Need Help with triangle rooms ...

Hey there, Firstly i want to say WOW !!!! what a resource you guys offer here, Its simply amazing. RESPECT. So my story goes like this. I want to build a decent working studio in my home. I have searched through the forum for a few days and found nothing that is really similar to my situation, so i have decided to post. The house is a semi detached house with neighbours on both sides however the neighbours on the studio side (the right) are not attached to the house and are musicians also, so no major troubles there. The B&!!!**s on the other side are attached to the house, night nurses, and have already complained several times re noise. so i need to soundproof very well only one side of the studio. I have two rooms available to work with, both of which are very unusual strange triangle shaped rooms. one upstairs and one downstairs, literally on top of each other. These rooms are an extension onto the house and have solidly built 9 inch wide, cavity block concrete walls on all sides The upstairs room has a small partially tiled ensuite bathroom with a sink and shower but no toilet It also has a small single glaze window.The walls of the ensuite are timber partition stud walls. i plan to use this small room as a vocal / iso booth. The main room upstairs also has a large single glaze window looking out into the garden over a conservatory, and a built in wardrobe at one end (see pics) The downstairs room has an open arch way leading into the conservatory which makes it quite noisy when it rains (being the west of Irieland a regular occurrence) which will need some working around to fix. It would not be possible to build a wall in this arch so i think a triple glazed pvc door here might be the best plan. It also has a ceramic tiled floor. For some time i have been using the upstairs room ( see sketchup pic) as a studio, to produce the dub/DnB and trance that i love so much. However i do wish the studio to be multi genre suitable and atmospheric. Budget wise we are talking less than 1000 euro initially to get started with more to come in the future, This budget is for material only as i have tons of gear already. However i come from a long line of cabinet makers and my family have an amazingly well equipped wood shop where i can have tons of help to build the type of resonators/dispersers /desks and fittings that dreams are made of for only the cost of timbers. I also have an electrician friend who will help me with wiring. (SWEET) Really what would suit my financial situation the best would be to have a long term plan to work with in 3 or 4 stages over time. I have tried my best to be detailed here and have included room measurements in the sketchup pics However i would be more than willing to take more or photos if needs be. Cheers for the help in advance, http://www.myspace.com/thedubdoctorsoundsystem http://www.myspace.com/sprigproductions

Hi Donal, and welcome! A couple of comments:

so i need to soundproof very well only one side of the studio.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. If sound can get out, then it is out. You cannot tell it which way to go once it gets out. While higher frequencies are somewhat directional, they can still bounce off things around your building, such as fences, other buildings, cars, trees, etc. And low frequencies will spread out all ways at once, regardless of what you do So just isolating one wall is not going to help: You need to isolate all of them, INCLUDING the roof, in order to not bother the nice ladies next door :) That's your first piece of bad news! Any isolation treatment you do, has to cover the entire structure. Just treating part of your room is like just building half a dam across half the river... You have to build all of it in order for it to work at all. If not, then you are wasting your time and money.

so i think a triple glazed pvc door here might be the best plan.

That would probably be a mistake. Triple glazing = three leaves = BAD! Contrary to popular belief (and contrary even to intuition!) any time you have three "leaves" in a wall, you actually make it WORSE at stopping low frequency sound than if it only had two leaves. Each pane of glass is one leaf. Three panes = three leaves = poor isolation in the low frequencies, such as kick drum, toms, bass guitar, etc. What you want in a wall (or a window) is just TWO leaves. Never three, never four, never more, never one. Two and only two leaves is the best way to stop sound at low cost (unless you want to spend lots of money on exotic materials like thick sheets of solid lead, for example). 2-leaf construction is the best and cheapest way to get really good isolation, if you build it right.

where i can have tons of help to build the type of resonators/dispersers /desks and fittings ...

Resonators and diffusors wont help at all to isolate your room: they might help to treat it, but not to isolate it. Isolation and treatment are two entirely different things.

The B&!!!**s on the other side are attached to the house,

When you say "attached", do you mean that their house is physically connected to your house? The same physical wall / roof / floor? I hope that's not what you meant.... Can you clarify this point, please? - Stuart -

Hi Stuart, cheers for the advice. Unfortunately that is kind of what i mean, but not entirely. the house is what is called over here a semi detached. This means that one side of our house is stuck onto our neighbours house. The two houses were built together and share a common wall ( built of 9"thick cavity concrete blocks) between them and a common roof also. they do not share the same floor joists . however, the rooms i plan on using as studio space do not share a roof or any wall with this other house, it is in fact almost like another small house built onto the opposite end of our house. It has separate roof and floors. This is quite difficult to explain with words so i will draw a quick pic so you can see more clearly what i mean. I should also mention that the complaints re sound were almost a year ago when i was using a different room to the one i am in now. since i moved into this side extension there has been no issues. The wall between the studio and my house is a very thick concrete wall, with one door upstairs and one down stairs. I am pretty sure if i treat these doors well that most if not all the leaking sound will be sorted just fine. At the moment they are just standard wooden house doors with glass panels and quite badly fitted. My big problem is the treatment of sound inside the room, i have problems with some frequencies being louder than others, (low c sharp is a real pain its almost twice as loud as c or d) really i do not know much about this end of things and i am sure that there are many other problems that i am not even aware of yet. How do i test the rooms for issues? what issues do i test for? should i take photos and post these also?

Hi folk,s Being new here i am wondering if i had put this post in the right section of the site? Should it be in the design section rather than this one?? anybody??

This line "The B&!!!**s on the other side are attached to the house, night nurses, and have already complained several times re noise. " may have caught the eye of a few others than me. Bit harsh for people you haven't interacted with is all I'm saying.

Hi there, Dont really know what to say here, My first post and already i seem to have offended people. Sorry in the extreme to all parties if this is the case. It was never my intention to offend anyone and i hate to think that i have. However in my defense i must say that I most certainly have tried my very best to interface with the nurses who live next door. I have over the last year completely rearanged the living arrangements in my house firstly, moving sitting room, dining room and studio setup to try and suit THEIR anti social working / sleeping hours. I have tried also communicating with them re some kind of diplomatic solution on a number of occasions but to no avail. The reality is that they are being most unreasonable. They insist that i stop producing music in my home full stop, no negotiation. (give up my life, i dont think so) They RENT the house they live in for about 18 months and could very easily move somewhere nice and quite if they wanted to solve this situation. my partner and i OWN our house for 12 years and due to current property market situation moving just aint an option for us period.( believe me, we have looked into this) We are locked in here. I make music for several years here and nobody ever complained before they moved into the house next door. I have had to deal with the police three times re noise during the AFTERNOON (and i assure you not even very loud noise) I am begining to feel like i have no rights here. The laws on sound pollution in ireland say that if these people believe i am making a nuisance of myself then they have a right to pursue a legal action, what rights as a homeowner do i have?? NONE!!! To be quite honest and open i believe i have shown these girls a remarkable degree of patience and restraint My gut a long time ago told me to get some big ass horn powered bins and blow them out of the house with constant sub bass throughout the day but i havent done this, instead i come to this site seeking help to design a studio. So ppppppppplllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeease someone guide me here before i crack up entirely. hopefully DF

"For some time i have been using the upstairs room as a studio," First thing I would say is to move it downstairs. Flanking paths via the structure are the enemy, not the ladies trying to live next door.