John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi guys, I just moved to a new apartment made with clay block walls, ciment and painted white.
I need to block the sound to go outside this room(if possible) and to do some treatment so I can mix and master in it.

Small room(feet): 9,5 x 6,2 x 9.8(height)

I can get some 4'x 2' rigid rockwool panels of 32 kg/cubic meters of density.

freq:125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 NCR /frequency
2": 0,16 0,52 0,82 0,92 0,94 0,96 0,80
4": 0,85 0,98 1,01 1,11 1,09 1,18 1,05
(width)
What would be the best and cheapest approach to this?
I cannot build anything on that room because it's a rental, I need to use some material that I can re-use it again when I move in the future.

What kind of fabric is the best for covering the rockwool that will give me a good acoustic a will keep the rockwool in place.
I've been told I could get some of the rockwool in the air and that could be bad, how can I avoid this?

rockwool density of 64 kg/m³
freq:125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 NCR
2": 0,16 0,66 1,00 1,05 1,02 1,04 0,93
4": 0,87 1,23 1,19 1,15 1,12 1,09 1,17

I am not using subwoofers for now, only 2 Maudio BX5.

I was thinking about something like this, but what about blocking the sound?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDxV0jbD9w8

Thanks.

p.s: what kind of material those two itens are made of, are they good for my room?
http://www.audimutesoundproofing.com/how-to-soundp roof-a-room-soundproof-walls-sound-insulation.aspx

http://www.audimutesoundproofing.com/sound-absorbe rs.aspx

Thanks.

You cannot stop sound from entering or leaving your room with absorption (rockwool, fiberglass, etc.). That is a myth, unfortunately. The only way to stop sound is with mass. Lots of mass! You need things like thick drywall (gypsum board), thick plywood, lead sheeting, steel plate, thick glass, bricks, concrete, etc. Sound can only be stopped by very heavy, solid, rigid materials.

Absorption is used to treat a room, so that it has smoother, more even acoustic response, but you cannot use it for "soundproofing" a room. It will not make any difference at all. Isolation can only be achieved with lots of mass, and total hermetic sealing.

The best way to block sound is to build a wooden frame inside that room, and put one or two layers of 15mm drywall to it, making sure that you seal all the gaps very carefully. Fill the gap between the existing walls and this new wall with that mineral wool that you mentioned. You will also need to put a door in there, which must also be very heavy and well sealed all around. And since you live in Rio, you will definitely also need a good air conditioning system in there.

Then, once you have isolated the room, you can treat it acoustically with those rockwool panels. Place them diagonally across the corners for bass trapping, and also at your first reflection points.

There is a lot more to it than just that, but that should give you a basic idea of how to start designing your studio.

- Stuart -

Thanks, At least I have the AC, not the money to pay the bill to turn it on, LOL.

I will have to deal with my neighboors for now then.

So how would I treat the first reflections(thickness,density with rockwool) and basstraps(thickness,density) and the cloud.

What about the fabric(what kind?) to avoid the rockwool to go outside the frame, scattered/diffuse in the air.
Eventually I will breathe that and that can't be good for my health, right?

Thanks.