A Great Guide To Soundproofing Your Home Studio

Home studios are almost expected in the modern home. Whether installed as part of the “man cave” or for family entertainment, the home studio can see many hours of entertainment and noise. There are many reasons to soundproof the home studio. Part of the reason is to keep noise from polluting the rest of the house. Not only can music rouse the neighbors, but movies and parties can make a lot of racket, too. In addition soundproofing, whether it is wood cladding or foam baffles, improves the acoustics in the home studio. This will maximize the depth of sounds, making the most of highs and lows and reducing feedback and clutter. Here are some pointers for soundproofing your home studio.

Structures

Most experts will say that to achieve the best soundproofing for your studio, you need to build a “structure within a structure.” This is often accomplished by using products like wood cladding to create a false floor. Trapped air is one of the best tools for soundproofing, and by building a false floor with air sealed beneath, you can greatly increase the soundproofing in that room. This is especially help with those rooms that are upstairs.

In addition, false walls and ceiling will improve the soundproofing. It can get rather expensive, but one of the more affordable materials is timber. It can give you great results quickly, without as much expenditure, if you use less expensive timber.

Materials

Most people assume that the use of foam materials is the best way to accomplish their goals. However, while egg crate foam may make the sound better within the room, it is not that useful for soundproofing. There is simply not enough mass to the foam to contain the sound and keep it from traveling throughout the house and into the neighboring areas.

Fiberglass sheets are moderately helpful with the soundproofing. What you need, though, are more substantial construction materials. Wood is the easiest to work with, and provides instant success.

Sound travels through the air, as well as through vibrations. Just like air, it will find its way through the weak spots in your room. Therefore, any windows or doors will require special attention. Most doors have a rating of only 15dB, meaning that a lot of sound will escape through your doors.

Interior walls are also notoriously weak when it comes to blocking noise. The typical interior wall does not have any insulation in it, but is made up of studs with drywall on each side. This can actually act as an amplifier for sound within the rooms.

In addition to creating trapped air spaces in the room and using solid surfaces, you can replace hollow core doors with solid doors. This will help, but you also need to make sure the seals around the door are solid, or the sound will leak out or into the room. For windows, make sure you have double glazed windows with proper insulation.

Read More