John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Hi people!

I'm going to build a sound wall and I will have a studio window with two thick laminated glass in it.

The wall is a double wall with air gap between and insulation between the studs. There are double plasterboards on the outsides.

Do not want to couple vibrations between the two walls so that the red in the sketch is meant to be an elastic membrane that should be air tight. The green is meant to be for reverberant treatment.

Have any suggestions on material selection? Any comments?


Sorry for my english. I'm born in Northen Europe . Please ask if something is unclear.

Best regards

Hi "hazeman". Please read the forum rules for posting (click here). You seem to be missing a couple of things!

Regarding your question: firstly, don't build your window like that! Here's why: So, by angling your glass like that you get LESS isolation, and you do not actually solve the problem that everyone thinks you solve!

The only reason you might need to angle glass a little bit, is if you have a problem with light glare: reflections from the lights in the room making it hard to see through the glass. But there's no acoustic reason to angle your glass.

Do not want to couple vibrations between the two walls so that the red in the sketch is meant to be an elastic membrane that should be air tight.

You do not need anything at all there! The air gap between the two frames is the best possible decoupling you can get. Adding any type of membrane will make the decoupling worse, not better. Most people just put black cloth (fabric) across that gap, to make it look neat and hide the insulation on the other side.

Don't forget that you will also need some type of desiccant in between the two glass panes, to prevent them from fogging up due to water condensation in the inside faces.


- Stuart -

Thanks for reply Stuart!

Ohh, now everyone can read where I live. My studio is going to be located in my basement of my house. Two small rooms. 15.5/18kvm.

So, by angling your glass like that you get LESS isolation, and you do not actually solve the problem that everyone thinks you solve!

How can i have less isolation if I have a larger distance between the glass? I have widened the wall to the top of the window. I can understand your point if i have not done so.

Regarding the angle and possible reflection of the microphone according to your picture, I always put the singer so that his or her nose points against a corner in a studio when I record.
One of the two walls, that the double wall is going to be built of, also has an angle so that the distances between them become larger and larger. Yes, you're right, it's easy to make mistakes when you set up a microphone for a recordning situation, but there is time to learn the room in the future

Regarding having, as you wrote, "cloth (fabric) across that gap, to make it look neat and hide the insulation on the other side." i wonder if nature latex(don't know the ageing aspect of this material but I think its a harmful material to humans), that is flexible to hundreds of percent could seal the gap, ever air sealed? I will have two doors in the wall to and i don´t want to seal the joint air tight. I have people around me that I do not want to expose to the small particles in the insulation that are inside the wall.

Best Regards