Commercial Building Drop Ceiling

New poster here. I am in a commercial building running a music store (lessons, sales) and would like to convert part of it to do recording. The room is 17' X 20' X 10' to the drop ceiling. My main concern is what to do with the 4 feet of air above the ceiling tiles to the R13 insulated roof. I don't want to soundproof it, as that would require a new ceiling being framed below the drop ceiling. We have done some sound testing and there doesn't seem to be a lot of boominess created by the open space. I'm not concerned with bleed over the top to other rooms, as recording will be done after business hours. Do you have any suggestions as to Owens/Corning, Rockwool, etc. to deaden the sound, or should I just leave it alone? Also, I would appreciate any suggestions about bass trapping and sound treatments in the room itself. I have read the studio plans and will use some of the ideas I found there. Thanks for any help you can offer.

If you don't want to soundproof and it doesn't sound bad, I'd leave it alone. IF you want a bit less boom, you could just lay some 6" or 8" fiberglass batts on top of all the drop ceiling panels - this would make the entire cavity a fair bass trap. After each thing you change, LISTEN - you'll know when to stop... Steve

knightfly wrote:

If you don't want to soundproof and it doesn't sound bad, I'd leave it alone. IF you want a bit less boom, you could just lay some 6" or 8" fiberglass batts on top of all the drop ceiling panels - this would make the entire cavity a fair bass trap. After each thing you change, LISTEN - you'll know when to stop... Steve

Standard fiberglass batts (pink stuff)? Or rigid stuff? thanks, EH

Thanks for the replies, so far. I was told regular fiberglass, like in home attics, would do nothing except trap the heat. We have recorded in here for a year with pretty good results without anything up there. I am adding 2'X4' bass traps along the 90 degree wall/ceiling corners, and I think that will do it. In a 17X20' room, it would be cost prohibitive to put owens/corning 705 up there. It would require 42 2X4' panels to cover, 84 if I wanted 4" thick. Even if I used 703, it would still be quite expensive. I was looking for anyone with any experience in this type of situation. Thanks again for any more help.

Standard "fluffy stuff" weighs typically around 0.8 to maybe 1 PCF - while it won't absorb nearly as much at lower frequencies as the 3 PCF 703, it will still make a difference - partly by damping the ceiling panels and partly from being a few feet away from the real boundary of the room (the ceiling ABOVE the drop ceiling) - I intended to mean the "fluffy stuff" in THIS PARTICULAR CASE because chrysb stated that there already wasn't much of a "boom" problem - therefore it would be less expensive to use the lighter weight insulation - typically about 1/3 the cost of 703, and even more of a difference compared to the higher density insulation. It sounded to me like all that's needed is a bit more control, which is why I didn't recommend the more expensive stuff... Steve

Thanks, Steve. That is what I was worried about. I'll be putting up the bass traps and testing in about 2 weeks, so if doesn't sound too bad, I may leave it (until the first metal crunch band comes).