Lighting compomising soundproofing

I'm developing a soundproof room for a home theatre, and I'm assuming that the design of recording studios must take a similar approach to soundproofing. I'll be using rockwool and dual-layer soundcheck plasterboard to keep the sound in/out. I'm now starting to rethink my decision to use downlights, as this will offset the noise-sealing properties of the soundcheck plasterboard... So is the best move to go for a non-invasive lighting such as surface mount lighting or track lighting, or are downlights do-able with the extra work of a sound proof "box" around them (inside the ceiling cavity) including soundcheck plasterboard and rockwool lining??? Ideas? Mike.

I abandoned any thoughts of pot lights for the same reason... However, if you're going to be putting absorbers up on your ceiling you may be able to fit LED lights in them. They are very low profile and do not generate anywhere near the kind of heat the regular lights do (i.e. no fire risk). Cheers, Kris

The "pot" lights I have use compact fluorescant globes, so heat is not as issue. I'm more concerned with 15cm dia holes all over the ceiling and the extra work involved in building sound barriers AROUND the pot lights...

Yes... as I said, that was the exact reason why I abandoned any thoughts of using pot lights. It's way too much effort to build structure around the pot locations, and even if you got them perfectly sealed, they'd have less performance than an untouched ceiling since they will take up precious airspace between the ceiling and floor above. The heat issue was more of a concern for mounting these things inside abosorber panels. And that's not a problem for LED lights....not sure about pots running compact flourescents though since the building code probably requires that they be mounted in something permanent (and fire proof). Cheers. Kris

Excellent point. Perhaps low voltage track lights or some such are they way to go. And the dimmer circuits don't produce noise/interference with audio gear :) MikeG