Building Studio Need Soundproofing Advice

Xtopher

Xtopher

Well-known member
Hey all, my company is building a small studio- nothing big and fancy but just a two camera setup with lavs for audio. I want to make sure that enough is done as the building goes up so that less soundproofing is needed once its finished.

Does anyone have experience with building for a filming situation? Are there certain insulations that work better? Carpet? Ceiling specifications? Our parent company has a studio that was designed as office space and they are going crazy trying to get good audio! Thanks for the help in advance!
 
If you want to build a soundproof room, the best thing you can do is use double-wall construction (i.e., a room within a room). Isolate the inner room from the outer room completely, including using a floating floor, and it'll be soundproof (or, well, as good as anyone's going to get).

Don't think that you can get away with sticking stuff on the walls and that will make a conventional room "soundproof". That's just not possible. Isolation is the key. If you simply cannot build a room within a room, then try to use staggered-stud construction so that no studs that contact the outer wall, also contact the inner wall. That'll help enormously. Also, consider using two layers (at least) of drywall, but only if you put a healthy thick layer of Green Glue between them (and yes, that includes the ceiling as well).

You are wise to look into soundproofing before construction -- you can accomplish 1,000 times more effective soundproofing in the original construction phase than you could EVER accomplish afterwards. The wall/ceiling/floor construction techniques are the key to truly effective soundproofing.
 
With my experience in music recording studios, one thing they do as well is to raise the floor off where it'd normally be, and dump sand underneath it. Fastback studios in Seattle, WA used about 500lbs of sand underneath the floor of a vocal room about 7'x6', along with the wall structure that Barry suggested, and you could hear the difference inside even with the door still open to the live room. Just another thought.
 
We work a lot with a company called Auralex. They make many of the necessary products to effectively accomplish what you are trying to do:
http://www.auralex.com/c_studio_construction/c_studio_construction.asp

They also offer a free personalized room analysis, which may or may not be helpful for you in the construction phase. It's very commonly used when people need suggestions to control unwanted sound reflections within a room, and not necessarily as much for how to prevent sound transmission between rooms.
http://www.auralex.com/pcf/

I hope this helps.
 
The heavier the walls, the better (also floor & ceiling). Double walls with airspace is better than one solid wall with the same mass. All unnecessary openings must be avoided, air conditioning & heating ducts must have sound traps. Heavy double doors with rubber seals. If there is a lot of groundborne noise (trains, underground, trams etc) you need a suspend floor.

That was only soundprofing, acoustic treatment of this space is another matter which comes next...
 
The forum suggestion above is a good place to start. You need to start by internalizing some basic concepts. "Soundproof" is a bit vague so you should try to think in terms of absorption, diffusion, and isolation then try to work out your goals.

For example, in my home studio, my primary absorption/isolation concern was sound leakage OUT of the studio. This would allow me to do whatever without disturbing people in my house and more importantly neighbors :) As it turns out techniques for preventing sound escaping also work in the other direction.

Since I built in the basement, and ceiling height was a premium commodity ( normally you cannot have enough ) floating floors were not really required or desired. I did create a pseudo-floating room by constructing walls and ceiling that do not really touch the rest of the house, providing a great amount of isolation. Instead of doing true double stud walls for interior walls, I did staggered stud walls on a 2x6 base, and those seem to perform pretty well.

Diffusion is more about how the sound that is left inside your studio behaves. Most studios, for example do not carpet the floor for a variety of reasons. Some are just practical: It will get screwed up moving gear, you want to tape down cords, etc. The other is that covering the floor with carpet instantly starts to absorb a whole bunch of high end, and you have no way to modify the effect since the carpet cannot be removed. A room that is covered floor to ceiling with carpet may sound dull and boxy and it might not be very flexible. You can always roll out an area-rug treatment, but it is difficult to take up installed carpet on a whim.


Just some ideas to get you started.
 
I built a project recording studio in my basement, and did a ton of research on sound-proofing, as I didn't want the rock-and-roll to bother the house mates. I found some good links from some research done in Canada online.

What I ended up doing, was build 2 walls on separate studs, spaced 2" apart. One side with 2 layers of 1/2" drywall (caulked all around to seal the airspace), the other with 2 layers of 5/8". I stuffed the space between with insulation. I have 2 doors. The reason for the varied layers of wall is to avoid the "drum effect" where resonation on one wall sympathetically moves the other wall, transmitting the sound through. The insulation acts as a damper catching what sound does move through and converting that to heat instead of transferring it through the walls.

With my space I didn't have the option of a floating floor, though the concrete slab doesn't transmit too much sound up the house.

Same goes with the ceiling, I didn't have the height for a separate ceiling, but I ended up attaching 2 layers of 1/2" drywall to the underside of the subfloor above, caulked and sealed like the walls, then insulated, then added 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on the ceiling, also caulked.

This room is very soundproof.

Now for treating the space to not sound like garbage, that was a whole other process which for my case involved bass traps in the corners, broad band absorbtion and heimholtz resonators on the walls. It sounds great for a basement project studio, and was pretty affordable as well.

Hope that helps. In a nutshell, seal the air, float the floor, separate the ceiling and you'll have sound transmission reduction. Windows are bad, ventilation is tricky.

-Tom
 
Mass and clever construction goes a long way. My voiceover booth has 4 layers of drywall, aluminum iso channel framing and hockey pucks separate the base from the floor. I can run a window unit ac next to it and it doesn't screw up my work.
 
Wow thanks for all of the help guys! I haven't checked this thread for a while! Does anyone have any ideas about a certain type of insulation that may be better than another? I have heard of some foam insulation that is sprayed in and then dried, that has better heat economy as well as sound, but don't know much more about it than that. Thanks for the link to the other forum as well Jordan!
 
Another thing that helps a lot is to put random objects scattered throughout the room. Anything that will deflect or absorb sound will reduce echo and such. Couches, pillows, blankets, big object with these on them, things like that. It's a cheap way to go if you can't afford the Auralex, but even if you can, these things will help with the audio you get in that room.
 
a sofa is a great bass trap ;-) other than the very good suggestions made here I can add one more thing: try to avoid rectangular walls! try to slant the ceiling vs the floor and the opposite walls, use rigips to create ondulated walls or at least diagonal spaces. every 90 degree angle is likely to create standing waves. parallel walls create stutter echoes!
 
So I just walked out to the studio today with the owner of the company who has wanted to build the building as it would normally be built and then treat it afterwards, which was not my plan, but oh well, he is paying for it.

So I have all kinds of things to think about which I should be able to find a lot in the links that have already been given, but does anyone have any ideas on flooring? He is wanting to do carpet with an extra thick pad underneath, but I would imagine there is a better way, especially since I can see that making for a wobbly tripod...
 
Xtopher said:
So I just walked out to the studio today with the owner of the company who has wanted to build the building as it would normally be built and then treat it afterwards, which was not my plan, but oh well, he is paying for it.

So I have all kinds of things to think about which I should be able to find a lot in the links that have already been given, but does anyone have any ideas on flooring? He is wanting to do carpet with an extra thick pad underneath, but I would imagine there is a better way, especially since I can see that making for a wobbly tripod...
Click to expand...

How far do you want to go? Some recording studios are "room within a room" construction where the studio is actually a separate one-room building suspended on shock pads so its structure is isolated from the rest of the building!
 
Steve House said:
How far do you want to go? Some recording studios are "room within a room" construction where the studio is actually a separate one-room building suspended on shock pads so its structure is isolated from the rest of the building!
Click to expand...

I guess since the building is already built at this point, I am just wondering what type of things can be done to help the room sound better. I have a lot of information now that I am looking through trying to figure out the best method!
 
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