Soundproof Your Studio

Wilson Harwood

I teach you how to build a soundproof studio. Even if you know nothing about soundproofing or construction I go in depth to turn you from a total beginner into a soundproofing master.

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231 episodes
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Episodes231

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Mar 20, 2023 · 12 min
Acoustics Of A Professional Mastering Studio
FREE Acoustic Treatment Guide: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/acoustic Hire Duncan Ferguson: https://thevoltageexchange.com/ This week's video and article is a bit different from my usual teaching. I recently had coffee with my new friend, Duncan Ferguson who is a professional mastering engineer and owner of the studio, The Voltage Exchange. We toured his studio and talked about his acoustic treatment build out. Here are some key takeaways. 1) His Studio Is Not Soundproof Duncan weighed his costs with this build and decided to put his money into the acoustics not the soundproofing. 2) This Is A "Beta" Studio Design Duncan says it himself, this design was born from his experience with a masters degree in acoustics, running sound testing for stadium shows and his years as a professional mastering room. He does have a lot of knowledge, but this was his first studio design. 3) Mastering Studio Acoustics Acoustics vary depending on the usage of the room. In Duncan's case he needs an extremely flat and accurate frequency response in his room. For this reason it may be more dead or in some cases "boring" than a live room in a studio. His studio design is based off the control room principal where all acoustic decisions are made to get the most accurate listening experience possible. It is good to keep this in mind as you watch the video, since not all rooms should be acoustically treated the same way. I also find that acoustic design is more of an artform than a science in much the same way mixing and mastering is. Ultimately, we need to follow some ground rules, but the real beauty of the sonics of a room is in the ear of the beholder. If you are designing a recording studio then check out my FREE Acoustic Treatment Guide to get all the best tips on acoustically treating your home recording studio.
Mar 13, 2023 · 5 min
The Best Soundproof Floor Design
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop When most people think of soundproofing they think of foam, a room within a room and a floating floor. Now there are a lot of myths out there about floating floors and today I want to clear it up by telling you that floating a floor in almost all situations is a bad soundproofing option. 1) What Is The Best Floor Design For Soundproofing? The best option is to build on a concrete slab. This option offers you the best soundproofing for your home recording studio. The reason a concrete slab is the best option is because it sits on the earth which offers great insulation around the slab and that the slab itself has so much mass that it can stop sound from entering your studio. 2) Where Should You Build Your Soundproof Floor? If you are building a soundproof studio in your home then you should build your studio in your basement if it has an existing concrete slab or in your garage. If you are planning to do what I did and build a studio in your backyard then you can pour a concrete slab and build your studio on top of it. 3) Dealing With Multiple Rooms If you want to have more than one soundproof room in your home recording studio then the best option is to pour isolated concrete slabs. You can see in this diagram below that isolated concrete slabs allow you to have adjacent rooms that are not connected by the same floor. This means sound will not travel from one concrete slab to the other. An expansion joint and some caulk fills the space between the two slabs. I would recommend you find a concrete specialist who has experience pouring isolated slabs before you choose this option. 4) But What If I Don't Have The Option To Build On A Concrete Slab Well, this is a common problem. My first gut reaction is find a different location where you can. The amount of money and expertise needed to properly float a floor is beyond the scope of a home studio. If you absolutely must float your floor then you will have to live with the fact that your floor will be a weak link in your soundproof room. A weak link means you will not know until you are finished if your studio will be soundproof enough for your goals. This means gambling tens of thousands of dollars on a soundproofing job that might not work. Conclusion If you are building a soundproof home recording studio stick to using a concrete slab as your floor. It will start you off with the best soundproof floor possible. I don't recommend building a home recording studio on a floating floor and would recommend you move or change the location of your studio before going down that path.
Mar 6, 2023 · 10 min
Do You Need Green Glue?
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Lately I have been thinking a lot about if Green Glue is really necessary in a soundproof studio build. The first hint, was that Rod Gervais only mentions Green Glue in a small section of his book. His entire process involves 5/8" drywall with specific construction techniques. So, why then do we need Green Glue? This is what I will answer in this article. 1) What Is Green Glue Green Glue is a damping system. Damping involves reducing sound energy by converting it to heat by reducing the vibrations in the material. There are many damping materials on the market, the most notable competitor to Green Glue being Mass Loaded Vinyl or MLV. In his book Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros, Rod Gervais states the following: "There are a large number of damping systems on the market...But the only one that has caught my attention (providing not only greater isolation at low frequencies than standard drywall, while maintaining a cost performance that is reasonable) is a product called Green Glue..." (Gervais Chapter 4 Floor, Wall and Ceiling Construction Details pg.89). 2) How Green Glue Increases Isolation To understand how Green Glue works we need to compare it to the mass needed to get the same isolation without using Green Glue. To understand this we need to look at Mass Law. Mass Law states that each doubling of mass adds 6dB of additional isolation, but in the real world that number is closer to 5dB. (Gervais Chapter 4 Floor, Wall and Ceiling Construction Details pg.89). So, if you have two sheets of drywall on each side of your wall the next step is four sheets on each side to increase the isolation by 5dB. Gervais shares a graph in his book from lab tests done by the Green Glue Company. These tests were done by a reputable third party lab with no connections to the Green Glue Company. In the diagram below you can see that the top two lines in the graph show the Green Glue Assembly (two layers of drywall with green glue in the middle on a single stud wall) and the estimated performance of 4 layers of drywall per side. What is important to note is first, the Green Glue simply outperforms the four layers of drywall across the entire frequency spectrum from 250Hz upward. Starting around 125Hz and below the green glue is superior to the four layers of drywall. If we look at two layers of drywall without Green Glue it is clear that the Green Glue certainly outperforms the two layers of drywall across the entire frequency spectrum. 3) How Much Isolation Do You Need? Now the initial instinct after looking at the graph is to say, great! Let me use Green Glue because it clearly gets the best results. Before you jump to that conclusion you need to ask yourself how much isolation you really need. If you are primarily recording acoustic instruments and listening back to your speakers at a normal listening volume then you probably don't need to spend the extra money on Green Glue. However, if you are playing drums at all hours of the day or rehearsing with a heavy metal band at full blast then you would be wise to use Green Glue to get the maximum isolation possible. 4) Your Studio Is Only As Soundproof As Its Weakest Link The next logical step is to think if your walls are getting really great isolation then you are good to go. However, if you use Green Glue and your walls have a really high STC value, but your doors and windows do not then you will not have a soundproof room with an STC as high as your walls. Your room is only as soundproof as the least soundproof assembly in it. This means if your walls get an STC of 73, but your door gets an STC of 57 then you probably did not need to spend all that money adding Green Glue to your walls. STC is not even the best way to compare the door and the walls. The best way is to look at the Transmission Loss over the entire frequency spectrum. For example, let's look at the transmission loss of the best Overly Acoustical Door. This door gets an STC of 57. Overly, by the way, is one of the most reputable soundproof door companies on the market. Below is a diagram from the Overly door product catalog. If we compare the frequencies of the transmission loss chart to the double wall with Green Glue we can see some comparisons. Now remember, the graph from the Green Glue company shows a single stud wall. In studios it is best to use a double stud wall so your transmission loss will be even better. This said, this high end door achieves really good results across the frequency spectrum and would perform better than the drywall with Green Glue in the low end. The only downside is this door probably costs upwards of $5,000. If you build your own door you need to try and match the weight of your walls with your door. If you are using Green Glue, remember the mass of your walls will be close to the equivalent of four layers of drywall on each side. For a double door system that means both doors need to weigh close to 176 LBs or more to match the mass of your walls. Conclusion For most DIY soundproofing projects Green Glue may be overkill. However, if you are a drummer or a very loud band then I would consider Green Glue and building a very heavy door or buying a professionally built one. The key is to remember your soundproofing is only as good as your weakest link. Companies like Green Glue want to sell you their product, but be aware of the bias towards getting superior results without taking into account your doors and windows as well. Works Cited: Gervais, Rod. “Chapter 4 Floor, Wall and Ceiling Construction Details.” Home Recording Studio: Build It like the Pros, Delmar, Clifton Park, NY, 2011. “Product Catalog.” Overly Door Company, https://door.overly.com/products?PT_Guid=d942747f-96d5-4dc3-8b3b-58a3b5b70a55&PM_Guid=2f9a63cb-9c60-4b12-8cc9-8c852003606e&PA_Guid=b5b287a4-917d-4771-bac9-07cc0941bd0c.
Feb 27, 2023 · 10 min
Do Not Use MLV When Soundproofing
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Yup, you read that right. Don't do it! I am trying to stir up the internet on purpose. MLV is not as good at stopping sound as Green Glue with two layers of 5/8" drywall. I also am going to argue in the article that your soundproof room is only as strong as its weakest link, which in all rooms will most likely be the door. 1) You Are Only As Strong As Your Weakest Link It is so important to understand that a soundproof wall with an STC rating of 63 and a soundproof door with an STC rating of 57 means that your room will have an overall STC of 57. Your wall will block a lot of sound, but those same sounds will come in your door that were blocked by your wall. With this in mind it is extremely important to build your door so that it matches the STC of your wall. So what does this have to do with MLV. Let me explain. 2) MLV and Green Glue Increase Your Walls STC That is a good thing right? Well, not so fast. If you build a doublle wall with just two layers of 5/8" drywall on both sides and achieve an STC of 63 then your door must also equal an STC of 63. To do this you must by a $5,000 plus door from a soundproof door supplier or build your own. To build your own you must match the mass of your two walls. So, two walls with an a combined STC of 63 means you have 4.4lb/sqft on one side and 4.4lb/sqft on the other side. If you build a single door it must equal 8.8lb/sqft. Lets say your door is 36" x 80" or 20 sqft. Then your door must weight 176lb at least. This is the minimum and more is better. Now, if you add Green Glue to your walls then we know that is the equivalent of adding 2 more layers of drywall to your wall. The reason we know this is from lab testing and this information is also in Rod Gervais's book: Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros. This would double our mass needed on our door to 352lb's. Yes, that is a very heavy door. If you add MLV you will need to figure out how the added weight and damping effect of MLV will increase your soundproofing and adjust the door mass accordingly. Since Green Glue performs better than MLV my guess is you could build a slightly lighter door. My point is that you may get enough soundproofing from just the two layers of drywall on each wall. This would mean you are wasting money on Green Glue or MLV. Or if you do use the damping products you must increase the mass of your doors and windows accordingly. This will increase cost overall and may, again not be needed. 3) Green Glue performs better than MLV According to Lab Tests done by the Green Glue company with a private third party lab, Green Glue simply performs better than MLV. Look at this graph from the Green Glue company below. You can see that Green Glue outperforms MLV except at 125hz. It performs better than MLV in general over the entire frequency spectrum. So, my question to you is why would you use MLV over Green Glue? Why would you use MLV over just two layers of 5/8" drywall? Is it because MLV is advertised well all over the internet? That is true and most searches for soundproofing will lead you to MLV. That is called great SEO and it makes MLV suppliers a lot of money. The bummer is that you are the one losing out, not them. Conclusion My point is that adding damping in the form of MLV or Green Glue will improve the STC and Transmission Loss of your walls, but do you have the means to also increase the STC and TL of your door as well? If not, then do not bother with either MLV or Green Glue. Next, we know from lab tests that Green Glue performs better so if you are going to add a damping layer to your soundproof design please use Green Glue and not MLV.
Feb 20, 2023 · 10 min
How To Soundproof Existing Windows
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Rod Gervais Book - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD Master Handbook of Acoustics: https://tinyurl.com/y6sdpz4n How To Build Soundproof Windows: https://youtu.be/JQiozaQcTkk Roto Metals: https://www.rotometals.com/ Door Seal Kit: https://acousticalsolutions.com/product/privacyshield-soundproofing-door-seal-kit-complete-set/ Do you have existing windows in the room where you want to build a soundproof home recording studio? If you don't want to remove them entirely this article will show you two ways to create soundproof window inserts. 1) Seal The Window With Particle Board I learned this method from the Master Handbook of Acoustics by Ken C. Pohlmann and F. Alton Everest. This design involves building a seal either in front of or behind your existing window in the window cavity. The idea is to use four layers of 3/4" particle board sandwiched together. You can see in the diagram below how this works. You place the particle board in a wood frame and use four carriage bolts to secure the board together. The last board creates a full seal around the window opening and must be airtight for the system to work. 2) Creating A Door In Front or Behind Your Window The second design is from Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais. This design allows you to open or close a massive door in front of or behind your existing window. This design involves installing a solid core door cut to the size of your window opening. You then attach the door using two to three hinges. You add more mass to this mini door by sandwiching 8psf of sheet lead between the door and 3/4 plywood. Next, you need to build two gaskets to seal both the solid core door and the 3/4 plywood add on. It is best to add a third final seal. This can be magnetic weather stripping or a door seal kit like this one: Door Seal Kit. This system will allow you to open or close your window door when you are recording or not. 3) Conclusion If you want to keep your existing windows as is then either of these designs will work to isolate your window for home recording. The downside will be the window will be blocked during times when you need maximum isolation. These means you won't get any natural light. The benefit of the door method is that you can open your window and allow fresh air into your studio on nice days. This is something even professional studios do not usually have and could be a nice plus to your home studio design.
Feb 13, 2023 · 10 min
How To Build A Soundproof Studio In A Shed - Part 1
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Rod Gervais Book - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD How To Soundproof Walls: https://youtu.be/m4G8l4RUydE When I was first thinking about building my own home recording studio I wanted to build it in a pre-fabricated shed. The reason? It is cheaper and easier to just have a shed delivered and then soundproof the inside of it. In theory this is a great plan, but there are two main things we will talk about in this article that make your shed design potentially a disaster. 1) Case Study - Nashville Shed Recording Studio Currently, my friend and builder, Henry Thompson, is building a soundproof recording studio here in Nashville for a drummer/producer. The studio is a big barn style shed. The goal is to soundproof his pre-fab shed so that he can play drums without bothering his neighbors and produce clients in a professional home recording studio. 2) The Problems With A Shed This shed was placed on an existing concrete slab in Taylor, the owners, driveway. The company who sells the shed came in and built the full shed in a day or two. That is an incredible deal, but there are two big problems with using a shed that was built on site. First, the shed was built with a wood deck floor on top of the concrete driveway. Second the shed walls or sheathing are very thin. This is part of the reason it is cheaper than traditional building methods, but this is also why it is not ideal for soundproofing. In soundproofing we want mass, and thin walls mean way less mass. 3) So What Are The Solutions? The first thing you must do is remove the wood deck floor. To do this you must remove the plywood from the floor and cut out all the wood cross bracing on the floor. You must use the concrete slab as your floor for it to be properly soundproofed. For the the thin walls the key is to add mass to those existing walls. To this I recommend adding two layers of 5/8" drywall to the inside bays of your existing sheathing. To save money, I would have taken the plywood from the original shed floor and cut it down to size to add mass to the outside walls. Below is a diagram from Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais. Notice in this diagram that he recommends adding two layers of 5/8" drywall with a small gap around the drywall. Fill the small gap with backer rod and acoustic caulk to seal the added drywall to the sheathing. Then you can add a 1" cleat over the backer rod and caulk to ensure the new drywall is fully sealed and airtight. This method will ensure your outside walls match the mass of your inside walls and is crucial to achieving the STC ratings we need for recording studio design. Conclusion You can build a professional recording studio in a pre-fabricated shed, The key is to build it on top of a level concrete slab and to beef up the interior walls and ceilings of your building so that you are starting with an excellent structure. Then when you add the soundproofing techniques on top of that structure you will get professional results.
Feb 6, 2023 · 17 min
How To Build A Recording Studio In A Garage
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Sonarworks: https://www.sonarworks.com/soundid-reference/overview?oid=2&affid=254&sub1=affiliate&utm_medium=affiliate A garage is an excellent place to build a recording studio. In this article we will look at the process and a simple design showing how I would build my studio in a garage. The Studio Design Below is a mock up of how I would design my studio. This is not to scale, but it gives you an idea of the major elements we will talk about in this article. 1) Room Size First, I chose my room dimensions using the Sepmeyer room equation. The sepmeyer equations are based off room dimensions that will reduce the amount of room modes in a room. Room modes are bad when it comes to acoustics, so starting with an ideal room size to begin with will make acoustically treating the room that much easier. For my studio I chose 18.64ft x 12.8ft x 8ft (celing height). You can use the calculator at this link: https://www.odometer.org/misc/ht/. This room size also leaves space in the garage to be...well a garage for storage, parking a car and extra space for my ERV and baffle boxes. More on that to come! 2) Concrete Floor The floor of a garage is usually concrete. This is all you need to soundproof a floor. Yup, no floating floors here. Just lay down a carpet, some laminate flooring or hardwood flooring and you are good to go. 3) Walls For my walls, I would use a double wall system. This would offer excellent soundproofing. I would use nice wood paneling on my front wall and left side wall for both acoustics and vibe. You can trade out drywall for wood whenever you want. It is all about the mass. As long as you get mass on your walls you will be fine. I would put green glue in between my drywall layers to maximize the soundproofing. 4) Ceiling For the ceiling I would use a hat channel system. I would want to make sure that my ceiling height is truly 8 feet when the hat channels and two layers of drywall are installed. If my ceiling height ends up being less than 8 feet then I would want to change my inside wall dimensions. To install my ceiling I would install I-B1 acoustic clips wit 7/8" furring channel and attach the two layers of drywall with green glue to my ceiling. If I had the space I could also build a free standing ceiling off my inside walls using new bracing and this would be the most soundproof option. 5) Door I would use a communicating door system to soudnproof my entryway. The comunnicating doors use two solid core doors that open opposite to each other. It is important that the doors are airtight. I would buy a door sealant kit from acoustical solutions. You could also maybe save some money buying door seals directly from zero industries too. 6) Heating and Cooling For heating and cooling I would install a Mr. Cool Minisplit. For a room this small I would install a 1200 BTU model. I would run the lines for the Mini Split through my walls and connect them to the compressor outside. 7) Ventilation Many people forget about the need for fresh air. The mini split doesn't provide fresh air, so we need a separate system. I would install an ERV to provide fresh air in my studio. I would run the fresh air and exhaust air through two separate baffle boxes attached to the outside wall of my studio. This would ensure that the air is not heard and that the two big holes in your wall won't ruin your soundproof room. 8) Bass Traps Once I finish building the soundproof shell of my room then I will install the acoustic panels. First, I would put bass trap panels in all four corners of my room spanning from the floor to the ceiling. 9) Reflection Free Zone Next, I would create a reflection free zone or RFZ. This is around the area where I will be listening, mixing and mastering my music. To create the RFZ I will hand acoustic panels on either side of me on both walls and hang an acoustic cloud over my head. This will ensure that the sound I am hearing from my speakers is not distorted by reflections off my walls and ceiling. 10) Diffusion Panels Next, I would put diffusion panels across my entire back wall from roughly 2 feet off the ground. This will ensure that any sound-waves that hit the back wall will be evenly dispersed back into the room. This will make my speakers sound clearer and more focused. 11) Set Up My Desk Then I would set up my desk so that my listening spot is 38% of the length of the room. This is the ideal location to listen to your speakers in a rectangular room. In my room that listening spot would be at 7.08Ft. 12) Set Up My Speakers I would then set up my speakers to they create an equilateral triangle from my listening spot. I would angle them so that they are pointing directly towards my listening spot. It is important to make sure that if your speakers are say 5 ft apart that both speakers would also be 5 feet from your listening spot. It is important to note that your head will most likely sit just in front of the peak of that equilateral triangle. Use your ears to dial in the exact spot. You will know when it sounds perfect! 13) Speaker Calibration Lastly, I would use Sonarworks speaker calibration software called Sound ID to calibrate my speakers to get them as flat as possible. This will make up for any problems in my room that the acoustic treatment couldn't fix. After that my studio would be finished and ready for recording, mixing and mastering. Conclusion If you found that to be a great overview, but feel like I should have gone more in depth, well you are right. The devil is in the details as they say. So reach out to me if you would like to learn more and need some help building your professional DIY home recording studio.
Jan 30, 2023 · 12 min
What Are Acoustic Holes In Glass?
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop How To Build Soundproof Windows: https://youtu.be/JQiozaQcTkk If you have ever wondered why soundproof windows are designed the way they are then this lesson is for you. This is also a great article on what acoustic holes are in windows. 1) Mass-Air-Mass Resonance Mass-air-mass resonance is when sound hits the outside pane of glass which then translates to the airspace between the two panes of glass. The air space acts like a spring and translates that sound to the second pane of glass. This transmission of sound waves causes a dip in the transmission loss of the window at a certain frequency. The frequency where that dip occurs depends on the thickness of the glass and the airspace between the two panes of glass. In the diagram below from The Master Handbook Of Acoustics, you can see how increasing glass thickness and increasing the airspace between the glass panes will decrease the frequency where the mass-air-mass resonance occurs. The goal is to get that frequency as low as possible for your recording studio design. In the next diagram of my own recording studio windows you can see that I used thick pieces of glass with a large air gap to reduce the frequency at which the Mass-Air-Mass resonance occurs. 2) Coincidence Resonance The second type of acoustic hole that happens with glass is known as the coincidence effect. This phenomenon occurs when the speed of the sound wave moving through air matches the speed of the sound wave already in the glass. This will cause an acoustic hole at that specific sound wave speed also known as the frequency. The acoustic hole will cause a dip in transmission loss letting that specific frequency through at a greater volume than other frequencies near by. The figure below from the Master Handbook Of Acoustics shows that with two panes of 1/8" thick glass with a 1/4" air-gap the coincidence frequency happens at 4k. This means sound at 4k will travel more easily through the window than frequencies above and below 4k. The formula for estimating the coincidence frequency is: f=500/t f= the coincidence frequency t= the thickness of the glass If we look at my two studio windows the coincidence frequency of the 1/2" pane is 1000Hz and the coincidence frequency of the 3/8" pane is 1333Hz. The two dissimilar panes of glass make it so the coincidence frequency of one pane of glass cannot make it through the other and vice versa. This is a solution to preventing an acoustic hole in your soundproof window. 3) Standing Waves Standing waves occur when two wave forms collide with each other head on either increasing the amplitude of the two waves, decreasing the amplitude or completely cancelling the wave out. Standing waves occur in the airspace between to panes of glass and can increase the resonance at certain frequencies thus causing acoustic holes. To combat standing waves, we put glass fiber on the inside our windows in the air space to absorb the sound waves that bounce around inside the airspace. This will help with some of the standing waves inside your window airspace. Conclusion The greater the window mass and airspace between the panes of glass the better your soundproofing. Two different thickness of glass will reduce the coincidence effect and improve your soundproofing. Adding glass fiber around the inside of your window in the airspace will reduce standing waves and improve your soundproofing. I hope this article has helped you understand why we build the soundproof windows the way we do. If you would like to learn how to build a soundproof window like I did in my studio you can check out this video: https://youtu.be/JQiozaQcTkk
Jan 23, 2023 · 10 min
Single Vs. Double Pane Windows For Soundproofing
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop How To Build Soundproof Windows: https://youtu.be/JQiozaQcTkk I have been asked is it is better to use single pane or double pane windows when soundproofing. In this article I will go over which type of window is best and what I recommend for your soundproof recording studio. 1) Single Pane Windows Single pane windows also known as single leaf or single glazed windows are what most residential windows are. They are not good for soundproofing and should be avoided. Single pane windows only offer an STC of 25, which is far below the ideal recording studio window that would have an STC of 50+. It is important to note, that if you do have to use a single pane window then the thicker the glass the better. As you can see in the graph from The Master Handbook of Acoustics, the sound transmission loss increases as the glass thickness increases. Lastly, if you can fully seal a window, meaning you can't open it, then your transmission loss will increase by another 3-5db. 2) Double Pane Windows Double pane windows also known as double glazed or double leaf windows are better at soundproofing, but still not ideal. A readily available double pane window from your window retailer will only have an STC of 38. This is still far less than needed for a recording studio. For this reason I highly recommend buying a soundproof window from a commercial acoustic window supplier like Overly or Soundproof Windows Inc. You can also build your own soundproof windows. Here is a link from my youtube channel on how to build Soundproof Windows: https://youtu.be/JQiozaQcTkk. In the figure below you can see how differing thickness of glass can improve your double pane window design. Conclusion Don't use single pane windows Don't use double pane windows unless you buy from a soundproofing supplier or build your own. Using Laminate or Tempered glass will improve isolation over float glass. The thicker your glass the better your window will isolate. The greater the distance between your two pieces of glass the better your sound isolation will be. Remember, don't waste money buying "normal windows." To keep your room soundproof you must use a commercial soundproof window or follow my video and build your own.
Jan 16, 2023 · 10 min
Soundproofing A Floor With Concrete
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Soundproof Ceiling With Hat Channels: https://youtu.be/tnNu9bFD4ck You can significantly increase the isolation of your ceiling or floor by adding a layer of concrete onto either your floor of your recording studio or the floor above the ceiling of your recording studio. In this article I will explain the method for doing this and compare the STC ratings of different designs with and without concrete. 1) Using Hat Channels and IB-1 Clips to Soundproof Your Ceiling In my studio we used IB-1 isolation clips and 7/8" furring channel attached to our ceiling joists to decouple the drywall from the outside structure. We drilled two layers of 5/8" drywall into the furring channel to isolate the ceiling from the roof above. Below is a diagram of this design. You can increase the sound isolation of this design by adding a layer of self leveling gypsum concrete or cellular concrete to the floor above your soundproof ceiling. This will especially help with impact noise and low frequency transmission from kick drums and bass. 2) Comparison Of Using Concrete With and Without Resilient Channel In this diagram below from The Master Handbook Of Acoustics Sixth Edition we can see that adding a 1.5" layer of cellular concrete with a density of 105-120 lb/ft3 will increase your STC Rating and especially help in the low frequency spectrum. For comparison, a recording studio wall can get as high as STC 63 so to keep your floor roughly in line with that wall an STC of 59 is much better than an STC of 49. Remember, any weak link in your room will compromise the STC of the entire room. So having walls with a rating of 63 is only as good as your floor, door and window STC ratings. In this diagram we see that having access to both the ceiling below your floor and the floor above will give you the greatest isolation. If you live in an apartment with only one floor this may reduce your ability to isolate your floor and ceilings using this design. 3) Comparison Of Using Concrete vs No Concrete In this diagram from The Master Handbook Of Acoustics we can see that when both systems are using resilient channel, but one has the concrete on the floor above the concrete floor performs better across the entire frequency spectrum. From this diagram we can see that the resilient channel and 5/8" drywall gives you an STC of 47 while the added concrete above with the resillient channel and drywall gives you an STC of 59. Notice how you get 10db of added transmission loss at 125 Hz with the concrete. You also get 15db of added loss at 500Hz and 20db at 2KHz and above. There is a huge benefit in adding mass to your floor above to get greater isolation. Conclusion First, we learned that adding mass in the form of concrete to the floor above will increase your STC ratings across the frequency spectrum. We also learned that to get the maximum isolation you ideally would have access to the floor and ceiling below. Lastly, it is important to consult with a structural engineer before adding the concrete to ensure your floor can handle the extra load.
Jan 9, 2023 · 12 min
Soundproof Ceiling Using Isolation Hangers
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Soundproof Ceiling With Hat Channels: https://youtu.be/tnNu9bFD4ck There are several options when it comes to soundproofing your ceiling. In this article I am going to explain the isolation hanger method. This will give you superior results when compared to the hat channel system, but may cost more and requires doing some basic math before diving in. Let's take a look at how to build an isolated hanging ceiling. 1) Overview Of The Design The basic way this soundproofing method works is that the hanger when activated with the right amount of weight will isolate your ceiling from the rest of the structure. You can see in the diagram below how the isolation hangers hold up 2x4's that span your room and then you drill in two layers of 5/8" drywall into the 2x4's. This way your ceiling is completely detached from the floor above. Sound does not travel through the hangers thus making your ceiling soundproof. 2) Calculating What Hangers You Need In his book, Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros, Rod Gervais recommends using Mason Industries WHR Hangers. These hangers come in different colors based on the weight of the ceiling you are hanging. A way to calculate the amount of hangers you need is to look at the weight load in a 4ftx8ft area of your ceiling. Drywall comes in these dimensions so it makes the math a bit easier. Now if your current ceiling joists are placed every 16" OC then you will likely need four hangers per 4ft by 8ft area of your ceiling. This means we need to calculate the weight of the wood holding our drywall plus the weight of the drywall to determine the total load on our hangers. Here is the math: Two sheets of 5/8" Drywall = 140.8Lbs Two spans of 2x4 at 4' in length = 9lbs The total load for that 4'x8' area = 149.8lbs Now that we have the total load let's divide that by the load per hanger. To figure that out we simply divide the total load by 4 and get 37.5lbs per hanger. If we look at the mason industries website we know we will need to buy the Green hangers with a maximum capacity of 60lbs per hanger. 3) Constructing Your Hanging Ceiling Building the ceiling is relatively straight forward. You want to hang your clips in the middle of each bay using 1/4" hook bolts. (See the diagram below to get a visual). Next, attach 1/4" hook bolts to your new 2x4 ceiling joist and attach it to the WHR Ceiling Hanger. Add insulation to both the underside of the floor and in the new cavity of the hanging ceiling. Lastly, attach two layers of drywall to the hanging ceiling joists. Finish up by using acoustic caulk where the ceiling meets your walls to make the gap airtight. Conclusion Overall this is a great soundproof ceiling design. The main things to think about are how much ceiling height you are willing to lose with the hangers and how much isolation you need. This design will probably deliver better isolation than the hat channel style design I used in my studio. The downsides are potential added cost and the extra work of calculating the total weight of your ceiling.
Jan 2, 2023 · 6 min
How To Build A Budget Floating Floor
FREE Soundproofing Workshop: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop Owens Corning: https://www.buyinsulationproductstore.com/owens-corning-703-fiberglass-acoustic-board-2-3/ If you want to save some money and can't build a concrete floor then this budget floor option is for you. A Word Of Warning! Now, I know soundproofing and the term "floating floor" are almost synonymous, but the truth is that a floating floor is not always the best option. In fact, a concrete slab will always be the best way to soundproof a room. The reason is that concrete has a ton of mass and will do a better job of isolation across the entire frequency spectrum. For this reason I always recommend you start with a concrete slab. However, sometimes a concrete slab is just not an option. If you are building on a second story, on top of a crawl space or simply don't have the budget to pour a concrete slab then a floating floor is for you. How To Build The Budget Floating Floor 1) Use Rigid Fiberglass First, lay down a layer of rigid fiberglass insulation across your entire floor, but leave a gap between the wall and your fiberglass. I like to use Owens Corning 703 and I would use the 4" or two layers of the 2" to giv you the most isolation. You also don't want the fiberglass fully compressing to the existing floor when you add weight on top of it. 2) Add 1x4 Strapping Add 1x4's in a pattern throughout the room to attach the drywall too. These could be every 16" on center or 24" on center depending on building codes and your budget. 3) Add Two Layers of 5/8" Drywall Add two layers of 5/8" Drywall on top of the fiberglass and 1x4" boards. Screw the drywall into the strapping boards and make sure to lay the drywall boards in opposite directions for each layers so the seams don't line up. *As a bonus you can add Green Glue in between the two layers of drywall to increase your soundproofing. 4) Add Turned Up Glass Fiber Around The Edges Add a layer of turned up glass fiber around all the edges of your room to ensure the floating floor does not touch your walls. 5) Add Your Finishing Floor Add your flooring on top of the drywall. This could be laminate flooring, carpeting, hardwood or engineered hardwood. 6) Add Base Board and Acoustic Caulk Lastly, you will add your base board on top of the fiberglass insulation. Leave a small gap between the base board and your finished floor and run a bead of acoustic caulk along the air-gap. This will ensure your room is still airtight while also not transferring vibrational noise through the baseboard to your floor.
Dec 26, 2022 · 5 min
How To Build A Plywood Soundproof Floating Floor
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ Owens Corning: https://www.buyinsulationproductstore.com/owens-corning-703-fiberglass-acoustic-board-2-3/ Iso-Pads: https://www.soundaway.com/IsoTrack-stud-isolator-250pk-p/16203.htm 0:00- Intro 0:41- Why You Shouldn't Float A Floor 1:59 - Iso Pads 2:42 - Fiber Glass 3:26 - Perimeter Board 3:56 - Two Layers Of Plywood 4:20 - Caulk Around Perimeter 4:39 - Add Finished Flooring
Dec 19, 2022 · 6 min
10 Reasons You Should Not Build A Soundproof Studio
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ FREE Soundproofing Budget Calculator: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/calculator Today I want to give you 10 reasons you may not be ready to jump into building your dream soundproof home recording studio. This article is meant to give you pause and address some things you may not have thought of with the goal of saving you time and money. 10) You Don't Own The Property If you don't own your house or apartment then do not plan on building a soundproof studio. Soundproofing requires a lot of construction and cost and you want to put that into a house you own. 9) You Don't Know The Difference Between Soundproofing And Acoustic Treatment Soundproofing is the method of construction that decreases the amount of sound that comes through floors, walls, ceilings, windows and doors. Acoustic treatment are figerglass panels that you hang on your walls to reduce acoustic reflections in your room thus making it sound better. You want to get these terms straight before jumping into a studio build. 8) You Don't Have A Budget Before you take on a project of this size you need to have a rock solid idea of how much it is going to cost. Otherwise, you will end up owing more money than you have and never finish the project. Make sure you have a budget in place and have agreed upon that budget with your contractor. Don't have a budget: Use our FREE Soundproofing Budget Calculator to make one. 7) You Have Researched Endlessly But Are Still Unsure If you keep on researching, watching youtube videos, reading blogs, reading books and still don't feel rock solid on your plan than you are not ready to build your soundproof studio. You want to be certain what you are going to build will in fact be soundproof. 6) You Only Want To Build One Soundproof Wall It is logical to think that the wall with all the noise on the other side of it is the one you need to soundproof. This is logical, but not correct. A soundproof room is an all or nothing endeavor. It is lie a fishbowl. One small leak and the whole bowl will drain. If you have one small whole in your soundproof room the whole room will be compromised. 5) You Don't Have A Team To Help You You cannot build a full soundproof studio alone. At the very least you will need some construction help even if you are doing it yourself. You must have a great contractor, electrician, and HVAC specialist. If you have not gotten your team together then you are not ready to soundproof your studio. 4) You Don't Have A Plan For Acoustically Treating Your Room If you build a soundproof studio, but do not acoustically treat it then you will just have a really isolated echo chamber. To finish your studio correctly you must know what panels to use and where to place them. If you don't know how to acoustically treat your room then you are not ready to soundproof. 3) You Don't Want To Install Ventilation If you don't think you need fresh air in your new airtight soundproof studio then think again. We exhale C02 and a buildup of C02 can cause headaches and fatigue. You don't want stale air in your new studio. If you don't have a plan for ventilating your studio then put on the breaks on your build. 2) You Are Overwhelmed With Decision Fatigue If you are exhausted from endless research and still can't decide on how to build your studio then you need some outside help. It is time to look for a resource that will guide you step by step towards building your soundproof studio. 1) You Want To Cut Corners To Save Time and Money It is tempting, but soundproofing is an all or nothing endeavor. You must commit to doing it right or else all of your hard work and money will be wasted and you will not get the results you desire.
Dec 12, 2022 · 8 min
Using Brick, Plaster, Or Concrete For Soundproof Walls
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ It is important to note that masonry walls will transmit impulse noise through their structure more easily than gypsum board so isolating the wall from outside sources or other parts of your structure is important. Adding mortar or compacted sand inside concrete blocks will increase isolation. Creating a double wall system with glass fiber in the air gap will also increase isolation. Summary Of STC Walls In the chart below from Master Handbook Of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest and Ken C. Pohlman, we can see that the best isolation is from double concrete block walls spaced 6" apart. This system will work really well, but uses a ton of square footage in your studio. A double wall with drywall and wood framing can achieve an STC of 63, so single masonry walls for studios are not as good as a double wall system. However, single masonry walls are much better than single drywall and wood framing. A single wall in a typical home only has an STC of 36. Comparing Concrete Walls If we look at another diagram from the Master Handbook of Acoustics we find that a single 12" concrete wall has an STC of 51 and two concrete walls spaced 6" apart has an STC of 59. The double wall system is clearly better than a single concrete wall. Remember adding insulation in the air gap will increase the STC as would adding more mass to the outsides of both or either wall. Also remember that although the STC is not comparable to our wood framed double wall the low frequency transmission loss is going to be greater in a concrete wall than a wood framed wall. If we look at a third diagram from the Master Handbook of Acoustics we can see how different brick wall designs perform. Notice that a single brick wall is not ideal. Adding wood, furring channels or gypsum board to a brick wall will increase transmission loss. The two brick walls with glass fiber in the middle will give the best transmission loss across the frequency spectrum. Using Masonry Walls and Wood Framing Together I believe the best option when soundproofing is to use a masonry wall as your outside wall to the world or the rest of your house and then frame an inside wall with at least a 1" airgap using wood framing and two layers of drywall with green glue in the middle. This will give you an STC in the 65 or higher range and will also increase your low frequency isolation. I also believe this system will save you in materials cost and floor space in your studio design.
Dec 5, 2022 · 6 min
Where To Use Acoustic Caulk When Soundproofing
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ I have had many of my soundproofing students ask me where to use acoustic caulk. This is one of those important but often glanced over parts of soundproofing. In this article I will teach you exactly where to use acoustic caulk for your soundproof studio. 1) Where The Walls Meet The Floor Anywhere the drywall meets the floor you need to run a bead of acoustic caulk along that seem. You can also leave an 1/8" gap between the drywall layers and the floor and push in backer rod into the gap and then fill it with acoustic caulk. This will give you just a bit more isolation from the floor and the wall. 2) Where your walls meet in the corners of your room Anywhere you have two layers of drywall meeting in a corner you need to place acoustic caulk along that seem. If you want a bit more isolation with your walls you can leave an 1/8" air gap between your first layer of drywall and put in backer rod and acoustic caulk. Then you can do the same thing with the second layer, adding backer rod and acoustic caulk. This will help isolate your walls from each other. 3) Where The Walls and Ceiling Meet Anywhere your walls meet your ceiling you will need to place a bead of acoustic caulk along that seam. Again, to add isolation you can leave an 1/8" air gap and place some backer rod and acoustic caulk in between both layers of drywall. 4) Anywhere there are small holes or cracks Construction is not perfect, but your room needs to be airtight. To accomplish this we need to use acoustic caulk around all electrical boxes for lights or light switches or plugs. Use acoustic caulk where the drywall and boxes meet. You can use it around small holes like we did when running an ethernet cable through the wall. Use your best common sense when it comes to ceiling up any holes in your room. ***Affiliate Link**** Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD
Nov 28, 2022 · 7 min
How To Build A Soundproof Sand Filled Door
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ You can build a door from scratch and fill it with sand to create a soundproof door. In this article we will go over how to build your door. Materials 3-5 bags of dry sand Lots of Wood Glue 2 Sheets of 1/4" or 3/8" Plywood 2 Sheets of plywood hardwood veneer 3-5 seven foot 2x4 studs How To Build The Door 1) Start by cutting all of your 2x4's lengthwise so the boards are now 2x2's or really 1.5" x 1.75" nominally. 2) Cut 1 piece of plywood so that it fits the size of your doorway minus 1/8" or 3mm on all four sides. 3) Attach the 2x2's to your plywood building a frame for the door. Use cross braces at the top and bottom and in the middle to keep the door square. 3) Measure 36" from the bottom and create 3 pieces of 2x2's for your lockset. These are the three middle studs you see in the picture above. 4) Next pour the sand into your door where the spaces are. 5) Glue and staple the top piece of plywood over the sand filled door. 6) Finally glue the hardwood veneer to both the front and back of your door. This door will be very heavy so make sure to use multiple people to lift it and use at least 4-6 hinges when hanging it. https://jhbrandt.net/ ***Affiliate Link**** Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD 0:00 - Intro 1:15 - What Materials You Need 2:24 - How To Build The Door 5:48 - Conclusion
Nov 21, 2022 · 7 min
How Heavy Is A Soundproof Door?
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ A soundproof door needs to be really heavy to stop sound, but how heavy is heavy enough? Today we will answer that question. ***Affiliate Link**** Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD
Nov 14, 2022 · 10 min
How To Soundproof Windows
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - www.soundproofyourstudio.com Learn the ins and outs of how to build a soundproof window.
Nov 7, 2022 · 7 min
Is Soundproofing Worth It?
FREE Soundproofing Workshop - https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/ FREE Soundproofing Budget Calculator: https://www.soundproofyourstudio.com/calculator Is it worth it to spend all that time and money soundproofing your studio? In this video we go over three pros and three cons to soundproofing. ***Affiliate Link**** Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros by Rod Gervais - https://amzn.to/3vFI8OD 0:00 - Intro 1:07 - Easier and Faster Work 1:34 - Clients Take You More Seriously 2:17 - Play Loud Music Whenever You Want 3:04 - You Don't Have The Budget 4:22 - Don't Cut Corners 5:00 - Live In A Noisy Area