John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

• Location: 1,500 sq. ft. loft apartment with cement floor and 25' ceiling. It's one big room. I haven't moved in just yet, but it's in Lowell, Massachusetts in the U.S.
• Reasons: Bad acoustics. Girlfriend who I don't want to keep awake during late night recording sessions. General soundproofiness to prevent unwanted noise from appliances, pets, etc.
• Size: I'm guessing 5' wide for a desk which will have my computer, monitors, and a 54"-wide midi controller. Enough depth to comfortably fit a small chair and a microphone stand for recording vocals and acoustic guitar. I'm thinking at least 6' deep. The height would be fine at 6.5'.
• Budget: Under $1,000 would be nice.
• Ability: I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never done construction, carpentry, masonry or anything of the sort.

Here's my idea: People give away bricks all the time on Craigslist. Brick walls are about STC 50, if I'm not mistaken. Throw some mass-loaded vinyl over them and that should top STC 70 (I think), which is perfect. I could yell at the top of my lungs and not wake my girlfriend 20 feet away.

Assuming this idea for the main construction is all well and good, I'd just need to figure out the ceiling, floor, door, and ventilation. I'll worry about acoustic treatment later. Does this sound feasible so far?

P.S. This is really a control room/sound booth combo, i.e. a miniature recording studio, but the sound booth part is primary.

I'm wondering if a better option would be to build two rooms: A studio and a bedroom. So instead of having an STC 70 studio, I could have an STC 50 studio and an STC 40 bedroom. Since I don't understand the math, I'm not sure if this setup would be superior sound reduction-wise. I'm also clueless as to the difference in cost.

Can someone direct me to a more appropriate or active forum? I'm not getting much in the way of responses here or at the "Studio building / acoustics" forum on gearslutz.com.

Hi Jason, and welcome!

Location: 1,500 sq. ft. loft apartment with cement floor and 25' ceiling.

So you have 1,500 square feet for your studio? That's excellent! Most people here only have a fraction of that to work with. How do you plan in dividing up that space?

Budget: Under $1,000 would be nice.

Umm... you have 1500 square feet, and under US$ 1k to do it? Do the math: that's 66 cents per square foot. That won't even buy you enough underlay to put down laminate flooring. It won't even buy you enough paint to paint the walls! You seem to be underestimating your budget by about two orders of magnitude. Maybe you left off a couple of zeros from your budget estimate?

Ability: I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never done construction, carpentry, masonry or anything of the sort.

You might want to consider taking a basic carpentry course, or something like that, and also buying some books on the subject. And since you have never done this before, that also implies you don't already own the tools that you'll need to do it, so you should factor that into your budget. US$ 1000 will buy you some of the tools you need, but nowhere near all.

Brick walls are about STC 50, if I'm not mistaken.

An 8-inch thick brick wall can indeed get you to 50dB of isolation, if it is built and sealed correctly. But it also weighs about half a ton per linear foot (assuming ten foot walls), so every 2 feet of wall will weigh a ton, literally. 1500 ft2 implies about 150 linear feet of wall, so about 75 tons You mentioned "loft": Are you SURE the building structure can handle you piling on seventy TONS of extra weight onto the top floor? Very likely, it cannot handle that. The only person who can tell you for sure, is a qualified structural engineer. Hire one before you do anything.

Second, are you even allowed to do that? If you own the entire building, then that's probably not an issue, but if you only rent that floor, you might find there are restrictions on what you are allowed to do in there. Check your contract.

Brick walls are about STC 50, if I'm not mistaken. Throw some mass-loaded vinyl over them and that should top STC 70 (I think), which is perfect.

Sorry, but it doesn't work like that, and even if it did, you certainly don't have enough budget to buy 1200 square feet of MLV! It costs about US$ 2 per square foot, so figure US$ 2400 just for MLV...

But isolation does not work the way you are assuming. If you have a single leaf wall, as you propose, then the total isolation provided by that wall is governed by an equation know as "mass law", that goes like this:

Tl= 14.5 Log (M * 0.205) + 23

Where Tl is the "Transmission Loss", which means how much isolation you get in decibels, and "M" is the surface density of the wall in kilograms per square meter (how much it weighs per square meter, looking at the wall from the front). 8" thickness of bricks is about 400 kg/m2. MLV weighs about 5 kg/m2: so adding MLV to your brick wall would increase the mass by roughly one percent. So by adding MLV to your wall brick wall, your isolation would increase from about 50.75 decibels (brick alone) to about 50.82 decibels (brick plus MLV). That's not even measurable. Even sensitive laboratory instruments would only just detect that difference. It's a very, very small difference.

If you wanted to get 70 dB of isolation with just a single-leaf wall, then you'd need to make your brick wall about three feet thick.

That's why studios do not use single-leaf walls to isolate: mass law is a terrible way of isolating. Fully-decoupled two-leaf MSM is the best way to do that: you can get very good isolation with much less mass and thickness like that.

Assuming this idea for the main construction is all well and good, I'd just need to figure out the ceiling, floor, door, and ventilation.

Everything needs to be done to the same level: walls, ceiling, floor, doors, windows, HVAC, electrical. All of it. So if you want to go single-leaf (mass-law), your ceiling would have to be as same as the walls (8" thick brick), the doors would also need to be made just as heavy as the walls and ceiling: figure about three inches of solid steel plate. Windows too: Your glass would need to be several inches thick. And your HVAC silencer boxes would be massively enormous. etc. The concept is that the studio must have the exact same surface density all around, in all directions, with no variation. You cannot do the walls to one level and the ceiling to a lower level. For example, if you did your walls to 60 dB, and your ceiling to only 35 dB, then the total isolation is 35 dB. It is inly as good as the weakest part.

Does this sound feasible so far?

No.

I'm wondering if a better option would be to build two rooms: A studio and a bedroom. So instead of having an STC 70 studio, I could have an STC 50 studio and an STC 40 bedroom. Since I don't understand the math, I'm not sure if this setup would be superior sound reduction-wise. I'm also clueless as to the difference in cost.

The decibel scale is logarithmic. Each time you go up by 10 dB, you need to absorb ten times as much sound energy. So starting with a normal house wall, which gives you about 30 dB of isolation, if you wanted 40 dB of isolation then you would need to block ten times more energy, or if you wanted 50 dB of isolation then you would have to block one hundred times more energy, or if you wanted 60 dB of isolation then you would have to block one thousand times more energy, or if you wanted 70 dB of isolation then you would have to block ten thousand times more energy... etc. Each 10 dB increase makes it ten times harder. (Which is basically why adding a layer of MLV to brick wall produces such a tiny change).

That's the reason why mass law (single leaf wall) does not work for high levels of isolation. They have to be so incredibly thick that the cost is prohibitive. Which again, is why studios are never isolated with single-leaf walls.


- Stuart -

Thank you so much for your response, Stuart!

The room is for living and working for both me and my girlfriend. I can't get too big with the studio/booth, but my current limitations are largely based on cost, not available space. Did you miss the third item in my bulleted list concerning the dimensions?

The tools I can mostly likely borrow, so that's not part of the budget.

every 2 feet of wall will weigh a ton, literally

Wow. The building is all brick and concrete, so it can handle serious weight. And I'm allowed to build walls, but probably not ones that heavy. Scratch the brick idea.

Thank you for explaining mass law. I've been having trouble trying to understand the math, largely because I haven't been finding any in my forum searches.

Fully-decoupled two-leaf MSM

Decoupled construction was recommended in a another forum. After some cursory research, I was able to verify that it's significantly superior. Would you mind explaining what MSM is?

It is inly as good as the weakest part.

Understood.

The decibel scale is logarithmic.

I've been a musician for 30 years and I'm just now learning this? I need to read more, evidently. Songwriting and performing I can do well. Recording and mixing, not too shabby. Room acoustics and that sort of technical stuff is where I'm seriously lacking.

Which again, is why studios are never isolated with single-leaf walls.

Yeah, I was naively hoping for an effective unorthodox approach to save on cost and time.

I think my main question at this point is whether it would be more cost effective to build one really soundproof studio or a bedroom and a studio that aren't quite as soundproof. The studio isn't just to keep sound out. It's also to keep sound in since I have a live-in girlfriend. I can't be keeping her awake practicing or recording at 3am with my bizarre schedule. So, in short, one room or two? And what's a more realistic estimate of what I'd need to spend?

but my current limitations are largely based on cost, not available space.

Making the actual isolated studio space smaller is certainly the best way to make it cheaper. The question then becomes: How small? As you make a room smaller, it becomes less good acoustically, and needs more acoustic treatment inside to make it usable. So very small rooms use 100% of the entire wall surfaces for treatment, and can still sound bad. So there's a trade-off there too: making a room smaller saves you money on the walls, but if it gets really small then the treatment becomes more expensive, and more complex.

In helping you to define what the minimum useful size for you, it would be good if you could tell us more about the actual purpose of the room: Is this going to be just a rehearsal space, where you can practice as much as you want, by yourself, at all hours, without disturbing or being disturbed? Or is it a place where others will be joining you to practice together? Or will it also be used as a "tracking room" or "live room", for professional quality recording of the instrument(s)? Or will it also be used as a control room, where you will have a console and/or DAW fully set up with good quality studio monitors, so you can mix the songs? And maybe master them too? Each of those adds a level of complexity (and cost) to the room, so it is important to define it well.

Wow. The building is all brick and concrete, so it can handle serious weight. And I'm allowed to build walls, but probably not ones that heavy. Scratch the brick idea.

Right. Most people don't realize just how much bricks weigh, but basically they are similar to rock in consistency. Pick up one brick, and it doesn't seem so heavy, but try to pick up a dozen all at once, and it becomes more apparent... then add a sack of cement to that, and try to pick it up again...

Thank you for explaining mass law. I've been having trouble trying to understand the math, largely because I haven't been finding any in my forum searches.

Yeah, the information isn't easy to find unless you already know exactly what you are looking for! Unfortunately. Another way of describing "mass law" (which is what governs single leaf walls) is that each time you double the total mass of the wall, then you get about 6 dB increase in isolation. So if you have a wall made of one layer of bricks, then you build another identical wall tight up against it, stuck together, then the total isolation goes up by about 6 dB. Then if you build another TWO walls next to the original two (doubling again, total of 4 brick thickness), the isolation once again increases by 6 db: And adding another FOUR walls (total of 8 brick thickness), you get another 6 dB increase. You can easily see why this is not going to get you were you want to go!

Decoupled construction was recommended in a another forum. After some cursory research, I was able to verify that it's significantly superior. Would you mind explaining what MSM is?

"MSM" stands for "Mass-Spring-Mass", which is the principle of physics on which it is based. Also sometimes called "Mass-Air-Mass". Basically, it means that you build your wall as a pair of "leaves" separated by an air gap. The "leaves" on each side can be made of anything: wood, drywall (plasterboard), metal, glass, brick, concrete, etc, and each leaf can be built up from several layers, as long as there is no air trapped inside, between the layers. A common way of building a leaf is with two or three layers of drywall, nailed to one side of a stud frame. So to get "MSM", you'd have a pair of those with an air gap between them, In other words, two stud frames, where each frame has drywall nailed to only ONE side of it (not both sides). You use two frames to get the "decoupled" thing right.

So now you have two leaves, which is the two "M"'s in MSM. Each leaf is "Mass". And the air gap between them is the "spring". People don't normally think of air as being a "spring", but to sound waves air is very springy. So "MSM" is "Mass-Spring-Mass" which is also "Leaf-Air-Leaf".

The question is "why"?

Well, an "MSM" thing, is a resonant system: it resonates at one specific frequency. Think of a weight bouncing up and down on a spring, or a pendulum in a grandfather clock, or a child on a swing: those are all "mass-spring" systems, and they all resonate at only one frequency. But in addition, they refuse to resonate at any other frequency! That's the key. If you want to make a child swing 10% faster, you can't do it. No matter how hard or soft you push, the child will always go at the same rate. That's why pendulums are so good at keeping clocks on time: they ONLY go at one speed, and you CANNOT make them go at another speed. The same is true of an MSM wall: it only wants to resonate at one specific frequency, and does NOT want to resonate at all others. When it "hears" it's note then it resonates wildly, passes that sound through to the other side, and even amplifies it. But for all other frequencies, it resists, actively.

So if you can tune your wall such that it's resonant frequency is lower than all audible frequencies, then the wall will isolate the entire spectrum. It is sort of like an electronic filter, or a bandpass setting on an equalizer: It only lets that one tone through and no others.

Of course, it isn't perfect: there's a region on each side of the resonant frequency where the isolation isn't very good, so you need to take that into account too. But as long as you tune your wall to one octave lower than the lowest frequency you want to isolate, it will do a good job.

So how do you "tune" your wall to the right frequency? There are equations for calculating that, but basically as you add more mass on each leaf the frequency goes down, and as you increase the size of the air gap the frequency goes down, and as you fill up more of the cavity with insulation the frequency goes down. So if you need good isolation at low frequencies, you just add an extra layer of drywall to each leaf, and/or set the two stud frames further apart.

The best point, though, is that an MSM wall is not subject to mass law, but rather to the laws of resonance. So it doesn't just give you 6 dB increase in isolation each time you double the mass (or the frequency), but rather it gives you 18 dB per doubling of mass (or frequency)! That's a really large difference. OK, it isn't 18dB across the entire spectrum: it drops to 12 dB and even 9 dB in some places (due to other reasons), but even so it is vastly superior to the measly 6dB you get from mass law: so you can get a LOT more isolation with a lot less mass, and/or a lot less space.

There are pros and cons, of course, (and a lot more complexity, too) but overall two-leaf MSM is a much smarter way of building isolation walls.

The one point I didn't mention that is critically important, is that the "spring" must be damped, in the same way that the shock absorbers in your car "damp" the springs: They stop resonance. The way you do that in an MSM wall, is by filling the cavity with fluffy insulation, such as mineral wool or fiberglass. All those millions of fibers act on the sound waves to absorb some of the resonant energy, thus "damping" the resonance in the cavity.

So that's it. Not complicated, much less expensive, much less mass, and very effective.

I've been a musician for 30 years and I'm just now learning this?

That's the thing about acoustics: much of it isn't intuitive at first: We can't see sound moving and bouncing around a room, so our brains have a tough time understanding what is really happening. We tend to assume things that just aren't true. Mostly people coming to acoustics for the first time have to initially "unlearn" what they think they know about it, then re-learn how it actually works.

I need to read more, evidently.

I'd suggest two books: "Master Handbook of Acoustics" by F. Alton Everest (that's sort of the Bible for acoustics), and "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros", by Rod Gervais.

Room acoustics and that sort of technical stuff is where I'm seriously lacking.

Those two books (plus the forum!) will get you a great basic start. The first one "MHoA" is designed to take people who know nothing about acoustics along an easy path to learn enough that they can design a studio. the second book has a bot of that too, but is more "nuts-and-bolts", or rather "studs and nails": it's about the actual methods and materials of how to build a studio. And the forum is here to fill in the gaps, and help you tie all the loose ends together.

Yeah, I was naively hoping for an effective unorthodox approach to save on cost and time.

So are we all! All studio builders want that. But unfortunately, it turns out there are no magical materials: despite the wonderful claims made by some manufacturers of snake-oil... sorry I mean acoustic products, the fact of the matter is that all materials must obey the laws of physics: No amount of meditation, incantation, "eye-of-newt-and-tongue-of-bat", or any other strange antics, can change the laws of physics. No magic here: just ordinary building materials that obey the ordinary laws of physics...

I think my main question at this point is whether it would be more cost effective to build one really soundproof studio or a bedroom and a studio that aren't quite as soundproof. The studio isn't just to keep sound out. It's also to keep sound in since I have a live-in girlfriend. I can't be keeping her awake practicing or recording at 3am with my bizarre schedule.

If the goal is ONLY to have a studio where you can go nuts without waking someone in the next room, then the best plan it to isolate ONLY the studio. The bedroom doesn't need any more isolation than a normal bedroom: it's only the studio that needs it. Isolation is mostly bi-directional: If it isolates well "going out", then it also isolates well "going in".

So what you need to define here, is how much isolation you need, and what frequencies you need it at. for example, if you plan to play death-metal acoustic drums at 3AM, then you need major isolation, but if you only need to isolate vocals and an acoustic guitar, then that's an awful lot simpler. So get yourself a sound level meter, and measure how loud you are in a typical session that you'd normally do. That's one end of the story. You also need to measure how quiet you need to be. So set up a sound system in one room of wherever you live now and play the typical type of music that you'd be doing in your new place, loud. Then get your girlfriend to go into the next room with the sound level meter, while you slowly turn down the volume until she says it is quiet enough for her. The level you see on the meter at that point is "how quiet you have to be".

Subtract "B" from "A" and you have the answer to the question "How much isolation do you need".

Simple!

Based on that, you can design your studio isolation system.

And what's a more realistic estimate of what I'd need to spend?

More like US$ 20 to 200 per square foot, depending on many factors. In your case, much closer to "20" than "200"! so if you can get the size of the room down to something that is just big enough for you, say 200 ft2, then you'd be looking in the region of US$ 4000 or so to isolate and treat it decently. If you can borrow tools and perhaps skilled carpenters, you can get the costs down. (maybe exchange their skills for yours? If you know folks who are good at carpentry and also are budding musicians, you could strike a deal here: They help build your place for free, and you then record and mix a few songs for them, for free...). You can also get the price down by shopping for discounted building materials: sometimes demolition sites sell old wood cheap, and so do places like Home Depot when there's damaged goods in stock. I once picked up a pallet of drywall that had been damaged by a careless forklift driver, for about half price, and most of the drywall was just fine! So look around, and you can save money.


- Stuart -

The space is for practicing by myself, recording, and mixing (no mastering; I'll send that out to someone else). I know that's a lot. But options are few. I could try getting my gf to wear earplugs when she sleeps. I could also take the less selfish route and just change my schedule. In that case, the isolation doesn't need to be nearly as good, just enough to keep out the sounds of appliances and pets. (Most of my recordings have the clicking sound of the guinea pig drinking from his water bottle in the background at some point. I can't deprive him of water, not even for a few minutes.)

Elsewhere, portable gobos have been suggested since I'm going to be spending a lot of money on this, so it might be a good idea to build something I can take with me when I move, as I will eventually. Anyway, I'm not sure what degree of absorption to expect in that case, so I'm not leaning either way just yet. This is the learning phase. And one thing I've learned is that $1000 was wishful thinking. I'm considering doubling my budget. Maybe tripling it, but that's a tough call. The money is coming out of my life savings and I'd like to leave enough behind for an emergency fund or a down payment on a house or something.

Thank you for explaining MSM.

Mostly people coming to acoustics for the first time have to initially "unlearn" what they think they know about it, then re-learn how it actually works.

I've been noticing this.

Thank you for the book recommendations. I've skimmed "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros". A lot of the assembly seems much more advanced than my capabilities, so it's intimidating. My only real building experience is building computers (which doesn't count) and three summers as an electrician's apprentice. I'm damn good at stapling wires to 2x4s.

The bedroom doesn't need any more isolation than a normal bedroom

The apartment is one open space. There is no bedroom. The question is whether I should build one.

I'll only be playing acoustic guitar and singing. As for the sound level meter, I'll pick one up. It seems necessary for this project. Any recommendation as to where I should go to purchase one?

Simple!

Suuuuuure.

The apartment is one open space. There is no bedroom. The question is whether I should build one.

In that case, if it is an open-plan floor space, then I would just build the studio with good isolation, and forget about the bedroom for now. You can always do that later, once the money starts rolling on from your songs and mixes!

The important thing, then, is to figure out what is the smallest size room that will work for you, and isolate that as much as possible. You can save money by leaving out luxuries for now, and just doing the absolute minimum that will get you the amount of isolation you need. You could even leave out some o the treatment initially, and only add that as extra funds become available. The most important issue is to get the isolation shell in place, and working properly. The rest can come in time.

The space is for practicing by myself, recording, and mixing (no mastering; I'll send that out to someone else). I know that's a lot.

That's not over the top by any means! Many people here on the forum have done that type of build: it is typically called a "single-room studio", and is usually modeled as a control room basically, with space at the back for rehearsal and tracking the instruments. If you want to use it for mixing, it pretty much has to be done as a control room: You can track and rehearse in a good control room, no problem, but you can't mix in a typical rehearsal room or tracking room!

I could also take the less selfish route and just change my schedule.

That would only take care of one of your three goals: rehearsal. You will not be able to meet the other two (recording and mixing) unless you have a properly isolated and treated room.

Most of my recordings have the clicking sound of the guinea pig drinking from his water bottle in the background at some point

Oops! You DEFINITELY need an isolated room, I think!

Elsewhere, portable gobos have been suggested

Once again, that will only take care of ONE of your goals: tracking. Gobos are great at changing room acoustics to provide good tracking space, but useless for isolating, and useless for creating a mixing area. Gobos cannot isolate at all, and neither can they be used to form a usable control room. It takes a lot more than just a few wheeled panels with insulation on one side to do that!

so it might be a good idea to build something I can take with me when I move, as I will eventually.

Then build your entire room in a modular manner! Make all your treatment in detachable panels, and even make your walls as bolt-together sections that you can simply unbolt and load on the truck when you go.

Anyway, I'm not sure what degree of absorption to expect in that case, so I'm not leaning either way just yet.

Absorption is not isolation. That's a common misconception, but absorbing sound does not isolate your room, in the exact same way that holding a sponge over the end of your kitchen tap will not stop the water coming out. A sponge is great for mopping up water that splashed where you didn't want it, and insulation is great for "mopping up" sound that went some place you didn't want it. But just like the sponge cannot "isolate" the tap (it cannot prevent the water getting through), so too insulation alone cannot isolate your room: it cannot stop sound entering or leaving. Many people don't understand this, and make the mistake of putting insulation on their walls, or hanging thick heavy drapes, and then wondering why sound still gets in and out. The room will sound a lot better, acoustically, with the insulation or drapes on the walls, but the isolation won't change at all. Sound will still get in and out, just like before.

A lot of the assembly seems much more advanced than my capabilities,

Do you have any friends who have done building before? It's not as hard as it looks, but it would be really good if you could have someone who knows how to do it guide you through. Tools are dangerous, and there are many, any ways you can hurt yourself, if you don't know what you are doing. And materials are expensive! There are may ways to damage them, or not use them efficiently, if you haven't done it before...

I'll only be playing acoustic guitar and singing.

Excellent! Then your goals are totally achievable, and at reasonable cost. You can isolate that fairly easily, without needing to go to extremes. I predict success!

As for the sound level meter, I'll pick one up. It seems necessary for this project. Any recommendation as to where I should go to purchase one?

eBay and Amazon.com are two good places to find them. The good ones are in the range of about US$ 70 to 150: Don't get the cheap Chines junk ones, though! If you see one new, and it costs less than US$ 50, then ignore it. No use. Extech, Galaxy and some Radio Shack ones are good.

- Stuart -

I don't have time to respond in full at the moment, but I wanted to express my appreciation for going through the initial parts of this process with me step by step. Your responses have been incredibly thorough, relatively easy to understand, and very friendly. Thank you for taking the time. I'm getting much more information from this forum (really, just you) than gearslutz.com and homerecording.com combined. Someone on gearslutz just told me to break up with my girlfriend. Jeez, thanks buddy.

Anyway, I'd also like to spend more time reading the books you recommended before I take this much further. That way, you'll have less to explain and I'll (hopefully) be better at speaking the language of acoustics.

Someone on gearslutz just told me to break up with my girlfriend.

Ummm... well, I guess that's ONE possible solution! But ... ummm... well... probably not really practical at all!

Wow! You sure do have to be careful where you go for advice... sheesh!

but I wanted to express my appreciation for going through the initial parts of this process with me step by step. Your responses have been incredibly thorough, relatively easy to understand, and very friendly. Thank you for taking the time. I'm getting much more information from this forum (really, just you) than gearslutz.com and homerecording.com combined

Thanks for the kind words! We try to help as much as we can with sound and acoustics advice... but we aren't as good as the guys at gearslutz on offering romantic counseling, it seems... They seem to have that prettify much covered..


- Stuart -

but we aren't as good as the guys at gearslutz on offering romantic counseling

Hahahaha!

I just wanted to throw in an update: We're not getting the second floor unit. There was an unexpected opening on the first floor. The one we're getting now is 1,585 sq ft with 14 ft ceilings. We'll be moving in in 30 days. Here's a description of the space: "Sealed concrete floors, vinyl base, 3'6" x 8' doors, finish coat ready walls (taped, sanded and one coat of white primer), 3" thermafiber sound insulation with resilient channels and sound caulking."

So the apartment itself is pretty well soundproofed.

Still reading about acoustics...

Sealed concrete floors, vinyl base, 3'6" x 8' doors, finish coat ready walls (taped, sanded and one coat of white primer), 3" thermafiber sound insulation with resilient channels and sound caulking.

Sounds pretty good to me! It looks like you are getting something better than what you would have had with the other place!

- Stuart -

I've started a new thread here. I've moved on from bricks to crates.