Tips on sound-proofing your room

[RGA]

Found a nice youtube video to help you sound proof your room.

The Importance of Placement of Auralex® Acoustical Products - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3q5kQjMAbc&feature=player_embedded#)!

[Poultrygeist]

Have you read Linkwitz?

Room Acoustics (http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm)

[RGA]

Hi advice is good - I have argued much of what he is saying for over a decade.

However if you notice he does mention natural room acoustics - bookcases, rugs and parameters of a room.

If you notice the Auralex room is essentially an empty room in which case there are no natural absorbing materials which is why room acoustics need to make up for the "natural" or normal home user.

The room I am in does not have such natural home furnishing so I need something to compensate slightly. Though Audio Note never uses room treatments - corner lading gives a natural consistency no matter what the room is like and sounds very similar and natural from room to room.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Hi advice is good - I have argued much of what he is saying for over a decade.

However if you notice he does mention natural room acoustics - bookcases, rugs and parameters of a room.

If you notice the Auralex room is essentially an empty room in which case there are no natural absorbing materials which is why room acoustics need to make up for the "natural" or normal home user.

The room I am in does not have such natural home furnishing so I need something to compensate slightly. Though Audio Note never uses room treatments - corner lading gives a natural consistency no matter what the room is like and sounds very similar and natural from room to room.

Richard this is not sound proofing, it is room treating or voicing. Sound proofing a room means keeping all of the sound in the room, and out of other rooms. Room treatments do not, and can not do this. Sound proofing starts in the framing of the room during construction, and works its way inward ending at the walls of the room.

Corner loading does not provide a natural consistency, it will emphasize standing waves and room resonances which makes some part of the room boom, and other parts bass shy. Corner loading enhances these natural room "problems", and only EQ(for the bass), and room treatments(for the mids and highs) will tame and flatten them. This is why we use Auralex room treatments.

While corner loading may provide consistency in the mids and highs, it does the opposite in the bass frequencies. The wavelengths of sound are much smaller in the mids and highs, and therefore they would interact less with the walls to the sides of them. In the bass, there is instance interaction which loads the bass by 9db's when corner placed(3db per surface) at low frequencies(boundary gain). All rooms have different deminisions, and bass will interact with different rooms differently. So there is no way a single speaker placed in a corner will sound the same from room to room in the bass frequencies. If it did, then there would be no need for room calculation or prediction software like EASE.

[RGA]

"this is not sound proofing, it is room treating or voicing"

Correct - I used the wrong term.

[RoyY51]

If you are looking to sound-proof your room as opposed to sound-treat it, you could try this: when I was converting my son's room to a home theater, I hung a second layer of drywall on top of the first. I used urathane-based construction adhesive between the layers and used drywall screws to hold it up while the adhesive dried. Then I backed out the screws and spackled over the holes. This put a buffer of liquid plastic between the sheets and, without the drywall screws to transmit vibration to the studs, did an excellent job of reducing the sound in the adjoining rooms. It's a DIY tweak that you don't have to be a contractor to pull off.

Oh...one other thing...I also used expanding foam between the studs of the existing wall before I put up the new drywall. I drilled 1/4" holes between the studs, one towards the top, the other below the fire break. Then, using MINIMAL-EXPANSION foam, I stuck the (included) cute little cocktail straw into the hole and let 'er rip. Make sure you shake the can until your arm gets tired, then transfer it to your other hand and keep going. It takes a lot of shaking to get that initial gush through the straw. And DO NOT get this stuff on your skin. There is no solvent known to man that will remove it while leaving your skin intact. Wear gloves.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

If you are looking to sound-proof your room as opposed to sound-treat it, you could try this: when I was converting my son's room to a home theater, I hung a second layer of drywall on top of the first. I used urathane-based construction adhesive between the layers and used drywall screws to hold it up while the adhesive dried. Then I backed out the screws and spackled over the holes. This put a buffer of liquid plastic between the sheets and, without the drywall screws to transmit vibration to the studs, did an excellent job of reducing the sound in the adjoining rooms. It's a DIY tweak that you don't have to be a contractor to pull off.

Oh...one other thing...I also used expanding foam between the studs of the existing wall before I put up the new drywall. I drilled 3/8" holes between the studs, one towards the top, the other below the fire break. Then, using MINIMAL-EXPANSION foam, I stuck the (included) cute little cocktail straw into the hole and let 'er rip. Make sure you shake the can until your arm gets tired, then transfer it to your other hand and keep going. It takes a lot of shaking to get that initial gush through the straw.

While I think you have acheived some level of sound isolation, you probably have not have not acheived total broadband isolation that can be acheived from building from the ground up. My Oakland home has a dedicated hometheater that is built with Owen corning acoustical wall framing, Original insulated concrete forms(high performance walls), Corning quiet zone control batts, acoustical floor mats, acoustic caulk, quiet duct board(for AC system), for a room inside a room system. Overall this room has a NC-15 level for a standing background level(better than the standard THX movie theater), and you cannot hear anything inside this room on the outside of the room. Aside from the low level boom of a passing automobile boom box, you cannot hear any outside sound, not even rain on the roof of this room.

This is sound proofing built from the ground up.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Have you read Linkwitz?

Room Acoustics (http://www.linkwitzlab.com/rooms.htm)

I actually agree with Linkwitz comments about rooms needing less treatment. I have been in too many over treated rooms that have been created using the advice of companies wanted to sell room treatments to the uneducated.

Thank God for Floyd Toole.

[RoyY51]

While I think you have acheived some level of sound isolation, you probably have not have not acheived total broadband isolation that can be acheived from building from the ground up. My Oakland home has a dedicated hometheater that is built with Owen corning acoustical wall framing, Original insulated concrete forms(high performance walls), Corning quiet zone control batts, acoustical floor mats, acoustic caulk, quiet duct board(for AC system), for a room inside a room system. Overall this room has a NC-15 level for a standing background level(better than the standard THX movie theater), and you cannot hear anything inside this room on the outside of the room. Aside from the low level boom of a passing automobile boom box, you cannot hear any outside sound, not even rain on the roof of this room.

This is sound proofing built from the ground up.

Building from the ground up would, of course, been preferable. But since I had neither the money, time or inclination, this was a doable alternative. And while I envy your Owen Corning acoustic wall framing, insulated concrete forms, Corning quiet zone control batts, acoustical floor mats, acoustic caulk, and quiet duct board (for AC system...dedicated, I'm sure), my suggestions were meant as a lower-cost alternative to tearing everything down and starting over. I'm sure it doesn't achieve a NC-15 level, and is definitely not better than the standard THX movie theater, but it's a noticeable improvement over what I had. Total broadband isolation? No. Made my wife happy? Yes.

This is sound proofing built on a budget.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Building from the ground up would, of course, been preferable. But since I had neither the money, time or inclination, this was a doable alternative. And while I envy your Owen Corning acoustic wall framing, insulated concrete forms, Corning quiet zone control batts, acoustical floor mats, acoustic caulk, and quiet duct board (for AC system...dedicated, I'm sure), my suggestions were meant as a lower-cost alternative to tearing everything down and starting over. I'm sure it doesn't achieve a NC-15 level, and is definitely not better than the standard THX movie theater, but it's a noticeable improvement over what I had. Total broadband isolation? No. Made my wife happy? Yes.

This is sound proofing built on a budget.

Roy,
What you have acheived is a level of sound isolation. Sound proffing means that NO sound leaks out of the room, or into it. So what you have is a undetermind level of isolation on a budget. But the important thing is that you are happy with the results.

[RoyY51]

No, the important thing is that my wife is happy...everything else pales by comparison.