Miscellaneous Soundproof booth/Recording booth

[Caz]

I have been playing the saxophone for a long time, but within the last year i have been playing my EWI more than i prob should. Sax chops and intonation have gone down the drain. I know the fix to this; it's long tones, overtones, altissimos and generelly playing loud..
I love my neighbours, and i would like to keep it that way. My new years resolution is building a soundproof booth in the basement - Outer diameters is going to be 150x150x185, so a fairly small booth for a fairly large man - I'm roughly 1,94.

I want to have chair in there, something like a bar chair that can be adjusted - i know i cant stand upright in there, as i can barely stand upright in the basement cellar. I want to fit in a monitor, keyboard and a mouse. Pc goes on the outside as well as a mic'.

This is the plan anyways - I want to know if any of you have had any experience on building a soundproof booth before, what kind of materiels you have used for damping the sound, and any generel advice for a construction task like this. Is it even possible to build something that's completely soundproof.

 

[kevgermany]

I've thought about it a lot. Ventilation..... As well as sound proofing.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I did a short article on my mediamusic site:

Home Studio Soundproofing

 

[Caz]

I did a short article on my mediamusic site:

Home Studio Soundproofing

"Note that acoustic tiling, foam tiles or eggboxes will only cut down reverberation inside the room, they do practically nothing to stop sound from being transmitted to or from the room." - Is this true? because if it is, then my project is dead right now :-/

 

[kevgermany]

What Pete's saying is that commonly used materials won't stop the sound coming out as there are other routes for the sound to escape. And just applying sound proofing to walls will disappoint you, as sound comes out through other routes - floor, badly sealed doors etc.

So consider the whole, not the obvious.

 

[Pete Thomas]

"Note that acoustic tiling, foam tiles or eggboxes will only cut down reverberation inside the room, they do practically nothing to stop sound from being transmitted to or from the room." - Is this true? because if it is, then my project is dead right now :-/

What stops the sound will be the mass of material so plasterboard is good, and not difficult to work with. as mentioned if you have windows thsn make them thick glass and/ or double glazed

Most of all sit it on insulation such as neoprene as mentioned

 

[Caz]

What stops the sound will be the mass of material so plasterboard is good, and not difficult to work with. as mentioned if you have windows thsn make them thick glass and/ or double glazed

Most of all sit it on insulation such as neoprene as mentioned

Thank you for your reply. I have thought about using two layers of plasterboard with soundblocker membrane sandwiched between them. How thick do you think the plasterboard should be to effectively block out altissimos and bass notes?

 

[Jazzaferri]

What do you mean effectively block out. 6" of concrete with a sonic insulation layer followed by another 6" of concrete will block out sound. To attenuate 30 dB is not too hard or too expensive.

 

[Caz]

What do you mean effectively block out. 6" of concrete with a sonic insulation layer followed by another 6" of concrete will block out sound. To attenuate 30 dB is not too hard or too expensive.

the room i have in my mind is in the cellar. I have enough square meters to make the booth. Height is an issue tho, since the cellar is only 6 feet in height. maybe 6,2' if i take down the flushed celing (sp ?) - 30db would be acceptable.

 

[Targa]

If it's going to be in the cellar have you thought to ask the neighbours, or send some round there while you are playing to hear, how loud it is before you start doing anything?

 

[Caz]

If it's going to be in the cellar have you thought to ask the neighbours, or send some round there while you are playing to hear, how loud it is before you start doing anything?

Yes and i did. My neighbours are very freindly and tells me, that they dont mind me playing, but the stuff i'm about to do - will most certainly - go on their nerves. I can hear them walking around, shifting utensils about, and hear soft talk. A soundbooth that dampens the sound to 30db would be acceptable i think, preferebly below that. But i think i need to look into alternatively ideas, unless someone knows of some wonderstuff - which i havent found through my google-fu

 

[Pete Thomas]

Thank you for your reply. I have thought about using two layers of plasterboard with soundblocker membrane sandwiched between them. How thick do you think the plasterboard should be to effectively block out altissimos and bass notes?

Blocking out completely is unrealistic, but two or three layers of plasterboard will reduce it quite a lot. There will always be weak areas, e.g. the door, windows and ventilation.

It won't do anything for low/sub bass, but should be OK for the saxophone.

Also if you use a stud plasterboard wall, then filling the cavity with sand would work well. proprietary soundblocker membrane may be easier to use (and less heavy) but way more expensive.

I hired a soundproofing consultant for my studio and another tip he gave me was to double plasterboard the ceiling and then pour some sand over it from above. This will do a lot to help to soundproof the basement even before the booth. (assuming you have a plasterboard ceiling). It was very easy as you just need to lift a few of the floorboards to get the sand in there from above.

told me that thick single glazing can be better than double glazing.

 

[Caz]

Blocking out completely is unrealistic, but two or three layers of plasterboard will reduce it quite a lot. There will always be weak areas, e.g. the door, windows and ventilation.

It won't do anything for low/sub bass, but should be OK for the saxophone.

Also if you use a stud plasterboard wall, then filling the cavity with sand would work well. proprietary soundblocker membrane may be easier to use (and less heavy) but way more expensive.

I hired a soundproofing consultant for my studio and another tip he gave me was to double plasterboard the ceiling and then pour some sand over it from above. This will do a lot to help to soundproof the basement even before the booth. (assuming you have a plasterboard ceiling). It was very easy as you just need to lift a few of the floorboards to get the sand in there from above.

told me that thick single glazing can be better than double glazing.

Ok thank you again for replying. I appriciate tips and time you took to give the tips. I will look into it some more, and come up with some designplans.

 

[Jeanette]

Have you considered one of these?

Reviews - Saxmute One tenor saxophone mute review

Jx

 

[Jazzaferri]

One way that will give good attenuation is to have 2 layers of 5/8 gypsum board separated by a metal moulding in the form of a Z with long top and bottom. The board is screwed to the metal moulding. The metal only transmits high frequencies and the 5/8 gypsum board is pretty good in dampening those out. If you have both sides of a stud wall done that way you should get over 30 dB attenuation through the wall. If your handy make your own door using similar technology and fit it well. If you have a windows use two sets of double glazed windows, el cheapo standard sizes. The metal window flanges will transmit a lot of sound if they are attached directly to the wood framing.

The concept is to try and have a number of different interfaces, gypsum air, gypsum metal sand
gypsum and focus on attaching in ways that transmit high frequencies rather than low. Wood is a great low frequency transmitter. Think Bass Viol. High frequencies are easier and cheaper to attenuate with mass than low freqenciies.

 

[Caz]

Thanks for the reply Jeanette. I saw something similar with the saxco bag - I dont think i would feel comfortable playing like this, and would prob be last resort if i cant fix my booth.

Thx for the reply Jazzaferri. I thought about an outer layer of plasterboard, then a layer of rockwool and then a another layer of plasterboard, and maybe a layer of neopren on the inside or sandwiched between the rockwool and plasterboard - i will work out some ideas. For a door solution i want to go with a db30 door. Making a door that fits, will be the hardest part in the project i think.

 

[Tiberius]

I can't tell you how glad I am that I live on an old farm. Not only are the nearest neighbours far enough away to not be a problem, but even the bedrooms are not close enough to prevent me playing late at night.

 

[Caz]

I can't tell you how glad I am that I live on an old farm. Not only are the nearest neighbours far enough away to not be a problem, but even the bedrooms are not close enough to prevent me playing late at night.

If i ever were to move into a house, this would be the exact reason for me to do so

 

[carburetor]

I built a sound-isolating ceiling that is very effective. It is made from two layers of 5/8" drywall with a product called Green Glue in between. The drywall is screwed into metal strips called furring channels and the furring channels clip into something called a Genie Clip, which screws to the ceiling joists or wall studs. I also filled the joist cavities with standard fiberglass insulation, but this is less important I think. The walls can be built the same way as the ceiling. I've forgotten the numbers but this kind of construction is quite excellent at blocking a wide range of frequencies.

I got everything I needed from a local home improvement store and this website: IsoStore | Green Glue Compound | GenieClips | Soundproof Doors

That website also has lots of great information and detailed instructions and diagrams showing how to do what I did and more. I would highly highly recommend the products I mentioned - very easy to use and very effective. If you are interested I would happily provide more details. I'm no expert and I haven't done a complete room but I do have more experience than... I guess most people in the world haha (which isn't saying much)

 

[carburetor]

Whatever you decide to do (or by now you might have done it already haha), it is worth doing research beforehand, as the same materials combined in different ways can give very different results. My starting point was this book: Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros: Rod Gervais: 9781435457171: Amazon.com: Books . The author of that book at least used to be active on a forum, I think recording.org or something.

As I remember, mass, decoupling, and damping are the most important principles. In the type of construction I did, the mass is the drywall, the decoupling is the Genie Clips, and the damping is the Green Glue. The ceiling also doesn't touch the walls - you leave a small gap and fill it with a dense acoustic caulk also made by the Green Glue company. Basically the idea is to have heavy things that "float" off of their supporting structures.

I don't know if anything I've said will be useful, but have fun with your project and I hope it goes well. What I'm talking about may very well be overkill for just a saxophone... The book I linked to has the exact specs on attenuation of many different constructions, so you could find the one that would suit your goals and limitations.