Hi,
I am currenty building a studio control room & loudspeaker test chamber into two 40ft containers at our workshop.
The containers have been joined together with one side on each container cut out to make a 40ft*16ft (external) space. Pictures below....
I have attatched a floor plan, which shows 4 rooms, the right to be the studio control room, the left to be the test chamber, one of the small rooms (the top one) is a vocal recording booth, the other is the entrance hall.
The Floorplan (Dimensions in mm) shows the rooms have an internal wall each, and one common internal wall, which runs around the edge inside the container.
The cross section shows the wall running along the inside of the container wall, and the interior walls.
The questions i have are....
1) Is the wall cross section correct, could anything else be done to increase the dB drop from inside the container to outside. My first thought was to add a layer of drywall on the common wall that runs round the whole container
2) The floor will be 2x4 framing (24oc framing) filled with insulation floated on auralex u-boats (i already have these, so they need to be incorporated). Is it best to build one common floor on the existing floor (wood pannels on steel beams), or would it be best to build a seperate floor for each room.
Almost forgot... The Problem we have is the containers are placed next too (in the parking lot of) a machine shop, we have grinders, lathes, cnc's forklifts etc running all day, and although most of the work will be done at night in the studio, sound isolation is still my main concern with this project.
Thanks in advance
Oli
Studio In a Container Construction
-
Camelx8
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:43 pm
- Location: Orange County, USA
- Contact:
-
knightfly
- Senior Member
- Posts: 6976
- Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 11:11 am
- Location: West Coast, USA
1) Is the wall cross section correct, could anything else be done to increase the dB drop from inside the container to outside. My first thought was to add a layer of drywall on the common wall that runs round the whole container
Adding drywall to that deep corrugated surface would only make things worse - the corrugations will cause serious 3-leaf effects worsening the low frequency isolation. In addition, steel sweats a lot and will cause drywall to fail unless there is at least a couple inches of rigid foam insulation between the drywall and the steel. You would somehow need to get the inside surface of the steel FLAT and with NO AIR GAPS and INSULATED, and THEN you could add a layer or two of drywall.
The trick is to get NO AIR SPACES between layers, and don't use insulation that BREATHES or it is considered "air" for acoustical purposes, and will cause 3-leaf effects (slightly better midrange isolation, but WORSE low frequency isolation)
One possible way, depending on the depth/width of the corrugations and whether they are FLAT bottomed from the inside - cut strips of EPS foam insulation to fit between the peaks of the walls, fill all gaps with spray foam insulation, then glue drywall over that (making sure there are ZERO air gaps) - the foam is closed cell, so won't act like "air" - it won't add much mass, so the drywall will be needed to improve that.
Then, you can do an inner frame (not touching the outer wall) insulated with NORMAL spun fiberglass and a couple more layers of drywall on ONE side ONLY, and this will give you a mass-air-mass construction that will keep your sound in/out much better than anything else you could do.
Same type construction would need to be done to the ceilng, not sure about the floor - it looks like wood decking, can you give more detail on it?
2) The floor will be 2x4 framing (24oc framing) filled with insulation floated on auralex u-boats (i already have these, so they need to be incorporated). Is it best to build one common floor on the existing floor (wood pannels on steel beams), or would it be best to build a seperate floor for each room.
If you need roomto-room isolation, better use separate floated rooms each with its own floated floor, walls and inner ceiling... Steve
Adding drywall to that deep corrugated surface would only make things worse - the corrugations will cause serious 3-leaf effects worsening the low frequency isolation. In addition, steel sweats a lot and will cause drywall to fail unless there is at least a couple inches of rigid foam insulation between the drywall and the steel. You would somehow need to get the inside surface of the steel FLAT and with NO AIR GAPS and INSULATED, and THEN you could add a layer or two of drywall.
The trick is to get NO AIR SPACES between layers, and don't use insulation that BREATHES or it is considered "air" for acoustical purposes, and will cause 3-leaf effects (slightly better midrange isolation, but WORSE low frequency isolation)
One possible way, depending on the depth/width of the corrugations and whether they are FLAT bottomed from the inside - cut strips of EPS foam insulation to fit between the peaks of the walls, fill all gaps with spray foam insulation, then glue drywall over that (making sure there are ZERO air gaps) - the foam is closed cell, so won't act like "air" - it won't add much mass, so the drywall will be needed to improve that.
Then, you can do an inner frame (not touching the outer wall) insulated with NORMAL spun fiberglass and a couple more layers of drywall on ONE side ONLY, and this will give you a mass-air-mass construction that will keep your sound in/out much better than anything else you could do.
Same type construction would need to be done to the ceilng, not sure about the floor - it looks like wood decking, can you give more detail on it?
2) The floor will be 2x4 framing (24oc framing) filled with insulation floated on auralex u-boats (i already have these, so they need to be incorporated). Is it best to build one common floor on the existing floor (wood pannels on steel beams), or would it be best to build a seperate floor for each room.
If you need roomto-room isolation, better use separate floated rooms each with its own floated floor, walls and inner ceiling... Steve
Soooo, when a Musician dies, do they hear the white noise at the end of the tunnel??!? Hmmmm...
-
Camelx8
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:43 pm
- Location: Orange County, USA
- Contact:
Thanks for the reply, the construction date is getting closer and i was starting to panic, and rightly so question my own original judgements....
My plan was to add the first 2x4 frame with insulation about half an inch away from the corrugations (secured to the floor) and have that filled with insulation. Then on its own seperate floor, the 2x4 frame, with insulation and two layers of drywall.
Edit: Used the Search button for 3 leaf effect
As for the floor, it is wood decking (appears to be 1/2 inch) sat on top of steel beams, i dont plan to remove this, as it will probably not go back where it should do as airtight as it is now. I will be building a 2x4 frame supported on auralex u-boats for the floor.
As for the ceiling, im planning on supporting the ceiling beams on top of the wall frame, as done in this container, and having a 24oc beam spacing filled with insulation, and then two layers of drywall.
Thanks again for the advice
Oli
My plan was to add the first 2x4 frame with insulation about half an inch away from the corrugations (secured to the floor) and have that filled with insulation. Then on its own seperate floor, the 2x4 frame, with insulation and two layers of drywall.
Edit: Used the Search button for 3 leaf effect
As for the floor, it is wood decking (appears to be 1/2 inch) sat on top of steel beams, i dont plan to remove this, as it will probably not go back where it should do as airtight as it is now. I will be building a 2x4 frame supported on auralex u-boats for the floor.
As for the ceiling, im planning on supporting the ceiling beams on top of the wall frame, as done in this container, and having a 24oc beam spacing filled with insulation, and then two layers of drywall.
Thanks again for the advice
Oli