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In The Studio: The Two Principles Of Acoustic Isolation

A discussion of mass and filling the gaps
This article is provided by Bobby Owsinski.

Whenever I do clinics at universities I always get a number of questions about home studio construction, since most every musician wants and needs one.

One of the most frequent questions is about ways to increase isolation so the neighbors won’t hear what you’re doing. Here’s an excerpt from The Studio Builder’s Handbook that explains the two principles involved in acoustic isolation.

“When building almost any kind of space (especially a home studio), the first question that both musicians and engineers ask regarding acoustics is, “How can I make sure that my neighbors don’t hear us?”

There’s really no secret to this one, although everyone thinks there is. It comes down to adhering to the following principles during construction:

Isolation Principle #1 – All It Takes Is Mass
If you want to increase your isolation, you’ve got to increase the mass of the walls and ceiling of the structure that you’re in.

The more mass your walls have between you and your neighbors (that includes walls made from cinder block, brick, wood, drywall, etc), the more you’ll keep the outside sound from getting in, and the inside sound from getting out.

One of the ways that most pro studios accomplish soundproofing is by building a room within a room, which is done by putting the floor on springs or rubber, and building double or triple walls with air spaces in between on top.

Needless to say, this gets expensive and is impossible to do if you start out with a small space that’s only 10 feet x 10 feet to begin with since you’ll be left with no room to work in an area that small. But there are other ways to improve your isolation that can really be effective and completely acceptable (though never completely soundproofed) that are quite a bit cheaper.

We’ll go over this a lot more in the following chapters, but here’s basically what needs to be done. All it takes are some construction tools and a little time.

Add some mass to the walls and ceiling to increase your isolation. This could be as simple as adding another sheet of drywall to your existing wall, all the way up to building double studded walls with an air gap in between (see the figure on the left). Before you go nailing up another sheet of drywall and expecting total isolation, you must be aware of some acoustic realities.

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