Office panels to divide a single room into two sections

Hi, I am brand new to this forum and have a question about a possible studio situation. I would like to divide my basement room (24' long x 12' 9" wide x 7' 10" high)into a recording room section and a studio room section. I am not seeking to build anything permanent and my main idea was to use some sort of divider like an office panel setup which would reach all the way to the ceiling. My goal is not to soundproof the two areas from each other, but at the very least to lessen the sound coming through. Would this office panel setup be successful to that end to any significant degree? Alternatively, is there anything I could build similar to an office panel that would work which could also be easily taken down if need be?

I'm afraid that soundproofing isn't very portable or temporary... :( I wish I had better news. If you're looking for, like, a 10% or 20% reduction, then maybe. --Keith :mrgreen:

10 or 20% is actually not too bad for my purposes, but probably not worth the cost for the panels it would require to do the job. I wonder, is there any creative combination of let's say, panels and heavy curtain for example, that would decrease the noise levels? Or perhaps some kind of home made panel I could construct from scratch?

You might try and build a "regular" stud wall, insulate it, cover it well on both sides with a couple of layers of drywall but DON'T anchor it to the floor. This should be pretty easy to demolish and remove if you need to do that some day and the material cost is pretty reasonable. len

len-morgan wrote:

You might try and build a "regular" stud wall . . . but DON'T anchor it to the floor. . .

I don't think building codes much care whether or not a wall like that is temporary... :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

len-morgan wrote:

You might try and build a "regular" stud wall, insulate it, cover it well on both sides with a couple of layers of drywall but DON'T anchor it to the floor. This should be pretty easy to demolish and remove if you need to do that some day and the material cost is pretty reasonable. len

Thanks, Len, this is more along the lines of what I would want to do. Do you think I could build it in different pieces rather than just a single wall?, something that would perhaps be on hinges? I am in the planning stages only, so I am trying to brainstorm some craetive ideas.

I don't think building codes much care whether or not a wall like that is temporary...

Keith, round here I know people who have said they have gotten away with "temporary structures". Example: Garage conversion to bedroom, office and hallway and this was torn down when house was sold.

Do you think I could build it in different pieces rather than just a single wall?, something that would perhaps be on hinges?

Different pieces, YES but would that be worth the effort? most likely NO. On hinges would be a complete PITA, but could be effective if painstakingly done right. The main issue with both is getting an air tight seal all the way around construction. If trying to make a really heavy wall move like a door, you'd need super hinge's and a super post to attach hinges too... and would that be worth the effort? I don't know how far you want to go or end purpose of hinges. If this for easy removal then NO not worth the effort. If this is so wall could swing in and out of the way... we all want to see pics of you building it till it's done :twisted: I'd say build a temp wall... and be prepared to fix damage when you remove it. BTW what's the floor construction and what story is this room on? Marc

I built these gobos for a similar purpose to yours. They are ugly, but are quite effective. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they worked... my goal was to record a drum kit without bleed from other instruments, so I put these gobos around the drums in a circle, and got almost no bleed whatsoever from the other instruments.... of course there were no amplifiers, but it was still better than I thought it would be. Good luck.

"BTW what's the floor construction and what story is this room on?" Floor is carpet over concrete and the room is in the basement. PS: I don't care if the sounds escape to the rest of the house. My main concern is to have good sound level reduction between the two sections of the basement room.

jwl wrote:

I built these gobos for a similar purpose to yours. They are ugly, but are quite effective. I was pleasantly surprised at how well they worked... my goal was to record a drum kit without bleed from other instruments, so I put these gobos around the drums in a circle, and got almost no bleed whatsoever from the other instruments.... of course there were no amplifiers, but it was still better than I thought it would be. Good luck.

These gobos look like an excellent starting point. Do you think they would reduce the level of noise from one section of the room (ie amlpified guitar, or drums, or vocals) to the other IF I modified them to reach the ceiling and so that they were airtight from wall to wall? And one gobo would be on hinges so I could get out of the room without climbing out the window hehehe.

MJP wrote:

These gobos look like an excellent starting point. Do you think they would reduce the level of noise from one section of the room (ie amlpified guitar, or drums, or vocals) to the other IF I modified them to reach the ceiling and so that they were airtight from wall to wall? And one gobo would be on hinges so I could get out of the room without climbing out the window hehehe.

Well, there are several variables here. First of all, you won't make them airtight without permanent construction, or at the very least a squirting a ton of acoustic caulk everywhere. I certainly wouldn't want to have to clean that up to get a security deposit back or something. :wink: having said that, the closer you can get to those gobos floor-to-ceiling airtight the better from an isolation standpoint. But understand, microphones "hear" differently than ears do, so I don't think it's necessary. In my opinion, you will want to keep them somewhat portable so that you can modify their useage in the room. Carefully placed gobos, along with careful mic placement, will get you a long way in recording.... I use these gobos to put a circle around whatever I'm recording at the time, and then during the mix I put them on the sides of my mix position to create a Reflection-Free Zone. Very, very happy with their performance, though I still think they are ugly. 8)

guitardad72 wrote:

I don't think building codes much care whether or not a wall like that is temporary...

Keith, round here I know people who have said they have gotten away with "temporary structures". Example: Garage conversion to bedroom, office and hallway and this was torn down when house was sold.

Building illegally, then later tearing down the illegal stuff, may make it legal after the fact, but it doesn't make it legal while it's still up. --Keith :mrgreen:

OK - you could do this with a wall......... IF you attack the problem correctly. If you were to look in the book at Figure 1.1 - you'd see (on the lower left side of the picture) a single chair sitting in front of a wall.......... That wall happens to be hinged at the right hand side where you see the vertical trims...... the top of the wall is 8' high - and covers over the top of the door that closes into it. When both doors are open there is a 7' wide by 8' tall opening to bring gear through. I cannot give you all of the details for that - but will tell you that a key component for making a movable wall work is the bottom roller assembly. What we used is similar to this: http://www.servicecaster.com/Shepherd_C ... _baron.PDF - You want to allow for a very small settling point in the " at rest" location when the wall closes...... In addition - you want to get very VERY creative with your gasketing - remember that where air goes - so there goes noise - so make it work from a seal point of view - Like I said - I can't give you the details - because this is a proprietary system - but I can tell you that it can be made to work. I would also point out that I wouldn't want to have to use this door every day - it';s a bear - that's why the other operating door is a part of this assembly. Good luck, Rod

All very interesting suggestions. Hmmm, after some rumination, perhaps a permanent wall would be a good idea. I wonder, how much would a soundproof 12 foot long, 8 foot hight wall (w/doorway) cost me approximately, if I were to do the job myself?

Discussion of a soundproof wall without knowing many, many, many more particulars is not going to be fruitful. At this point I'm going to officially suggest you start at the "Before you Post" announcement, which will take you to almighty the "Reference Area" announcement, recommend you buy Rod's book (which is what he was referring to when he wrote "the book" -- he's so modest! :lol:), reinforce the importance of editing your profile to show your location, etc., etc. :) --Keith :mrgreen:

sharward wrote:

Discussion of a soundproof wall without knowing many, many, many more particulars is not going to be fruitful. At this point I'm going to officially suggest you start at the "Before you Post" announcement, which will take you to almighty the "Reference Area" announcement, recommend you buy Rod's book (which is what he was referring to when he wrote "the book" -- he's so modest! :lol:), reinforce the importance of editing your profile to show your location, etc., etc. :) --Keith :mrgreen:

:( But there's sooooo much!!! hahah jk, I will read all that stuff, it will give me something to do during my 12 hour shifts this weekend :)