Control Room Ceiling

[aschatzb]

Hello Fellow recording friends... I'm new to the forum, this is a cool resource, thank you:)

I'm building a new facility. I'm getting ready to install the ceiling in my control room (Room within a room). I'm trying to create maximum isolation between the control and the space above the control room(bedroom). Thus far, I've used mineral in the floor joist of the bedroom above. Built all my secondary walls in the control room and hung my 2x10 ceiling joist. I plan on using more mineral wool between the joist and layering 3/4 plywood and 5/8 gyps for the the ceiling.

Question: is 3/4 ply and 5/8 gyps going to be most effective for isolation and a good sounding control room. Or should I use all gyps?

any insight would be greatly appreciated!

thank you, andrew

[dymaxian]

That will work. I've seen some studios use 2 layers of 5/8" drywall with a layer of 3/4" MDF between them. There are two guidelines for selecting soundproof wall paneling...

a) the heavier it is, the more sound it'll stop

b) since every kind of paneling material has a resonant frequency (at which sound will just pass thru like it wasn't even there) having different kinds of paneling means different resonant frequencies- theoretically keeping your wall from having "weak frequencies".

If you're using 3/4" plywood and 5/8" drywall, chances are that's heavy enough for normal, home-studio use. You could go heavier if you had the desire/funds, but with that kind of wall system you'll have much more leakage thru doors and cracks.

Another point to consider- if this is in your home (basement, I presume?) chances are you won't be beefing up the floor system above you or anything, so this mass layer that we're talking about will be the primary sound barrier. For a control room, what you're talking about will stop most of your sound, but if you'll be tracking drums down there you might want a heavier system. Adding another layer of 5/8" drywall (or even 1/2") will probably save your family some headaches.

But again, the sound that does escape is going to get thru door seals.

Hope this helps.

[aschatzb]

Hey Kase, thanks for the tips! The studio is actually a ground up structure. It happens to be attached to my residence, but isn't a basement. I'll be doing quite a bit of production work here for others. There is a seperate studio proper, which I will being dealing with at a later date... My main concern are the monitors in the studio, isolating those from the bedroom above. Hopefully 3/4 ply and 5/8 will do the trick...
I was thinking about going with all gyps because it's less money, but I'm more concerned with being effective.

thanks:)

[kendale]

Try this:
http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

Hope it helps

[knightfly]

aschatzb, first off welcome to the board - can you please update your profile to include a location? Gives us a better idea of what to advise, etc - thanks...

Second, higher mass is more important to sound isolation than differing layers, although that also helps - you can accomplish both by using different thicknesses of gypsum, which in most areas of the world IS quite a bit cheaper than other high mass materials.

Kendale - I noticed you've been trying to help by linking to the SAE site - if you are trying to link to specific pages, it's not working. In order to do that, you should RIGHT click on the links on the side bar, then choose "open in new window", and then copy THAT address bar entry into the clipboard. This will give a DIRECT link to the specific page... Steve