John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

So after several days of anger, denial, resentment and all the rest I have finally come to acceptance: the soundboard has begun to be ripped down. Not that I'm done asking questions though, far from it!!

The good news is that the inside of the exterior walls are smooth, no drywall mud needs to be used. But how exactly do I go about attaching the sheetrock to the inside of the exterior walls? The walls are a little thin, so I'm wary of putting any screws in. Should they just be friction fit and then caulked or should I put in some L brackets or seomething to brace it against the wall?

I'm also not sure if I'm going to do the whole room-in-a-room thing or not. I'm not sure if the budget can handle it, and I'm also not sure if I can afford it from an acoustic standpoint on the room. The room is pretty small and I still want to get an OK drum sound in it without making it totally dead (I know I'm not going to get the full Steve Albini sound in a tiny room but I don't want the totally-dry-with-added-reverb 80's sound either). So here's the question: What is the TL difference between the two approaches? I know I'm going to get better isolation by building another frame inside, but how much better? (Does that question make sense?)

Finally, I'm not sure if I should do a floated floor or not, if I don't go for the room-in-a-room approach. If the floated floor isn't supporting interior walls does it still improve isolation? Keep in mind that the live room is on the same concrete slab as the control room, but I'm more concerned about bugging the neighbors at this point time.

luke the obscure wrote:So after several days of anger, denial, resentment and all the rest I have finally come to acceptance: the soundboard has begun to be ripped down. Not that I'm done asking questions though, far from it!!

Hooray!!!

. . . how exactly do I go about attaching the sheetrock to the inside of the exterior walls? . . . should I put in some L brackets or seomething to brace it against the wall?

That's what I plan to do, kind of. I'm probably going to cut some blocks of 1x1 and use them as "cleats" to hold the two layers (in my case) of gypsum board against the inside of the outer wall (stucco in my case). And, of course, liberally sealed with an acoustic caulk. An acoustic caulk. You can research that extensively here. Don't use the wrong stuff!

I'm also not sure if I'm going to do the whole room-in-a-room thing or not. I'm not sure if the budget can handle it, and I'm also not sure if I can afford it from an acoustic standpoint on the room. The room is pretty small and I still want to get an OK drum sound in it without making it totally dead. . .

Hold on. "Liveness" and "great isolation" are two very different things and they are not mutually exclusive! You can have a great sounding room inside and out (meaning, great not hearing the stuff outside). Granted, both cost money, and I think isolation is typically more costly than interior treatments.

I know I'm going to get better isolation by building another frame inside, but how much better?

Much better. In fact, you may have no choice if you intend to stay within the law:

Earlier, I wrote:A common noise ordinance model is based on two measurements: one that is objective and one that is subjective. The objective measurement is typically a db(A) limit, possibly with certain hours of the day and durations per hour being more strict. The subjective measurement is injected with all kinds of "soft" language, such as "reasonable and necessary activities" and "persons of normal and reasonable sensitivity." (Your mileage will vary. Don't assume anything!) Both are pretty strict standards, and one is relatively easy to measure in terms of "pass" or "fail" with a simple decibel meter. The other obviously relies on human judgement.

Since your law enforcement doesn't have the time/desire/capacity/ability/etc. to actually understand and be able to communicate the laws they're supposed to be enforcing, it's up to you to research the law so that you will understand your (minimal) rights.

You wrote:Finally, I'm not sure if I should do a floated floor or not, if I don't go for the room-in-a-room approach. If the floated floor isn't supporting interior walls does it still improve isolation? Keep in mind that the live room is on the same concrete slab as the control room, but I'm more concerned about bugging the neighbors at this point time.

I struggled with this question too. Review the first page of my thread, especially Steve's advice:

knightfly wrote:You can go for less mass in a floor, but will lose isolation at lower frequecies when you do; I chose 3-1/2" because it's easy to use 2x4's on edge for the edge forms while pouring this slab on your floating framework - anything you do to lessen the mass, or narrow the air/insulation gap below it (above the garage floor) will negatively affect your isolation.

That pretty much says it all. I know, you're still in a bit of shock on all of this, but consider how lucky you are that you're not proceeding with the doomed plan destined to fail and fail big. You had the sense to put on the brakes, and bite the bullet to undo what's been done so far. Bravo. Now, don't sacrifice success for a cheaper, simpler failure.

Remember, you're in the gang now... There's no turning back now!

This link has quite a bit on the "insert" plan of beefing up outer layers; ceilng, wall, it's all the same basic idea -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=19540

HTH... Steve