What about the A/C vent?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JerryD
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JerryD

JerryD

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Hi all,

Of course I want to run air to my recording room. This leaves a big hole in the ceiling for sound to travel.

Anyone have interesting solutions to the A/C in a recording studio problem? Thanks.
 
A/C Fixes

Air conditioning is a rather difficult subject, do to the inherent factors of noise ie:(the actual air handling equipment, sound transmission from one area to another etc.)
A rather easy fix is to use a low noise motel room A/C unit within the actual room (These units mount in a 1 1/2' x 2 1/2' hole on the side of your studio wall !!) the down side is you will have to shut it off and create a "soundproof" box and door unit to close it off from the inside when doing actual live takes (sound leakage is a real concern here) . There are also some freestanding units that will recirculate the air within the room, but this creates an air exchange problem and moisture concerns.
If you are considering a take off from your main A/C heating and cooling system be prepared to spend some bucks!!
If you have an existing take off you wish to use it will save you some cash, especially if you are willing to do the work yourself!( This is NOT something I would recommend without professional guidance!)
 
Sure...

In the ductwork, put two filters in series, seperated by about three to six feet. The filters will reduce the soundwaves traveling backwards in the duct, and keep it from adding a hollow quality to the resonance of the room. Filters and the appropriate holders are available from most air conditioning installation places. BTW, I'm not talking about the large 3'x2' filter you put in your furnace, what I'm attempting to describe looks more like a rectangular air filter for a car, but a little larger.

JerryD said:
Hi all,

Of course I want to run air to my recording room. This leaves a big hole in the ceiling for sound to travel.

Anyone have interesting solutions to the A/C in a recording studio problem? Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
A studio I work in has a stellar a/c system. Instead of pushing air into the room, it dumps air right on you. So it's not really forced air, it kinda trickles!

Hammerhead, low noise motel a/c??!??!??! Damn every hotel/motel a/c unit I've stayed in, that sucker was soooooo loud!
 
Super quiet Air Conditioning

Here's what I did....

I bought the biggest window unit I could find (110VAC)

I mounted it on a slab outside of the garage and I made a Funnel of sheet metal and duct tape and screwed it onto the air outlet vent.

I attached it to 25 feet of insulated flex duct 8" diameter and ran it through the wall and over the drop ceiling into the studio. It splits into a "Y" and one duct goes to the control room and one to the sound studio.

It is amazing and silent! the air velocity is much reduced so it is quiet. I can run it while I record soft vocals with a sensitive condensor mic!
I wired up a switched outlet to turn it on and off remotely.

It cools both rooms wonderfully. (I live in Oregon)

I used to live in Phoenix Arizona, and it required a separate unit for each room. ($300.00 Summer electric bills)

AC UNIT Sears $300-$400
Flex Duct Home Depot $25
50 ft romex, switch/outlet etc $20
Duct tape, tie wraps, metal straps $30
Blood, sweat, tears.... but then coolness!

Dom
 
A/C

Wallycleaver,
Your right , most a/c units of the type I generally described do sound noisy in motel rooms. If you look in the (Studio Basics 101) leaflet Auralex used to offer to every customer, I think they mention a particular model. I've been in some home brew studios where these units were used and they didn't produce that much noise when installed in a suspension hole using a double layer of Sheetblock. Again, You would typically shut the unit off and seal it off when making actual live passes fo recording. This is simple, but it works.

dom franco,
What you described, using a window unit with ductwork sounds interesting, but I don't see how it could efficiently move the air for any distance within the ductwork( what about the warm air return?). Still, interesting, I'll have to experiment.
 
I'm no expert, but as near as I can figure it ... the concept is much the same as a reducing noise from a PC cooling fan ...
make a bigger hole (ie. duct) and lower the fan speed .. the result is less mechanical noise from the fan , and less wind noise from the duct.
Also, I've seen info where you could use flexible ductwork. Or if rigid ducts are required (they are in MN), place a ruber gasket every 4 feet or so ... to decouple them from each other (and also the building) to reduce vibration transmission.
Also, to further reduce sound transmission within the ducts themselves, have a 90º angle or two so that the sound waves are absorbed into the corner (my assumption is that this works better with flexible or fiberglass ducts).

my 2¢ anyway :)
 
Dom

Just wanted to say that its 106 here in Phoenix today. Bet you're glad you moved to Oregon....
 
JerryD -
I assume from your question that you have a remote unit installed already. In that case the solution is to run flexduct to the vent in your room, and make the duct and vent dimensions as large as it is possible to install.

Generally, if you run a duct from a reasonably modern fan chamber, a length of approx 20 feet of flexduct should be sufficient to dampen noise. Further damping can be obtained by placing inlet filter, cut to size, inside the vent opening.

If you install AC, don't forget that for every vent you need an equal size return. Again - flexduct works fine.

If the above provides insufficient noise damping, coiling extra length of flexduct often helps. If non of this is sufficient more drastic solutions include the construction of troughs in the ceiling.

Hope this helps - difficult to give good advise without knowing your installation
 
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