Help with home studio construction

[billkat]

I am in the process of installing a home studio on the second floor of my garage in a old in-law suite (ie. 1 bedroom above a garage).
The room is 12'x17' with a 7' ceiling that has angled sides (see attached photo). I am thinking I will at least need baffles on the angled ceiling sides. I plan to place my Tascam board and Genelec and Urei monitors on the Window end of the room. I would love any input on baffle design and suggestion for placement. My main reason for placing this post under studio construction is that currently there is only "blown in" insulation in the ceiling and floor, and I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion as to how I could better sound proof this room. My neighbor's house is 40 feet from the window pictured in the attached picture of my studio. Currently there is a single french window style window with a single pane of glass. Would a second pane of glass help with sound proofing or would I need something bulkier? Any help would be great. Thanks!
Bill

[Soundman2020]

Hi "billkat", and welcome to the forum!

I am in the process of installing a home studio on the second floor of my garage in a old in-law suite ... and I was wondering if anyone had a suggestion as to how I could better sound proof this room.

Isolating a room on the second floor (or any floor that isn't the ground floor) is not so easy. It can be done, but is harder and more expensive than isolating a ground floor room. So the first order of business, is to figure out how much isolation you need (in terms of decibels), then see if it is feasible to do that on the second floor. Normally, the issue is that the amount of mass (weight) you need to get good isolation is just too heavy for the building structure to support safely, so you'd either need to beef up the structure, or make do with less than ideal isolation.

So I'd suggest that the first hing you should do is to get a hand-held sound level meter (around US$ 100 on Amazon or e-bay: avoid the cheap chines junk at around US$ 30), and do some measurements so you can figure out how much isolation you need. Use "C" weighting and "Slow" response on the meter.

Currently there is a single french window style window with a single pane of glass. Would a second pane of glass help with sound proofing or would I need something bulkier? Any help would be great. Thanks!

The answer depends on how much isolation you need, but just adding more glass without also improving the isolation of the rest of the wall is not very useful. The entire room must be isolated to the same level. Isolation ("sound proofing") is only as good as the weakest part. If you have a great window but a lousy wall, then the isolation will be exactly what the wall gives you, and you would have wasted money on doing the window better.

- Stuart -

[MonicaShields]

I too agree with Stuart, adding a second pane won't be helpful. If you are OK with replacing it, I would suggest you to go for soundproof glass. My sister-in-law used to live near the high-way had a lot of disturbance from traffic. She had decided to relocate when a friend suggested soundproof [SPAM REMOVED BY MODERATOR] to her. They have solved her problems, hope it helps you too.

[Soundman2020]

I too agree with Stuart, adding a second pane won't be helpful.

Sorry, Monica, but I didn't say that. Adding a second pane may very well be helpful. What I said, in fact, was that Bill should first evaluate his isolation needs, and based on that I can help him design a suitable isolation system, which might or might not involve an extra pane of glass.

Don't put words in my mouth, Monica: And don't spam the forum, either.

I would suggest you to go for soundproof glass.

Sorry, but there is no such thing as "soundproof" glass. A sufficiently loud sound will penetrate ANY barrier that man can build, regardless of whether it is made of glass or anything else. The loudest sound ever recorded on planet Earth cracked 6" concrete slabs, 300 miles away. You might want to check the laws of physics before claiming that glass can be "soundproof".

You also should check the forum rules for posting (click here) "Monica". You are violating them, in more ways than one...

- Stuart -