How well will this work?

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:46 pm

Me and 2 friends are constructing a Studio and Lesson facility. We've got plenty of construction background but not in studio contruction. Through my research I found two designs I think that would work well.

so 2 questions for anyone that may have advice.

1. Are these walls good concepts?

2. Any recommendations on other possible materials they may cost less?

AVare · Post by **AVare** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 8:22 pm

First things, first. Congratulations on planning before building. Just not three minutes ago I was reading, once too often, about someone who with the best of intentions had not done that and has to tear down what they had done.

The design concepts of both walls are basically good. The RC is not doing anything useful, because you already have isolation in the first wall. Some people, including myself, would say that the RC is actually reducing the effectiveness of the wall. Remove it.

You haven't mentioned the rest of the design. Be careful of flanking paths. Also the sound isolation is only as good as its weakest link.

We are a helpful bunch here so ask away.

Avoid "I cut it twice and its still too short."

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:26 pm

Thanks for the advice.

I do have some concerns about flanking in this room, but I'm not ready to ask any questions yet. It's my next obsticle.

I should have a rough design completed within the week. It's an old garage basement we're converting and lacking the luxury of new construction. Although the good news is there's 1500 sq feet and lots of concrete. The scope of this type of construction blows my mind, compared to anything I've done before. It makes residential construction mere childsplay.

AVare · Post by **AVare** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 9:51 pm

Oops, when I wrote, I had the RC in my mind. The limp barrier probably works, but you can get better results for less money with other materials. The ASC Iso wall system is the same effect as the RC, in this case. It has its applications, but not here.

Looking forward to reading your design and construction progress!

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:02 pm

A few days ago I compared Auralex's highest STC wall construction, with their claim of STC 68, to a calculated identical wall WITHOUT their sheet block product - instead, I used two layers of 5/8 on one side, and 5/8-1/2-5/8 on the other, everything else identical - came up with STC 69, and a savings of about $40 for every 32 sq ft of wall.

Here's their link -

http://www.auralexuniversity.com/NeighborsWMA.html

Bottom example is the one I compared - I would also stagger the studs, even though separate plates are used.

As Andre stated, unless you're rich I'd stay away from the specialty acoustic stuff, it's hard to beat concrete and/or gyp board for less than twice the price... Steve

dymaxian · Post by **dymaxian** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:52 pm

When we talk about flanking paths, we don't mean so much with the room layout and overall design, we mean between the walls and around them. Like under the concrete floor, or thru the ceiling system. Since you've only given us the wall sections, we don't know if you're floating the floors or if you're having separate ceilings for each room, built up off these walls. These are decisions that you can make at the same time you think about your wall sections, and can possibly affect how you lay out the studio's rooms.

rod gervais · Post by **rod gervais** » Mon Jun 07, 2004 10:56 pm

Well I have a couple of comments on what I see here.

1st. the wall using the ASC iso wall system is a 3 leaf wall....... and try as i might i could not find any test data at the ASC site posted for this assembly........ i believe the actual performance of this wall would not be anywhere near what you will need for proper isolation.

2nd........ you do not use RC on both sides of walls........ ever........

3rd.......... you will not improve a designed wall assembly by adding something like RC to it (I believe Steve already pointed this out to you)

4th.......... i agree with everyone else here that the specialty products do not give you enough bang for the buck to make them worth more than standard construction techniques.

Rod

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Tue Jun 08, 2004 10:05 pm

Thanks all the info has been of great help to this point.

As far as RC goes. I've seen documentaion of never using RC on both sides of the same wall, but nothing about using it on both sides of a two wall system. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

Also, as far as the specialty material. Thanks greatly for the info. Since it's truly not worth the money, I'll be saving a small fortune.

I only started with the walls, because with as much concrete as the room has for barriers I figured the walls would be one of the more important design areas to stop any leakage. There are flanking concerns I have with the ceiling but there's no way I could it explain it through text. I will have designs and support pics to help give ya the full scope of where I'm heading by the end of this week.

Once again thanks greatly for any and all advice.

--Brock