Members jemmett Posted August 7, 2005 Members Share Posted August 7, 2005 My friend recently bought a house and I am in charge of coming up with the designs for the Rehearsal/Recording room. If the search function was working, I am sure I could find plenty of information, but alas, it isn't, so I come to you. We are a group of guys that enjoy improvisational jamming and like to record our weekly jam sessions. Our priorities are first sound isolation, and second good acoustics. The room is aproximately 12x15 and is in a house that was built in the 1950s. I am looking for any suggestions on sound proofing, as well as acoustics and how to set up our instruments/amps. Also, any good links to other sites. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flaat Posted August 7, 2005 Members Share Posted August 7, 2005 There was a good thread on building a drum / amp riser a few days ago. I'll dig it up. http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=999856 the link leads to here and here, both are good reads: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3771 http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Sound isolation can be very difficult to get in a house. Interior acoustic treatment (as you probably know, they're not the same thing ) can be a little easier to deal with. Please give us a few more details - what's the instrumental lineup of the band - drums? Bass? Guitars? Keys? Vocals? Do you folks play fairly loud, or do you play fairly soft - and can you learn to live with it quieter if you must? What's the neighbor situation like? IMO, if you're going to be jamming in the house, you'd be well advised to get friendly with the neighbors, or you're likely get closer to the local police than you might want... How much physical construction is the guy willing to do to that room of the house? The reason I ask all of this is that the ONLY way to keep sound from going out of the studio / jam room and disturbing your neighbors is to use a lot of mass and trapped airspace to deal with the problems. That means significant work. Sound inside the house might also be an issue - anything that is structurally mechanically coupled makes for an excellent "path" for sound - IOW, you can put a lot of money into the room and still have problems with disturbing others in the same house (spouse, young children who are trying to sleep, etc.) if you're not careful. Also, a line drawing or other dimensional layout view of the room (with exact dimensional measurements and the locations of doors and windows indicated) will also help us help you. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I don't want to paint an overly rosy picture either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AudioMaverick Posted August 8, 2005 Members Share Posted August 8, 2005 Also, scan through this Auralex sponsored site - Acoustics 101 . Keep in mind they are going to push their products as much as possible. But, there are some decent references to building isolation for walls , floor and ceiling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jemmett Posted August 8, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 8, 2005 We typically are 2 guitars, 1 keyboard, bass and drums. We play loud, but not so loud that our ears ring. The house adjacent to the jam room has a 3 car garage right there, so I don't think that will be a problem. The house on the other side is 3 rooms away, and the house across the street is pretty far away. We are willing to put in any construction the is neccessary right now. We are willing to spend money to get it done right. There are (currently) no spouse or children to worry about, so house isolation isn't an issue. Here is what I am thinking. We will build a floated wall on the outside wall (following some acoustics101 ideas) and then layer some stuff on the the inside walls. I am also thinking of floating the floor completely to get better acoustics. Basically, I just need to know where my money could be best spent. I can have a schematic of the room tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted August 8, 2005 Moderators Share Posted August 8, 2005 Room within a room construction wouldn't be practical for a space of that size. You'd lose too much room. Seal it up... Pull the baseboards off and caulk the space between the drywall/lath plaster and the floor. Pull all switches and AC rececpticals. Plug the holes in the wall and surface mount what you pulled. Is there an overhead light... same deal. Build "plugs" for the windows. Use your imagination on this one. Put in a solid door, threshold, and weatherstripping. Listen for leakage through your ventilation ductwork and deal with it accordingly. (Use lots of extra flexible duct and "take the long way home") Then... ...pull up the carpet and build the bass traps and broadband absorbers on Ethans site. This is if isolation is really a concern. If not... skip right to the carpet and Ethan bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jemmett Posted August 9, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 9, 2005 Ok, turns out the room size is 14x16, I should have the exact measurements including closet space and bathroom tomorrow. I do not think we need to do the whole room in a room thing, but I think we will build one outer wall for the windows. As for the bass traps, I assume you are talking about this article? http://www.ethanwiner.com/basstrap.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Flaat Posted August 9, 2005 Members Share Posted August 9, 2005 http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html you can have a look at this page aswell. It's probably much the same, but might have some useful extra info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jemmett Posted August 10, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 10, 2005 It seems that these articles focus on a mixing room. What should I keep in mind since my room will be used more as a practice room, with recording as a secondary priority. Also, I am still waiting on that room diagram from the owner of the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jemmett Posted August 11, 2005 Author Members Share Posted August 11, 2005 Here is the diagram of the room. The orange is windows, red is doors and gray is closet. We are not worried about sound isolation within the house. There is a room to the left, right and bottom. The outside of the house is to the top. Hypothetically, If we had an unlimited budget, what should we do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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