First off Hello. My name is Bryan. I live in Texas. My love for drums has led me to the decision to build a sound isolation booth for my drumset. The first priority will be ISOLATION. The goal is to be able to play my acoustic drumset any time I want without disturbing my neighbor (already drug him out of bed once....), or waking the babies.
To try and accomplish this, I will be referencing the Studio Design book by Rob Gervais, and beeros' build on this site.
The drum booth will be built in my garage using typical 2x4 stud wall/drywall construction. The outside dimension of this booth will be 10' L x 9' W x 8' H. Internal dimensions will be roughly 8' L x 7' W x 7' H. I am allowing for a 1' total wall and ceiling thickness as I will be building a room within a room. Minimum clearance between the stud frames will be 1”.
Since I play mainly heavy metal, I tend to be loud. Using the radio shack SPL meter, I have measured levels of 120 db. I need the booth to provide roughly 50 db of isolation as that results in levels of roughly 50 db at the outside of my neighbor’s bedroom wall and the inside of my house. I am not factoring in the reduction of the garage structure itself (20 db) as I want that to be a buffer.
For the walls and ceiling I will utilize double stud construction with at least 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on each side (MAM), with a layer of green glue between the drywall layers. My research has shown that (as I am sure all of you have seen) that walls built this way without green glue have an STC value of 63 (I know this number is from controlled lab tests and not what I should expect). Per Gervais, the addition of green glue between the drywall layers will add a damping factor that will improve isolation. If need be I won’t hesitate to add an additional layer of drywall/green glue to both walls. The third layer of drywall on each wall is good for an additional 3db, but I don’t know exactly how much more isolation the third layer AND green glue will provide.
I will be using external electrical to minimize wall penetrations and will be figuring HVAC after I know for sure my wall/ceiling ideas will provide the isolation I need. There will be no windows in this booth and acoustic sealant will be applied in every seam/joint. Entrance will utilize a sealed dual solid core door arrangement.
All said, will a double stud wall/ceiling design with 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on each side (MAM) with green glue provide the 50 db isolation that i need?
Building a Sound Isolation Booth for my Drums
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axisT6
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Building a Sound Isolation Booth for my Drums
"Nothing in life worth having is gained without a degree of discomfort"
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A man that works with his hands is a laborer.
A man that works with his hands and head is a craftsman.
A man that works with his hands, head, and heart is an artist.
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Soundman2020
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Re: Building a Sound Isolation Booth for my Drums
Hi Bryan, and welcome! 
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you: for some reason I missed a whole bunch of threads, and only just re-found them. I hope this is still useful for you, even though it is late arriving!
Yup. That makes sense.
- Stuart -
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you: for some reason I missed a whole bunch of threads, and only just re-found them. I hope this is still useful for you, even though it is late arriving!
Tall order! Not impossible, but difficult.The goal is to be able to play my acoustic drumset any time I want without disturbing my neighbor
Excellent! Then you are already aware of the issues associated with doing a drum room, and the heartbreak that Beeros went through with his place... but it did turn out great in the end! He recently posted the final update, with his HVAC system now running. And he's happy! I'm really glad we were able to help him there, as he was on a road for disaster.To try and accomplish this, I will be referencing the Studio Design book by Rob Gervais, and beeros' build on this site.
: thu: It looks like you've been thinking this through carefully, and are totally on the right track.The drum booth will be built in my garage using typical 2x4 stud wall/drywall construction. The outside dimension of this booth will be 10' L x 9' W x 8' H. Internal dimensions will be roughly 8' L x 7' W x 7' H. I am allowing for a 1' total wall and ceiling thickness as I will be building a room within a room. Minimum clearance between the stud frames will be 1”.
I tend to be loud. Using the radio shack SPL meter, I have measured levels of 120 db.
Yup. That makes sense.That's a reasonable and achievable goal.I need the booth to provide roughly 50 db of isolation as that results in levels of roughly 50 db at the outside of my neighbor’s bedroom wall and the inside of my house.
Perfect!For the walls and ceiling I will utilize double stud construction with at least 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on each side (MAM), with a layer of green glue between the drywall layers
Correct on all counts! Of course, I'm sure you already know that STC-63 is not the same as 63 dB of isolation....My research has shown that (as I am sure all of you have seen) that walls built this way without green glue have an STC value of 63 (I know this number is from controlled lab tests and not what I should expect). Per Gervais, the addition of green glue between the drywall layers will add a damping factor that will improve isolation.
A bit more than 3 dB actually: With MSM you get more "bang for the buck" from the extra mass. GG plus an extra layer of 5/8 should give you more like 6 dB boost overall, but the biggest point is that it drives down the MSM resonant frequency to a lower point, so you get even better improvement in the low end.The third layer of drywall on each wall is good for an additional 3db, but I don’t know exactly how much more isolation the third layer AND green glue will provide.
Spot on. You have everything well worked out so far, but the sounds of it.I will be using external electrical to minimize wall penetrations and will be figuring HVAC after I know for sure my wall/ceiling ideas will provide the isolation I need. There will be no windows in this booth and acoustic sealant will be applied in every seam/joint. Entrance will utilize a sealed dual solid core door arrangement.
If you build it as carefully as you are designing it, then yes! You should, indeed, get 50 dB or more of isolation from such a room: The biggest issue will be the HVAC silencer, and the doors, but there are solutions for those too.All said, will a double stud wall/ceiling design with 2 layers of 5/8 drywall on each side (MAM) with green glue provide the 50 db isolation that i need?
- Stuart -
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studio_drums
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Re: Building a Sound Isolation Booth for my Drums
Wouldn't a double stud construction inside a garage create 3 leaf effect? Maybe I'm not visualizing this correctly...
I'm doing the same thing, and have the same needs, but I'm only building a 1 stud wall with 2 layers of drywall and GG...because my research suggests that drywall on both sides of the wall (or on separate stud wall) would create 3 leaf effect.
I'm doing the same thing, and have the same needs, but I'm only building a 1 stud wall with 2 layers of drywall and GG...because my research suggests that drywall on both sides of the wall (or on separate stud wall) would create 3 leaf effect.