like HVAC/Ventilation. Why build a complete assembly with a TL of 55 only to penetrate the shell with ducts directly connected to the floor above.

Bottom line. Walls are only PART of the solution. You have to address ALL of the flanking paths as well. Which means the areas between the joists(over the walls), the ceiling, HVAC, the floor, especially at the door(threshold/jamb seals), electrical penetrations, pipes, ducting, adjacent structural transmission paths(sound travels faster in concrete than it does in air), such as attatchment points of the walls to the floor/joists etc.

Really, there is too much to go into here.

So, heres my best advice. Buy this book. It'll save you mucho headaches, time, money, aggrivation and Rod tells the real deal.

http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Studio-Build-Like/dp/1598630342



fitZ:)
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
In other words, you have to address EVERYTHING.
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That...JUST THAT...should be a sticky connected with the question, "how do I soundproof my room?"

I can't tell you how many MULTI-MILLION dollar builts I've seen completely boned because one tiny detail was passed over.

Frank
 
That...JUST THAT...should be a sticky connected with the question, "how do I soundproof my room?"
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Frank, as you know, the problem with this is inherent in EXISTING structures, low budgets, non-ownership, no building skills, and little insight into the UNintuitive nature of transmission loss construction. But yea, and I've been working on the various aspects in Sketchup for over 3 months. Soon, I'll post
my interpretations as a thread, so we can get input from whoever is interested, and correct them as needed. MAYBE THEN, Chili will FINALLY allow this forum to step into the 21st century, instead of just being a view count money machine:rolleyes:;):D

Untill then, thats why I link to Rods book. This subject is too damn hard to answer related queries with simple, one reply answers.


It probably would be fairly straightforward IF, everyone was building from the ground-up...(EXCEPT for 110dba sounds at 40hz:laughings:), but there are a ZILLION possible conditions with existing stuff. And, given the amount of info it takes, it will probably take a while before I can even post the easy stuff. Add to the fact I'm no freaking expert. But I know enough to fill in some basic holes, so I'll try to post it here as soon as possible.

fitZ:)
 
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