I am converting a garage to a drum practice/teaching studio, on an extremely limited budget. I am looking for feedback on any way to cut costs, examples:
1. this acoustical caulking is 1/4 the price of Green Glue in Canada
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/stor ... PartNumber
2. alternatives to Genie clips, staggered studs etc:
- small blocks of wood with thick rubber backing...no short circuit scews
3. alternatives to hat channel/resilient channel? (not that expensive, but adds up)
- wood strips with used roofing membrane neoprene glued to both sides
4. final wall and floor coverings from the local freecycle depot, fake persian carpets, etc
5. thick foam mattresses (freecycle) cut into chunks and stuffed between joists instead of mineral/rock wool
Low cost alternatives for sound isolation
Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 15120.
There is an announcement at the top of the forum about what to do to assure getting as many responses as possible.
The announcement leads to this post (click here). Actually, several people, who are experts on this forum, will most likely not reply if you don't do what is written in that post. Many others who are very helpful, will most likely not reply out of respect for the moderators' wishes.
In any event, quick answers to your questions:
That won't work, no. Not unless you absolutely understand what you are doing, fully know all of the acoustic properties of the rubber and other materials, do all the relevant calculations, and correctly design and test the devices. By the time you've done that, it would have been immensely cheaper to just buy the real thing. The chances of you getting it right by shear luck are a bit less than zero.- small blocks of wood with thick rubber backing...no short circuit scews
Bad idea. Really, really bad idea. Contrary to popular belief (and ignorant Internet sites) carpet has unpredictable acoustic properties, and in fact does the exact opposite of what you need, acoustically. Do that, and your room will sound terrible, as do all rooms done by following those myths.4. final wall and floor coverings from the local freecycle depot, fake persian carpets, etc
Bad idea. Another really, really bad idea: For similar reasons to the above, and for other reasons to numerous and complex to go into here. There are no short cuts to isolating and treating rooms. Either do it right, or don't bother. Don't waste your money on garbage like carpets on the walls, egg crates on the ceiling, or mattresses in the joist cavities. None of that will work to treat your room acoustically (instead, it will make your room sound much worse than it does already), and it most certainly will do nothing at all to isolate it. - Stuart -5. thick foam mattresses (freecycle) cut into chunks and stuffed between joists instead of mineral/rock wool
Stuart...thanks for your note - I said FINAL coverings, that is to say AFTER sound isolation has been achieved. This is cosmetic and contributes some minimal reduction of deflection. I have used this in the past and it works well, within those intentions/limitations....not intended to soundproof or isolate. The essence of Genie clips etc, is the rubber cutting down on vibration transmission. Rubber is rubber, if it's on an official clip or not.There is an announcement at the top of the forum about what to do to assure getting as many responses as possible. The announcement leads to this post (click here). Actually, several people, who are experts on this forum, will most likely not reply if you don't do what is written in that post. Many others who are very helpful, will most likely not reply out of respect for the moderators' wishes. In any event, quick answers to your questions:-Bad idea. Really, really bad idea. Contrary to popular belief (and ignorant Internet sites) carpet has unpredictable acoustic properties, and in fact does the exact opposite of what you need, acoustically. Do that, and your room will sound terrible, as do all rooms done by following those myths. - Stuart -4. final wall and floor coverings from the local freecycle depot, fake persian carpets, etc
Uhh, sorry, but actually it does not work. Refer to Rod's book for details on the absorption spectrum of carpet: it does not work. Or at least, no serious acoustician would use it as treatment. Carpet is selective: It absorbs highs quite well, mids somewhat, and lows not at all, which of course is the exact opposite of what you want in a studio. Sorry, but gluing carpet to your walls is a really bad idea acoustically, and is an even worse idea from the fire hazard point of view. And carpet on the floor of a studio? :shock: :!: :roll:Stuart...thanks for your note - I said FINAL coverings, that is to say AFTER sound isolation has been achieved. This is cosmetic and contributes some minimal reduction of deflection. I have used this in the past and it works well,
Uhh, no, sorry, but that just isn't true. It has nothing at all to do with "cutting down on vibration", and "rubber" most certainly is not "rubber"! There are MAJOR differences between different types of rubber. Some have valid acoustical uses in home studios, some don't. Genie clips (and other similar devices) are carefully designed to deflect to the correct percentage range under the proper load conditions such that they act as a damped spring, thus creating a proper tuned MSM system. You cannot just stick a chunk of any old rubber on any old block and hope that it will exactly the correct extent to properly decouple the applied load, acoustically! If you do not create the damped spring correctly, the wall will not "float", and therefore you will have no MSM system, hence you will have no isolation. Rubber that is not correctly loaded, or that has the wrong characteristics for the load, surface area and target frequency, is a flanking path, plain and simple. If it flanks, it does not isolate, period. To get an idea of just how hard it is to get these calculations right, you might want to spend a few hours reading over this thread, and following all of the embedded links: Regarding floating floors: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8173 That's about floating floors, but the exact same principles apply to walls and ceilings. In any event, please review, one more time, the rules about posting. - Stuart -The essence of Genie clips etc, is the rubber cutting down on vibration transmission. Rubber is rubber, if it's on an official clip or not.