Soundproof room within a room

[MickeyWakes]

Hi all,

I know this is my first post and as such may be a little heavy...but here goes. I am hoping there are some sound experts here that can help.

I have a pretty big project in mind and i am not sure if it is possible, i am being completely unrealistic or just down-right stupid (highly likely).

Anyway, i am a drummer and i want to build a soundproof room. At the moment i dont even have a shed so here is my idea. I realise i need planning permission for a build of this size...so for the purpose of this post, lets assume "permission granted"

I intend on building a shell which is 5m wide, 2.5m high and 10m long (looking at it from the front). I want 5m x 5m of it as a storage shed so i intend on building a wall down the middle essentially making 2 rooms. on one side i want my 5 x 5 shed. This is simple enough (he says sheepishly)

On the other side, i want to build another room roughly 4m x 4m with soundproofing and dampening in the cavity (highlighted by the red lines on the diagram). Then inbetween the two "rooms" i would like to put a dampening corridor which is measured at 1m in the diagrmam but is of course likely to be larger.

So my need for advise is as follows.

To the builders amongst you.
What would be the best way to lay the foundations for a build of this size?

To the sound guys.
What would be the best way to soundproof the room? I was thinking diffusion foam on the internal walls and sheeted neoprene in the cavity. Will this cause any problems? Do you have any other advice for soundproofing?

Plan below.

Untitled

• MickeyWakes
• 11 Sep 2013
• 1

Thanks in advance and great forum!

P.s. I know there are no windows in the diagram but i have planned for them!

 

[speakermonkey]

For soundproofing, foam and neoprene are going to do jack. Sound proofing is stopping sound from escaping (propagating) from the shed so that someone outside would hear very little drumming. For this you will want solid thick material, concrete, thick brick walls, wood partition filled with sand etc this is not an easy task as you will also have to take into account the roof. The easiest solution to this would be to create a cavity like you have - approx 150mm and stuff it with rockwool. You will still hear the drumming but it will be lessened.

However, if it is not the neighbours you are concerned about and the above is not your aim I assume you are trying to acoustically treat the room. In other words make it so that when you play the drums you are getting a good sound from the room and it is not too dead or alive. Is this a wood or brick shed? I assume it will have a concrete floor either way.

Step 1 - Brace Everything!!! This will not only stop the shed from "going off" and rattling everytime yuo hit that kick but if panels are not braced then they are very good at absorbing one specific frequency they are tuned to (the opposite fo a drum skin if you will)

Step 2 - put a carpet / rug down - easily obtainable from Gumtree / Freecylce, this will help stop the room sounding "clangy"

Step 3 - Play your drums in it have a listen and decide whether anything else needs to be done. Is the room too alive? Does one drum sound dead but the others are fine? Try different positions in the room.

Step 4 - If you enjoy it carry on banging. If you feel that the room is too alive then understand that room reverb is calculated by the surface area of the room and how absorptive these areas are. If you have a large window then perhaps some heavy drapes would be a good idea? Many studios often havey heavy lined drapes all along the walls which they can draw back if they wish to alter the reverb depending on the track. Try a mattress / duvet etc you don't need to get clever with special materials.

I'd be interested how you develop so keep me posted.

 

[MickeyWakes]

Thanks for the info! What i needed!

The plan is to build the shed out of breeze block. I am not sure how good that is for sound reduction but it is the cheapest and easiest way because of the size.

I have done some reading and i have thought about putting a third drywall inside the studio to create a second cavity and then filling both cavities with rockwool as you suggest. The drapes and carpet are a good idea too..something i will keep in mind!

With regards to the neighbours. I am not TOO concerned as its not like ill be pushing out grooves at 3 in the morning. I just wanted to show a bit of courtesy as i am new to the street. Plus the Mrs would be happier the less she can hear.

I will keep you up to date on what is going on but at the moment i have a kitchen and bathroom to install and a house to decorate so i think it may be a while. Especially as the weather is turning. I just wanted to get an early start so i could plan and cost it properly.

Thanks for the info...any more would be great

 

[cjard]

Did you think about digging a hole and building it underground? (Water table may be kind to you on this one or it may not..)

Also, I saw on a TV show called The Planners, a guy built an events venue in the grounds of his stately home (hoping to get the events to pay for the running of the massive house) and he walled it up with packed earth - literally made a mould, put a few inches of soil in it, rammed it down with an acro, more soil, rammed again, more soil.. kept going until he had a large block of densely packed earth - he said this was for sound deadening.. It'd be fairly free I think, especially if you dug a hole and had all this earth lying around, to turn it into thick, dense walling material?

 

[MickeyWakes]

Wawzers!!....thats a pretty "out-there" idea but it would be cool.
Im not too bad at DIY above the surface but i have to admit i wouldnt know the first thing about building a bunker (ie. Supporting the weight of the walls ect.)

Pretty rad but maybe worth looking in to...could be a cool project and something to impress my mates with! Only thing is i dont live far from the beach...so i assume with my proximity to sea level and surface run off i might have a bit of trouble keeping dry!

 

[CaptainCaveman289]

Fellow drummer here.

Without going to rediculous lengths you won't make a soundproof room.
Ever played a gig with noise metering? I can get 126db with a snare rimshot...

However; you can significantly deaden the noise reasonably easy, your advantage is having plenty of space - this means you can build in thickness and air gaps.

If I were you this is what I'd build:

Brick outer skin, fibre insulated cavity, blockwork inner skin (double block would do it, quicker and cheaper anyway - rendering would make it look less crap).
Within this a timber studwork wall filled up with rockwool, and a couple of layers of plaster board, ideally this studwork should be spaced off the blockwork skin.

Inside the room you can have fabric faced sound traps (a frame filled with rockwool),
A perferated convex plywood front to these also helps dispersal.

Be careful not to have too much deadening or the drums will sound crap.


Of course, your roof is the biggest problem, especially if you intend to stay within 2.5m for permitted development.
A solid multilayed and rockwool filled ceiling is an option, ideally with a suspended inner ceiling. Layers are your friends.
If you can manage a 'green' soil and turf roof that'd be pretty awesome, although it's a next level engineering challange for a DIY project.


Alternatively damp your drums!
An upholsterer mate of mine whipped me up some tripleskin leather covers for me, works a treat. Filling the shells with pillows also works but is a pain in the arse if you gig regularly.

Mesh head electronic kits are very good, I used to have a nice Roland set up, was about £2k though, interestingly my band at the time recorded an EP in silence in my dining room!


Luckily my attached neighbour is also a drummer