Soundproofing a home recording studio

Soundproofing on “Holmes on Homes”

This is a good example of what is called “isolation” and how to do it. Isolation is often confused with acoustical treatments. This has always been incorrect.

The sponsor is Quietrock(r) so thier product is used in this video. For your home theater or studio, standard sheetrock can be used with very good results.

Look closely as this video plays. After the sheetrock has been removed from the wall you can clearly see two(2) different stud framing sides to this wall. This is a simple “decoupling” technique that will give you a better rated wall then a simple one row stud framed wall.

What you have is a top plate and bottom plate of the same dimensions. Most likely they used a 2″ X 6″ (2 inches by 6 inches). Then you layout one side of the top and bottom plate for one row of studs. Then layout the opposite side for another row of studs.

This is a pretty good space saving method and the primary reason is to keep framing members from transferring sound vibration directly through the studs.

The cavity is filled of insulation. Although the insulation in this video looks like it is rockwool, standard residential insulation is often recommended and will perform splendidly.

Sound control Insulation and your Zone for energywise building
“Insulation level are specified by R-Value. R-Value is a measure of insulation’s ability to resist heat traveling through it. The higher the R-Value the better the thermal performance of the insulation.”

Tuned Sound Absorbers
“Efficiencies of typical sound absorbing materials varies at different frequencies. For example one inch of glass fiber is quite effective absorbing sound at high frequencies (above 2,000 Hz) but very inefficient absorbing low frequency sound.”

I just read this over at the green glue website and it conflicted with what I thought to be true. I’m hoping someone here could clear this up for me.
“”Often it is thought that using denser insulation is the cure-all to sound problems. But this simply isn’t the case. In general, it is preferable to use standard building type insulations (i.e., normal fiberglass) and it is never desirable to utilize expensive, very dense insulations, as in addition to the expense, they tend to make low frequency performance worse by raising resonance frequencies.”

OwensCorning Home page / website
“Home of the pink fluffy stuff”
“Owens Corning is a world leader in building materials systems and composite solutions. Since Owens Corning was founded in 1938, the company has continued to grow as a market-leading innovator of glass fiber technology.”

Sound Control Insulation
“Sound control has become a significant issue in our society. Noise impacts how efficient we are in everyday activities at work and home. Article after article mentions the effects of noise pollution and privacy. Efficiency, health, safety and comfort all are impacted by the level of noise we are exposed to every day.”

A poor example of installing insulation in ANY environment.

This video begins explaining how insulation has no ability to stop sound in a wall assembly.

Basic Tips & Techniques for Soundproofing : How to Insulate a Recording Studio

It does stop high frequency but this is not the main reason for installing insulation in your recording studio or home theater walls.

The insulation is to dampen the wall panels when vibration occurs. Insulation is also a wise choice in your building or room perimeter walls that are in contact with outside elements.

The 2″ X 4″ framed wall used in the demonstration has R 11 insulation in it. This is typical building procedure for a warm climate as R 11 is 3-1/2″ thick so it does not get compressed into the 3-1/2″ deep cavity and become useless for the desired purpose, which is not sound proofing.

The video creator goes on to say that getting the thickest insulation you can, like R 38 value type insulation, is best for you.

R 38 insulation is 10 inches thick! You would have to compress this material to less than half of it’s original size to get it into the small 3-1/2″ framing bay. By doing this you defeat the materials ability to work for heating/cooling purposes, and cramming and compressing it will effectively short circuit the wall assembly. A short circuited double wall assembly means that a flanking path has been introduced into the wall assembly and sound vibrations can now go into or out of the room freely. This is a BAD thing!

This totally defeats your purpose. A 3-1/2″ wall gets 3-1/2″ inch deep insulation, a 2X6 (5-1/2″)wall gets 5-1/2″ inch deep insulation.

View this video for it’s entertainment value and with caution…this guy is DANGEROUS.