Acoustics and Isolation in my room

[Jared ShermanParticipant]

Hello John, I have some questions about my studio room. The room is an office room in my house and I use it primarily for mixing but also some recording (overdubbing). The floors are hardwood and there is not much isolation and no acoustic treatment of the room. There are French doors that are difficult to isolate and also bay windows that are about 6 feet high. The bay windows each have wood plantation shutters so that helps with isolation a little but not very much. My house is very nice and this room is able to be looked into upon entry of the house so I want solutions that will be professional and easy on the eye. I would would like cost effective but I am not necessarily on a shoe string budget.

1) What recommendations would you have for isolation?

2) If window replacement would be the best option as far as the windows are concerned, is there a particular window you could recommended? Also do you have thoughts on isolating French Doors with lots of little windows throughout (otherwise all doors in this room are solid wood throughout)?

2) Is there anything you could recommend that could perhaps be pumped into the walls to provide better isolation in the interior walls?

3) What about green glue and adding another layer of drywall over the existing drywall - do you have opinions on that as well? (I do not generally prefer this option)

4) Do you know of and/or like/recommend GIK acoustics products? I have been considering these for acoustic treatment because of their perceived price/performance ratio. Do you have recommended alternatives?

5a) Do you have a formula you could point me to for determining the best placement and selections between bass traps, panels, and diffusion?

5b) How can I determine when I need diffusion vs absorption? My room is very live right now because of the wood floor, so I know I don't want to get too much diffusion, but I also don't want too little (unless a fairly small room coupled with a wood floor means that I should have none at all).

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Jared Sherman.
• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Jared Sherman.
• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Jared Sherman.

[Jared ShermanParticipant]

Hey John, this post may have gotten lost in the shuffle, so I just wanted to give it a little bump. Thanks.

[John BrandtParticipant]

Jared,

Sorry for the very late reply!

Well, bay windows are very hard to isolate, but The glass could be fitted with heavier, thicker stuff - ideally laminated. This will improve the isolation up to about 30-40 dB.

1. Isolation requires mass and seal. If you can get both, you're in the running. Control rooms, as a rule, don't need as much as tracking rooms. Barring extenuating and noisy circumstances, you should be fine with around 56 dB isolation - which is very doable with standard construction methods however requiring considerable mass.

2. We only do custom windows for sound-proofing, but massing the glass up usually does the trick for rooms like yours. French doors: Nearly impossible to sound-proof due mainly to the mullion and threshold area being difficult to seal. Remember, Form follows function. French doors are for the VIEW, not the sound.

3. Green Glue does indeed work, however I never use it. It's better, IMHO, to add another layer of 5/8" fire-rated drywall... or better - decouple the walls.

4. I really like the way that Glenn does his business. Testing data and no BS! Good products and prices. I do recommend if you need panel treatment.

5a. There is a reflection tab on my Reflections Boundaries Mass spreadsheet and other placement info on my Room mode calculators.

5b. Diffusion in a Control room is for psychoacoustics. A room with all-absorption and no diffusion is similar to the NE rooms. Many people can work them just fine. Others have issues because it becomes stressful. See my BNE Criteria. NOTE: don't sit too close to a diffusor or poly!

Cheers,
John

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