Blue Bear Sound design question

Hey John, Is there a specific reason for the outer-most wall in the design of Blue Bear Sound? There seems to be an almost 'flush to the concrete' wall as an outer shell before the actual studio walls were put in place. Mark

the outer walls look like they are the isolation walls, the inner walls appear to be the treatment walls which divide up the rooms and support the slat resonators and other treatments. just a guess :wink:

That's what it appeared like to me also. I'm wondering also, if the 'inner room' being porous and contiguous adds to the bass trapping behind it. It seems that each wall on the inner side was treated with drywall or slats (insulation behind both). A second question would be; how were the ceilings treated? They appear to be just level and untreated (unless I'm not seeing something). I'm laboring how to treat my own ceiling before construction (similar height). I'm either just finishing it with 2 layers of 5/8 on RSIC clips or doing a 'false ceiling' with cloth. (the joists have insulation stuffed between) Obviously there's a large isolation benefit with the drywall, and maybe it's just not that big a deal to have the reflection point. I'm actually considering finishing one room out with just the cloth to see how it sounds from upstairs, and then proceed to the other.

to be sure, blue bear has many things going on in terms of isolation and treatment, much of which isn't going to be readily discernible from a top level plan view or photos of the finished rooms. i'd wager that John cleverly used the ceilin,g as well as walls, to ensure a properly smooth response in all of the rooms as well as ensure high isolation between rooms and the remainder of the house. i'd go with the RSIC and 2x drywall if you really need isolation (and assuming the building structure can support it - check with a licensed structural engineer if not sure), the cloth over insulation will not do anything except absorb high (maybe mid) frequencies and all of the impact noise from upstairs and all the bass from downstairs will still be just as apparent. then add absorption panels over the ceiling to break up the reflections.