Top 5 Mistakes When Sound Proofing A Home Studio
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Every artist, musician, producer, and record label dreams of having a recording studio they can call their own. This is because home recording studios, or affordable small commercial recording studios, offer many options like the ability to record when you want, a work flow that suites your creative style, and the ability to make a little profit that can be used to further your own career in the music industry. Additionally, having your own studio means you only have to pay once, to buy and build the studio, and then never have to pay for recording studio time again. This is huge as an independent!
The major problem with most home recording studios is that the owners really do not understand how to properly design or build the recording studio spaces so that what they are hearing or recording is acoustically correct. Meaning; because of poor acoustic treatment, building techniques, or speaker/equipment placement the room actually lies to the recording engineer making it seem as if recorded tracks sound a certain way when in reality those same tracks sound completely different when taken out of the room.
Rooms “lie” to recording engineers because of poor construction or acoustic treatment techniques. The sad thing is that most sound issues found in a recording studio could have been corrected for very little money while building but become costly once the construction is completed.
The major problem with most home recording studios is that the owners really do not understand how to properly design or build the recording studio spaces so that what they are hearing or recording is acoustically correct. Meaning; because of poor acoustic treatment, building techniques, or speaker/equipment placement the room actually lies to the recording engineer making it seem as if recorded tracks sound a certain way when in reality those same tracks sound completely different when taken out of the room.
Rooms “lie” to recording engineers because of poor construction or acoustic treatment techniques. The sad thing is that most sound issues found in a recording studio could have been corrected for very little money while building but become costly once the construction is completed.
Here are the top five mistakes made when sound proofing a home recording studio:
Thinking Thicker Means Quieter!
Adding an extra layer of material like sheet rock, plywood, or insulation to your walls to make them thicker does not necessarily mean you are “sound proofing” a room and making it quieter. Two layers of the same thickness (density) of sheetrock really only act as on layer as they both have the same density. Sound is energy and the best laymen way to explain what happens is this... as sound travels through the air and hits a wall it must convert from a sound wave into an energy form. This energy must then “learn” how to travel through the wall. Once it “learns” how to get through the density of the first layer of sheetrock it can continue through the second layer of sheetrock effortlessly as it is the same density. Simply putting a one or two inch gap between layers of sheetrock forces the sound energy to have to convert back to sound wave travel one or two inches then convert again to sound energy to travel through the second layer of sheetrock. This dramatically decreases the sound energy and the result is better sound insulation or sound proofing. Another technique is to use two different densities for layers. Meaning; if your first layer of sheetrock is 1/2” then making your second layer of sheet rock 5/8” will dramatically help reduce sound transmission. This is due tot he fact that the sound energy must first convert from a sound wave, to sound energy and “learn” how to travel through 5/8” sheetrock, then once it hits the 1/2” sheetrock it must then “learn” how to travel through the new density. An even more effective means of controlling sound transmission between walls would be to use sheetrock as one layer and plywood or particle board as the second layer. These two densities work together to cause energy to loss a lot of energy to convert.
Building a Big Huge Wall Between Control Room and Tracking Room Will Make it Soundproof.
As stated above, sound is energy. In the case of soundproofing, sound energy in most cases is in the form of vibrations. Meaning it vibrates in the solids (sheetrock, plywood, concrete, etc.) it meets allowing it to travel great distances. Building a big huge wall between two rooms does not mean you will achieve total sound isolation (proofing) between the two rooms. If both rooms are sitting on the same floor, no wall - no matter how big you build it, will ever stop the sound transmitting to the next room. This is because of sound energy transferring (vibrating) through the floor from room to room. If you have researched “building a studio” at any length you have undoubtedly come across the term “floating floor.” A floating floor basically isolates sound from traveling (vibrating) from one room to the next. Building a floating floor system is not too hard and not very expensive if it is constructed before building anything else in a studio. If you wait until after walls have been beefed up or building new walls it becomes very expensive as all walls must be constructed on top of a floating floor for it to be effective.
Doors and Windows Are Small So There is No Need For Specialty Products
This is absolutely wrong and leads to massive sound transmission from room to room. When you are building a recording studio you have to think of it as a fish tank. Once you complete the building of your room you have to be able to “fill it with water” and have no leaks. Sounds crazy, but if something is water tight it is also air tight. A small crack in a huge, thick, and beefy wall can completely destroy it’s sound transmission qualities. If you use cheap doors and windows you might as well not try to “sound proof” anything in your studio and simply move to acoustic treatment techniques to ensure you are hearing what is really coming out of your speakers in an acoustically flat environment. Cheap doors and windows do not have proper seals and in most cases have gaps as large as 1/2” around there entire surface area. Cheap doors have up to two inches of gap at the bottom and another inch at the top allow sound to travel from one room to another freely. Cheap windows are so thin that they have no sound stopping density what so ever and in most cases sit in a frame that has no seals giving them a 1/4’ to 1/2” gap all around their entire surface area allowing sound once again to travel freely from room to room. If you do not have the budget for quality doors and windows you are better off spending the money on acoustic treatment and completely forgo any attempt at sound proofing. Simply beefing up a wall or building new walls in front of old walls to treat sound transmission and then using cheap doors or windows is like throwing your money in the fireplace ad watching it burn up - remember, a small crack in a wall will destroy any sound proofing attempts of the entire wall.
Putting a Pipe From Room to Room to Pass Audio Cables Won’t Have “That” Big an Effect On Sound Proofing.
As stated above, a small crack in an entire wall - even as small as 2 inches, destroys the entire wall’s sound proofing capability. Putting a piece of pipe through a control room wall into a tracking room or vocal booth to pass audio cables for the microphones and headphones is like opening an entire door between the two rooms. Electrical outlets do just as much damage when they are bak to back from one room to another. Anything that goes between two room through the same wall, or better yet - through a system of two walls with an air space between them (as studios walls should be constructed), should always be offset by at least eighteen inches. Meaning; if you need to pass audio cables from room to room you need to go in one wall then route your cables either left or right in the wall at least 18” before coming out into the adjoining room. Sound does not turn corners very well. When you offset your openings for cable pass through you are making is extremely hard for sound to travel from one room to the other in sound wave form. The very best method is to have your cables run from floor level into your wall, then route them up into the ceiling rafters, through the rafter, then route them down a completely separate wall than the original, and out into the second room. This way sound has to make more than three turns to travel from one room to the next.
Placing Air Conditioner Vents Across Rooms
Home studios are notoriously too hot or too cold from room to room. It may be the hardest part of building a studio for most novice builders. How air conditioners work, how the air flow system works, and how to route new vents into rooms actually takes calculations to get right. The biggest thing to remember is that each new vent you place in a room must be feed by a smaller diameter feed than the original. Meaning; most houses have 10” trunk lines coming directly off the air conditioner and then 8” feeder tubes are taken off the main line to go to each room. If you are intending to place an additional vent into a new room or vocal booth you are building and are going to tape into a room’s 8” feed, and not the main 10” feed, you must use a 6” feeder tube to go to your new room. This the only way you will keep the air flow as needed to force air into a room. In addition, as you add a new feeder tube to your new room, you have to keep in mind that sound will travel into the air vent from one room and continue into your new room almost effortlessly if your vent supply lines are next to one another. The best method is to not tap into one room’s feeder tube and rather tap into the main supply line for the entire house to supply a/c to your new room. This way, sound has to travel into the vent fro one room, down the feeder tube to the main tube, and then down the new feed tube into the new room. Remember, sound does not turn corners very well so the chances of sound traveling this distance and making these turns are very slim.
Conclusion
As you can see, most of the mistakes made while sound proofing a home studio are not major issues or costly to avoid if put into place when building. It is lack of information that leads to most issues while sound proofing. The best advice that can be given to you is this; research, ask questions, and understand before you spend one dime or one bit of energy trying to soundproof your studio. The internet offers a ton of free information right at your finger tips. Do not read one thing and then go act upon it. Research anything you read and make sure it is quality information. There are many, many, so called “studio gurus” that really have no clue what they are talking about and you can spend a lot of money on crappy ideas. Be smart, plan what you want to build, research your plan to learn about specific techniques to build your plan, and then act upon the information you receive. If you stick to this work flow you will build a better home studio, have better sound isolation, and enjoy a much better studio.
Adding an extra layer of material like sheet rock, plywood, or insulation to your walls to make them thicker does not necessarily mean you are “sound proofing” a room and making it quieter. Two layers of the same thickness (density) of sheetrock really only act as on layer as they both have the same density. Sound is energy and the best laymen way to explain what happens is this... as sound travels through the air and hits a wall it must convert from a sound wave into an energy form. This energy must then “learn” how to travel through the wall. Once it “learns” how to get through the density of the first layer of sheetrock it can continue through the second layer of sheetrock effortlessly as it is the same density. Simply putting a one or two inch gap between layers of sheetrock forces the sound energy to have to convert back to sound wave travel one or two inches then convert again to sound energy to travel through the second layer of sheetrock. This dramatically decreases the sound energy and the result is better sound insulation or sound proofing. Another technique is to use two different densities for layers. Meaning; if your first layer of sheetrock is 1/2” then making your second layer of sheet rock 5/8” will dramatically help reduce sound transmission. This is due tot he fact that the sound energy must first convert from a sound wave, to sound energy and “learn” how to travel through 5/8” sheetrock, then once it hits the 1/2” sheetrock it must then “learn” how to travel through the new density. An even more effective means of controlling sound transmission between walls would be to use sheetrock as one layer and plywood or particle board as the second layer. These two densities work together to cause energy to loss a lot of energy to convert.Building a Big Huge Wall Between Control Room and Tracking Room Will Make it Soundproof.
As stated above, sound is energy. In the case of soundproofing, sound energy in most cases is in the form of vibrations. Meaning it vibrates in the solids (sheetrock, plywood, concrete, etc.) it meets allowing it to travel great distances. Building a big huge wall between two rooms does not mean you will achieve total sound isolation (proofing) between the two rooms. If both rooms are sitting on the same floor, no wall - no matter how big you build it, will ever stop the sound transmitting to the next room. This is because of sound energy transferring (vibrating) through the floor from room to room. If you have researched “building a studio” at any length you have undoubtedly come across the term “floating floor.” A floating floor basically isolates sound from traveling (vibrating) from one room to the next. Building a floating floor system is not too hard and not very expensive if it is constructed before building anything else in a studio. If you wait until after walls have been beefed up or building new walls it becomes very expensive as all walls must be constructed on top of a floating floor for it to be effective.
Doors and Windows Are Small So There is No Need For Specialty Products
This is absolutely wrong and leads to massive sound transmission from room to room. When you are building a recording studio you have to think of it as a fish tank. Once you complete the building of your room you have to be able to “fill it with water” and have no leaks. Sounds crazy, but if something is water tight it is also air tight. A small crack in a huge, thick, and beefy wall can completely destroy it’s sound transmission qualities. If you use cheap doors and windows you might as well not try to “sound proof” anything in your studio and simply move to acoustic treatment techniques to ensure you are hearing what is really coming out of your speakers in an acoustically flat environment. Cheap doors and windows do not have proper seals and in most cases have gaps as large as 1/2” around there entire surface area. Cheap doors have up to two inches of gap at the bottom and another inch at the top allow sound to travel from one room to another freely. Cheap windows are so thin that they have no sound stopping density what so ever and in most cases sit in a frame that has no seals giving them a 1/4’ to 1/2” gap all around their entire surface area allowing sound once again to travel freely from room to room. If you do not have the budget for quality doors and windows you are better off spending the money on acoustic treatment and completely forgo any attempt at sound proofing. Simply beefing up a wall or building new walls in front of old walls to treat sound transmission and then using cheap doors or windows is like throwing your money in the fireplace ad watching it burn up - remember, a small crack in a wall will destroy any sound proofing attempts of the entire wall.Putting a Pipe From Room to Room to Pass Audio Cables Won’t Have “That” Big an Effect On Sound Proofing.
As stated above, a small crack in an entire wall - even as small as 2 inches, destroys the entire wall’s sound proofing capability. Putting a piece of pipe through a control room wall into a tracking room or vocal booth to pass audio cables for the microphones and headphones is like opening an entire door between the two rooms. Electrical outlets do just as much damage when they are bak to back from one room to another. Anything that goes between two room through the same wall, or better yet - through a system of two walls with an air space between them (as studios walls should be constructed), should always be offset by at least eighteen inches. Meaning; if you need to pass audio cables from room to room you need to go in one wall then route your cables either left or right in the wall at least 18” before coming out into the adjoining room. Sound does not turn corners very well. When you offset your openings for cable pass through you are making is extremely hard for sound to travel from one room to the other in sound wave form. The very best method is to have your cables run from floor level into your wall, then route them up into the ceiling rafters, through the rafter, then route them down a completely separate wall than the original, and out into the second room. This way sound has to make more than three turns to travel from one room to the next.
Placing Air Conditioner Vents Across Rooms
Home studios are notoriously too hot or too cold from room to room. It may be the hardest part of building a studio for most novice builders. How air conditioners work, how the air flow system works, and how to route new vents into rooms actually takes calculations to get right. The biggest thing to remember is that each new vent you place in a room must be feed by a smaller diameter feed than the original. Meaning; most houses have 10” trunk lines coming directly off the air conditioner and then 8” feeder tubes are taken off the main line to go to each room. If you are intending to place an additional vent into a new room or vocal booth you are building and are going to tape into a room’s 8” feed, and not the main 10” feed, you must use a 6” feeder tube to go to your new room. This the only way you will keep the air flow as needed to force air into a room. In addition, as you add a new feeder tube to your new room, you have to keep in mind that sound will travel into the air vent from one room and continue into your new room almost effortlessly if your vent supply lines are next to one another. The best method is to not tap into one room’s feeder tube and rather tap into the main supply line for the entire house to supply a/c to your new room. This way, sound has to travel into the vent fro one room, down the feeder tube to the main tube, and then down the new feed tube into the new room. Remember, sound does not turn corners very well so the chances of sound traveling this distance and making these turns are very slim.Conclusion
As you can see, most of the mistakes made while sound proofing a home studio are not major issues or costly to avoid if put into place when building. It is lack of information that leads to most issues while sound proofing. The best advice that can be given to you is this; research, ask questions, and understand before you spend one dime or one bit of energy trying to soundproof your studio. The internet offers a ton of free information right at your finger tips. Do not read one thing and then go act upon it. Research anything you read and make sure it is quality information. There are many, many, so called “studio gurus” that really have no clue what they are talking about and you can spend a lot of money on crappy ideas. Be smart, plan what you want to build, research your plan to learn about specific techniques to build your plan, and then act upon the information you receive. If you stick to this work flow you will build a better home studio, have better sound isolation, and enjoy a much better studio.
Peace,
Jai
“Love the Music in Yourself, Not Yourself in the Music!”
©2009 Jai Hutcherson. All Rights Reserved.
Jai
“Love the Music in Yourself, Not Yourself in the Music!”
©2009 Jai Hutcherson. All Rights Reserved.
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