DIY Acoustics and Soundproofing Thread

[alien_inside]

sukatin mo na hehehe... gawan natin ng design...

[IMKaye]

Hello po!

Meron po kaming current and immediate need for soundproofing...  Very tight budget and baka pwede po patulong sa design kasi po meron po kami materials na pwede makuha and labor.  Room size po may be around 4x4 or 3x5 meters...  recording booth po for Voice over, etc.  Ty in advance po!   

[d6ynast9y]

Just a wild, sorta resoureful idea.

The ceiling of the third floor of my house is covered with kisame (?) Just like most office buildings.  Im not sure if kisame yung tawag, but its the white board around 1 1/2 inch thick, around 2ft x4ft.  The ones suspended on aluminum frames hanging from the ceiling itself.  I tried searching online what its really called, and I came across acoustic ceiling tiles.  

Anyways, my third floor is due for renovation in a couple months and my dad was gonna replace all the ceiling boards(?).  

Now for my wild idea, instead of throwing these away, I was thinking of recycling them, maybe glue four or five together, then make a frame for it, cover it with cloth, and use it as a bass trap (sorta, of course im not expecting the absorbtion of really low frequencies, but at least some unwanted reflections)

What do the experts here got to say?
Should I just scrap these ceiling boards, or would my idea sorta work in even the slightest way?

I was planning on using these panels for my home recording studio in my small condo unit.

Thanks for your time!

edit: i remember also coming across the word gypsum boards for these? but im not sure if they are gypsum boards

[botbenz]

^yeah, those sound like acoustic tiles, not gypsum boards.

they're ok for residential acoustic treatment. but if you want absorption, you're better off buying rockwool or mineral fiber, especially if you're going to go through the trouble of building a frame and covering it with cloth. rockwool isn't that expensive, if you only need a few panels of 2'x4'. a roll of 50mm fiber glass that covers 18 sqm only costs 2k+, so you could do with a lot less. just be sure you don't buy thermal fiberglass, the kind that's covered/wrapped in silvery foil.

[botbenz]

Hello po!

Meron po kaming current and immediate need for soundproofing...  Very tight budget and baka pwede po patulong sa design kasi po meron po kami materials na pwede makuha and labor.  Room size po may be around 4x4 or 3x5 meters...  recording booth po for Voice over, etc.  Ty in advance po!   

game! post mo yung materials you have, as well as description of the room (is it in a house? what are the adjoining rooms? is it on the ground floor? what is above it?). also, specify your needs (you don't want to disturb the neighbors; it's for demo recording, etc.)

[d6ynast9y]

^yeah, those sound like acoustic tiles, not gypsum boards.

they're ok for residential acoustic treatment. but if you want absorption, you're better off buying rockwool or mineral fiber, especially if you're going to go through the trouble of building a frame and covering it with cloth. rockwool isn't that expensive, if you only need a few panels of 2'x4'. a roll of 50mm fiber glass that covers 18 sqm only costs 2k+, so you could do with a lot less. just be sure you don't buy thermal fiberglass, the kind that's covered/wrapped in silvery foil.

So they would help a little bit in treating my room? I really dont have a big budget yet, and im only renting the condo im in, so spending big on bass traps is not an option yet.  Ill probably go on with the acoustic tiles.  I wont build any frames, instead, ill just glue maybe 3 together then wrap it in cloth.  Thanks for the input! 

[peeves24]

So they would help a little bit in treating my room? I really dont have a big budget yet, and im only renting the condo im in, so spending big on bass traps is not an option yet.  Ill probably go on with the acoustic tiles.  I wont build any frames, instead, ill just glue maybe 3 together then wrap it in cloth.  Thanks for the input! 

cheapest option will be to use the arc measurement plugin for treatment. i've been using this for 2 months now and i can really hear vast improvements on my mixes on the first mixdown alone. dati inaabot ako ng ilang araw at mga 10 to 20 adjustments para lang mabalance lahat ng tracks, down to 3 na lang ako ngayon.

i'll be getting the krk ergo system this december.

[botbenz]

is the ARC system/plug-in free of charge?

[d6ynast9y]

cheapest option will be to use the arc measurement plugin for treatment. i've been using this for 2 months now and i can really hear vast improvements on my mixes on the first mixdown alone. dati inaabot ako ng ilang araw at mga 10 to 20 adjustments para lang mabalance lahat ng tracks, down to 3 na lang ako ngayon.

i'll be getting the krk ergo system this december.

woah, but its $600? maybe treating my room the DIY way would be cheaper.

[peeves24]

is the ARC system/plug-in free of charge?

free to try  care of your friendly torrent site. now that i know that it works for me, i'll invest on a hardware based solution - the krk ergo will also act as a control center for multi-monitor setups which im really wanting lately.

woah, but its $600? maybe treating my room the DIY way would be cheaper.

i tried but you really have to commit to treat (or remodel) your room or else dont try at all. im half way there, i followed sir mikep's suggestions from another thread but i found using arc enables me to mix in any room without treatments.

[telesgboy]

So they would help a little bit in treating my room?

Acoustical tile can be used to reduce the reverberation of the room.  However, you have to know the absorption coefficient of the material.  Using them in your room as acoustic treatment will make your room loose its high frequency character, approximately from 1 k up to 4 k.  There will be a marked boominess in the room.  So, you combine these tiles with hard surfaces such as plywood, gypsum or cement to give you a respectable frequency response.  Use about 30 to 45% of your walls covered with the tiles, and the rest as is, and I think you will be ok.  Stopping sound from going into another room or disturbing the neighbors?  That is another story.  What you need there is mass (cement, sandwiched gypsum, etc.) and covering all possible places where sound may seep or pass through.

Good luck in your endeavours.


(Sorry, I did not know this is my son's Philmusic account.  I should have used my mikep account.  Nevertheless, saka na lang.)

[d6ynast9y]

Acoustical tile can be used to reduce the reverberation of the room.  However, you have to know the absorption coefficient of the material.  Using them in your room as acoustic treatment will make your room loose its high frequency character, approximately from 1 k up to 4 k.  There will be a marked boominess in the room.  So, you combine these tiles with hard surfaces such as plywood, gypsum or cement to give you a respectable frequency response.  Use about 30 to 45% of your walls covered with the tiles, and the rest as is, and I think you will be ok.  Stopping sound from going into another room or disturbing the neighbors?  That is another story.  What you need there is mass (cement, sandwiched gypsum, etc.) and covering all possible places where sound may seep or pass through.

Good luck in your endeavours.


(Sorry, I did not know this is my son's Philmusic account.  I should have used my mikep account.  Nevertheless, saka na lang.)

Thanks for the info. Yup, I wasnt expecting any absorption of lower frequencies.  Same with soundproofing, the neighbours  don't mind since I dont have an acoustic drumset here.

Many thanks again!

[carleywarley]

Guys,i need help about sound proofing a room. Matagal ko nang pangarap na magkaroon ng sariling sound proof na room for drums/band practice/etc. Right now mga 20k ang budget ko for this. Pero kung pwede sana hindi na ire-remodel ang kwarto. Meron ba yung simpleng pieces of materials lang tapos isasalpak lang sa pader?

[skin]

Guys,i need help about sound proofing a room. Matagal ko nang pangarap na magkaroon ng sariling sound proof na room for drums/band practice/etc. Right now mga 20k ang budget ko for this. Pero kung pwede sana hindi na ire-remodel ang kwarto. Meron ba yung simpleng pieces of materials lang tapos isasalpak lang sa pader?

Kung isasalpak lang lang sa pader, that's acoustic treatment, not soundproofing. 

[carleywarley]

Kung isasalpak lang lang sa pader, that's acoustic treatment, not soundproofing. 

Sorry,baguhan lang kasi ako sa ganito. Pwede bang ma-reduce ang sound na lumalabas from inside to outside without altering the walls?

[skin]

Sorry,baguhan lang kasi ako sa ganito. Pwede bang ma-reduce ang sound na lumalabas from inside to outside without altering the walls?

Yes you can.  You need to create another wall within the room.  So it's a room within a room. 

[carleywarley]

Yes you can.  You need to create another wall within the room.  So it's a room within a room. 

Ahh! Now i get the idea. Thankyou so much! But may i ask what materials are needed? I tried to backread and i got confused. May mga abbreviations pang ginagamit na hindi ko alam ibig sabihin.

[BAMF]

Ahh! Now i get the idea. Thankyou so much! But may i ask what materials are needed? I tried to backread and i got confused. May mga abbreviations pang ginagamit na hindi ko alam ibig sabihin.

Gypsum boards and railings. But if the structure can take it, I'd rather use 4 inch thick hollowblocks.

[mikep]

You can achieve the same STC characteristics or points or probably better of CHB 100 mm or 4 inches with sandwich gypsum or other types of wall boards + glass fiber + metal studs.  Google the net and you will find these methods of construction.

Hope this helps.

[carleywarley]

Nagpakuha ako ng quotation from an architect that knows soundproofing. The whole process cost about 100k which is ridiculous. The room isn't even that large. Right now alam ko naman yung mga materials,but the problem is,sino ang gagawa. Baka may kilala kayo na marunong gumawa?

[titser_marco]

Hi! I know that this is a DIY thread, but I was wondering if you guys could point me to this PM member who was advertising studio baffles some time ago? I need baffles for a studio project I have and would like to contract him to create some baffles for me. Thanks!

[hamsterjamster]

@carley: how big is your room? if you dont wanna spend on acoustic tiles on ceiling framing, you can clad the walls with acoustic panels or yung parang egg crate foams..then put a rag on your floor..that should help. you can also clad the door and make sure there's not much gap between the floor line and the bottom of the door or you can have another door to your studio upon entrance from your existing door..parang may chamber pa..

[albert_n16]

I'm building my home theatre room and I find this forum very helpful and a very good resource for diy cheap acoustic treatments and soundproofing. Much of the questions are for studios but I think acoustic design can be applied on home theatres as well.

Room plan.


Plan for sound proofing:
 a) cover entire wall as (Wall + 1" air gap + 12mm gypsum + 2" 48kg density glass fiber + 9mm gypsum)

Plan for acoustic treatment"
 a) 4 - 2' x 8' bass traps made from 4" 48kg density glass fiber

For acoustic treatment, should I surround the inner wall, floor to ceiling, with 48kg density glass fiber + cloth or just make 2' x 4' panels and hang them at reflection points?

I've searched but couldn't get information on how to properly design acoustic treatment for a room. I'm afraid the room will sound boomy if only high frequency is absorbed.

[skin]

^Are the floors carpeted?  That would help a lot in sound treatment.

[albert_n16]

Floor is Granite Tiles but fully covered with carpet.