Could you please advise on the celing height ?

Ivo · Post by **Ivo** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:36 am

I am going to make my own private studio out of a huge garage, for recording my soft acoustic music (violin, flutes, guitar, ethnic instruments etc.) The present size is 5x 7 x 3,7 m. After making the ceiling and floor the height may come down to 3,4 m. I wonder whether ther would be any real audible advantage to raise the ceiling one meter higher to 4,5 m or whether it will not be worth the big work and expense. What do you think ? I have to decide very quickly. Thank you for an advice

the dreamer · Post by **the dreamer** » Tue May 03, 2005 4:53 am

In my opinion this already is a really nice hight to work with. Most of us DIYers are not in such a great position.
As I see it there is no need to put a lot of work into raising the ceiling.

After making the ceiling and floor the height may come down to 3,4 m.

I suppose you talk about an inner shell to soundproof the room. Even if you put 1m thick absorbtion up there after building the "inner room" you still have 2,4m left. Others have to start out from this height! Nice room...

Ivo · Post by **Ivo** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:41 am

Thank you for your reply. Mine is not rock and pop music and I would love to have a nice rich sound for my instruments (up to some extent, of course), better than I had now in my small 5x3x 2,5 room, which was acoustically treated, neutral, but very "dry", not very favourable for violin, viola etc. .... The future studio room will have 4 times bigger size, even if I keep the ceiling as it is now, so I hope my violin etc. will like it more (it will not be a church, I know ... but I have my Lexicon PCM 91 for adding more space)
Another question would be about the acoustic isolation from outside. In the present project there is a plan to keep the outer walls and towards inside to make a layer of fiberglass and then another about 10 cm thick wall ending with plasterboard on the surface (ready for a fine acoustic tuning with panels, difussers etc.). The windows will be well isolated vacuum ones. Would it work like that ?

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Tue May 03, 2005 5:51 am

Although you would want less absorption in a room for acoustic instruments, this drawing shows the basics of isolation - it's true in all directions, for all barriers between you and the rest of the world -

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/download.php?id=4001

Don't buy insulated glass though; what you want is two SINGLE panes, as thick as you can afford (up to around 1/3 the thickness of your wall panel total) and spaced as far apart as you can get them (near the inner and outer wall surfaces) and SEALED - you want to use acoustic-rated caulk, check the building materials forum for types and sources... Steve

the dreamer · Post by **the dreamer** » Tue May 03, 2005 6:06 am

Ivo, one substitude for what the guys across the puddle call "Acoustic caulk" you can get in the area where you live will be Mapei Mapeflex GB1 (GB1 is the name in Austria). This is Butyl rubber which has high internal damping. www.mapei.com.

knightfly · Post by **knightfly** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:27 am

Excellent choice, thanks Dreamer - in fact, that should work at LEAST as well as any of the so-called "acoustic" rated caulks, whether it's sold as such or not... Steve