Does Aircon Ducting conduct noise between rooms?

Hi Guys, Things are looking on the up and up with the purchasing of a basement of an apartment complex that my partner and I plan to turn into a studio. Isolation is great in that we are underground surrounded my solid concrete, walls, floor and ceiling, and the previous tenants was the Cape Armory and Gun Sellers who has a target range in there, so you know how well isolated it had to have been! I've spoken to the electrician about electrical, which I kind of have a background in and we are lucky to a have a good solid ground spike which will enter into the studio db board and be star grounded on from there, we have 3 phase with one phase dedicated to 'dirty' power, i.e lights, heating, aircon (which will use the 3rd unclaimed phase and the dirty phase) appliances etc and a 'clean' phase for the studio gear itself. My major concern now is the Aircon unit. The building has one in it which we inherit as part of the sale, it is in tip top shape according to the contractor (though I plan to get second/third opinions). It is typical full fledged full Aircon with a fresh air intake duct that goes to the outside world, which is pushed through the ducting to return to the 'aircon room' expelling the old air, which as you can imagine is needed in a basement with no fresh air or natural light. While the unit itself is fully operational the ducting needs to be repaired or replaced due to there being damaged sections with gapping holes... BUT here is my concern, noting that Aircon is in no way my forteit. With this system won't sound transmission be an issue from room to room? We plan to have a big live room/control room and then a smaller edit suite with a booth and control room, with the Aircon passing through both rooms. But what worries me is say you a heavy a rock band with blaring amps in the big live rooms, surely the sound will make it's way up into the ducting vents and will be audible in the smaller room, should there be a duct in there as well? Effectively negativing ANY sound proofing you do? I'm sure there must be away to prevent this in some manner or form as this Aircon seems to be common place in basement studios? Any thoughts, or even ideas? Cheers Matt

Congratulations on your space acquisition... Not everyone has the advantago of starting with a firing range bunker as a starting point! You'll definitely want to study the fundamentals here, and pick up Rod's book if you haven't already done so... Guns are loud, but rock bands are a different flavor of loud. Low end transmission loss (TL) is what you'll need to focus on. Now, to your question... Which is covered pretty well in Rod's book, by the way... ;-) ...You'll need to reengineer all the ducting. You are right to be concerned. Typically buildings have ducting laid out for the sake of efficiency, both in terms of materials and of operation. You'll need to "home run" all the rooms and make sure there's return air from each room as well. Hopefully the system is new enough and properly sized for your needs. Undersized systems can't keep up with demand and can be uncomfortable, and oversized systems can also be uncomfortable with on and off cycles that are too short, causing discomfort, inefficiency, and excessive humidity. Being new and in good shape is one thing: being the right equipment for the job is another. I hope for your sake it's both. There are some good threads here on HVAC. Looking forward to seeing more details on your project. --Keith :mrgreen: --Keith :mrgreen:

Hey Keith, Thanks for the answers. I do indeed have Rod's book (which I bought on your recommendation) but have loaned it to a mate who is in the process of building his studio... now I have to get go and get it back!!!! To be honest I kind of skipped the AC, or rather HVAC section as my primary concern at the time was structural as things fell through with the old place as you know. I've read a couple HVAC threads and I'm learning the difference between a 'REAL' AC vs a mini split, and even enjoying reading your e-mails back and forth to China on the 'DIY Mini Split' system and trying to extract an answer as to whether or not it provides FRESH air ;-) I will endeavor to get back Rod's book ASAP and read the HVAC section and continue reading here, just wanted to know if I'm heading in the right direction, which it seems like I am. Am also waiting on the building plans/layout from the architect and will then upload some pics of the place as son I'll be trying to work on a studio layout. Thanks again for all your support! Cheers Matt