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Sound Proofing Costs & Techniques

Let me start out by saying I know NOTHING in regards to this topic. I've dabbled around the internet for the past few years looking for some answers, but they all seem quite vague.

I'm sure the true answers are quite specific to the actual space, and whatever company/materials one intends to go with.. But can anyone share some techniques, and the price they personally paid to soundproof their room to the fullest extent? Am I looking at 10grand? 15grand?

I'm looking to do this in a basement room at some point, and turn it into a studio area..


Edit:

the basement room is 19x13, and we're looking to do this ASAP

the walls are all stone, and ground is concrete, ceiling/framing is wood.

we're looking to completely finish off the basement/room



also... does anyone know if flooring makes a big difference in this? like... carpet vs. hardwood floors ?

if you want to soundproof a room, you will have to build a room inside a room. you would need a floating floor (foam, springs, whatever). i've never looked into the cost, but i would say it's probably possible for $10k if you are prepared to get your hands dirty.

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm if you want to soundproof a room, you will have to build a room inside a room. you would need a floating floor (foam, springs, whatever). i've never looked into the cost, but i would say it's probably possible for $10k if you are prepared to get your hands dirty.

thanks for the reply... Is this the better way to go about it, rather than doing like 3 different layers of drywall ? I've heard theres a few various methods.. I'm looking to block out all the sound so people around the house don't get completely disgruntled

my sub woofer is what causes family members the most pain

quote:

Originally posted by echosystm if you want to soundproof a room, you will have to build a room inside a room.

So you can sleep while you sleep...

but in all seriousness, is it really worth dropping 10k building a soundproof room so you can produce? Seems a bit much, but then again I suck at making music so I don't know anything lol

this thread is funny

The cost depends on many factors,, ie, the current room construction, location, materials used, quality of the doors/windows, room size etc etc. It can be quite expensive if you have someone build it for you. Also, windows and doors are probably the most costly single components in the room. A high quality, high isolation door can even cost thousands of $$. This is because they must be designed very carefully with good seals. Doors and windows are most notorious areas of weakness in any sound isolation room and your whole rooms overall sound isolation rating will often hinge on how effective they are.

In my studio room i'm using a two door design to save on costs. You will see many examples on the net if you search. Two good solid wood doors for the entry. It's often referred to as a 'vestibule' style entrance. One door in the outer wall and one door in the inner wall. My room won't have windows to deal with thank heavens.

10k is plenty of cash to spend on a room to soundproof it.... way to much in fact... doubt i've spent that on my entire studio, which includes 3 different rooms.

if its a basement room then you dont need to worry about the floor, and maybe the lower levels of the room - depending of course what material the existing walls are made of...if its a stone basement, you should be ok. tis the ceiling you will need to concentrate on. would suggest a timber frame to build a false ceiling and corresponding timber walls to creat a room within a room. leave a gap of air of at least 6 inches between the top layer of plasterboard and the existing ceiling. fill this gap with the densest rockwool you can find. think RW5 is the right kind of stuff.

you going to want to disconnect any lights from the ceiling and use lamps from wall sockets unless you want to get creative with a tube to run the wires and a can of expanding foam to seal it all off... any single breach in the seal between the existing ceiling and your new room will lower the soundproofing capacity by around 25% so attention to detail when sealing it up is a key factor. mass is the other factor. mass stops sound, end of. so if you can safely attach 3/4 layers of plasterboard to the ceiling your creating then do it. and dont bother with the soundboard which is advertised. you can buy more ordinary 12.5mm plasterboard for less money to make up the difference.

you might want to think about aircon. you, in a room surrounded by f**kloads of rockwool - its gonna get HOT!

doors and windows are the weakpoints of any soundproof. the post above from tecnolover is bang on the money.

the problem with soundproofing, unless you know exactly what you doing, one little thing like a joist nailed to the wall your trying to isolate which than conducts the vibrations from your sub upstairs can ruin the whole thing and waste a lot of time and money!

so if your serious about doing this then suggest checking out the joh sayers studio design forum or email the guy (andy parry) who runs www.electro-acoustics.co.uk and have a word with the Pros! PS designed our control room and did an ace job!

quote:

Originally posted by TylerM I'm looking to block out all the sound so people around the house don't get completely disgruntled my sub woofer is what causes family members the most pain

Just curious, but how much consideration have you given to the following:

- mixing without the sub (or, only use it to check your mixes, e.g., when nobody else is home)

- mixing at, or just below, normal conversation level and only crank it up for short bursts to check your mix when nobody is home (this is good practice to minimize hearing fatigue)

- mixing with headphones when people are tying to sleep, etc. finish your mixes on your monitors during the day (yeah, I know it gets debated to death, but the general consensus is that mixing with a great pair of cans usually yields better results than mixing in a bad room and/or with crappy monitors)

I'd give those a try before going to the extremes of dropping $10K on soundproofing. You might actually find that your mixes improve drastically.

thanks for the replies so far... definitely some good insight on the subject

the basement room is 19x13, and we're looking to do this ASAP

the walls are all stone, and ground is concrete, ceiling/framing is wood.

we're looking to completely finish off the basement/room



also... does anyone know if flooring makes a big difference in this? like... carpet vs. hardwood floors ?

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik Just curious, but how much consideration have you given to the following: - mixing without the sub (or, only use it to check your mixes, e.g., when nobody else is home) - mixing at, or just below, normal conversation level and only crank it up for short bursts to check your mix when nobody is home (this is good practice to minimize hearing fatigue) - mixing with headphones when people are tying to sleep, etc. finish your mixes on your monitors during the day (yeah, I know it gets debated to death, but the general consensus is that mixing with a great pair of cans usually yields better results than mixing in a bad room and/or with crappy monitors) I'd give those a try before going to the extremes of dropping $10K on soundproofing. You might actually find that your mixes improve drastically.

thanks for the advice, and it is advice that has been considered throughout the numerous years of audio production, but unfortunately it's not a possibility..

there are people home during the entire day, or they come in at random times.. Production is now a full time job, so this really does need to be done.. I do mixdowns in both headphones and with good monitors/sub. Cost is really not a problem unless it's going to be over 10-15 thousand.

Re: Sound Proofing Costs & Techniques

quote:

Originally posted by TylerM Let me start out by saying I know NOTHING in regards to this topic. I've dabbled around the internet for the past few years looking for some answers, but they all seem quite vague. I'm sure the true answers are quite specific to the actual space, and whatever company/materials one intends to go with.. But can anyone share some techniques, and the price they personally paid to soundproof their room to the fullest extent? Am I looking at 10grand? 15grand? I'm looking to do this in a basement room at some point, and turn it into a studio area..

With that much money you can both soundproof and rebuild tha walls so that the room sounds better. (acoustics). Yes it is very possible to do both with 10-15 grand.

quote:

Originally posted by studiobob so if your serious about doing this then suggest checking out the joh sayers studio design forum

+1

Great site. The best i've seen on this subject.

I haven't soundproofed my studio yet, too lazy to apply the foamtak an all

There's a few ways you could do it, and some ways more expensive than others.

It all depends on how much you want to spend.

I'm going to be building my home studio/home theater room in my basement on a budget.
I'll be building my basement studio and I don't expect to spend more than $2500 (which is actually $800 more than my estimate).

This is what I'm going to do...

Please keep in mind that I'm not trying to build a "sound proof" room. I'm building a room that will be really quiet

Once my room is framed I'm going to use resilient channel (RC) horizontally across the studs and joists. Keep the strips of RC 24" apart, then pack the space between the studs and joists with Roxul Safe & Sound. Don't over pack the cavities, that reduces the effectiveness of the insulation.

The RC channel are aluminum "U" shaped strips that's designed to separate the drywall from the studs, thus reducing the path of sound translation.

I'll be using 5/8" (thick) drywall, its a little thicker than the standard 1/2" drywall, but does a slightly better job reducing sound transmission. In essence, the thicker/denser the material the better it will reduce transmission of lower frequencies. Some will even use 2 layers of drywall, which would do a much better job of reducing sound transmission/translation.

Be sure to screw the drywall into the RC, making sure you miss the studs or joists. That's right, **do not** screw the drywall directly into the joists or studs (that defeats their purpose).

The hardest frequencies to contain are the lower frequencies.

On my floor I'll be laying Owens Corning 1" thick Rigid Foam insulation over top of the concrete floor (I'll probably use PL Premium adhesive to keep it in place). It will help reduce bass across the floor and it will keep my feet warm (it has a R-Value of 6). The Rigid foam insulation comes in sheets of 4' x 8' and I'll be using Tuck-Tape over all the joints to preserve the vapor barrier.
Over top of the rigid foam I'll be laying a floating floor, a laminate (wood look) floor.

Once the room is finished I'm going to use treatments on the walls to reduce reflection & refraction of sound.

One thing to remember is that you will need to plan ahead!
You will need to consider where you want your electrical sockets, wiring, co-ax cable and network cabling. Some people go as far as grounding the electrical separately from the rest of the house to reduce interference.
Plan your studio layout on paper before you take out any tools and think about what you'd like and what you're missing in your current studio.
If you can't decide on a single setup, than design for 2 setups. That could mean spending more on electrical, co-ax cable, HDMI and network cable.

If you have any questinos feel free to ask.

quote:

Originally posted by orTof�nChiLd I haven't soundproofed my studio yet, too lazy to apply the foamtak an all

??? What does foamtak have to do with soundproofing?? To soundproof a room involves contruction of special walls not some foam.

quote:

Originally posted by tecnolover ??? What does foamtak have to do with soundproofing?? To soundproof a room involves contruction of special walls not some foam.

I have a feeling he's referring to sound treatments, not necessarily sound proofing.

Here are some good resources for studio builds...

Sound On Sound magazine has a forum dedicated to Studio Design and Acoustics... http://www.soundonsound.com/forum

How to build a floating floor..
http://www.tollboothmusic.com/floating_floor.htm

Good Books for building a home studio...

Home Recording Studio Build it Like the Pros
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recordin...50513440&sr=1-1

Acoustic Design for the Home Studio
http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Desi...50513440&sr=1-2

Have you ever considered buying a premade room? We have one at school and that thing was rock solid. You couldn't hear anything outside that little room. They are pricey though. Depending on the size, they can run from around $1000 to over $20,000.

They are called Whisper Rooms. Here's the link.

http://www.whisperroom.com

I came across this solution about a month ago...

Owens Corning makes basement finishing systems that they claim do a good job at insulating sound. Granted, it's not a "true studio" but may be a good solution for a home basement studio.

http://franchising.owenscorning.com/bfs/

Here's my post from the John Sayer's studio design forums if anyone is interested in tracking my progress.

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/v...&p=93068#p93068

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