General HIFI > Room Treatments & Tweaks

Building a music room

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springcreek:
Hi all

It has been a dream of mine for many years to build a room where the family and I could enjoy music together. As in many households my audio gear used to be in the main living room along with the TV, toys and was right next to our dinning room and kitchen. Great for background music, not so great for dedicated listening where you can let yourself go and enter the music. The volume I could listen at was always limited, not that I listen that loud, though as we all know there is a system dependant volume at which music happens, below which our emotions just aren't as engaged. And given I have kids, by the time I got to listen in the evening the music had to be turned down to radio levels. I mostly didn't listen through this period because I couldn't get into the music. My gear at the time didn't help  :(

I thought I'd share my journey since that point, hopefully it is informative or at least midly entertaining  :D

So we decided to build a music room as part of a general house extension. I read all I could on room acoustics and we looked for a builder that we were happy to work with and hopefully didn't think some of my plans were too crazy  :o I had a list of requirements that I wanted incorporated if possible. Most notably I didn't want a really small room and it had to be a nice space to be in with the family. If possible I wanted the dimensions to conform to Golden Ratio and I wanted to sound proof the room as much as possible. I wanted to be able to listen at a level that I found enjoyable without disturbing the family or waking the kids at night. I also wanted to screen outside noise as much as possible. From what I had read dedicated lines from the meter box were a good idea and to have them run in a different part of the roof to other wiring and electronics. I also wanted it to be kid friendly as I often do much of my listening with the kids (only time I get some days  ;D).

Lots of meetings with the builder and draftsman and a few sets of plans later we came up with a design, though not quite Golden Ratio, it was a good compromise given the space we had to work with, cost and overall house design. The room would be approximately 4m x 6m x 2.4m, though there would need to be a bulkhead on one side as to get the room width we needed to build right to the edge of the roof line. I wish I could have made bulkhead into a great big bass trap, but wife did not like the idea at all  :o. Not perfect dimensions (bigger and higher would have been better) but not too bad.

Well after the plans were finalised and approve and we had saved the cash we kicked off in mid 2009.

More to come including pics  ;D

kajak12:
i will be keeping a close eye on this thread one lucky man you are

treblid:
More pics... From the ground up, that must be really satisfying!!!

springcreek:
Thanks guys  ;D Ceratinly a big investment in audio. The total budget for the extension would have been over $150K  :o

Soundproofing
The room was built on a separate slab from the rest of the house, though it is shared with the laundry, storage room and study. I looked at all the available sound proofing treatments and had discussions with various people who had used them in setting up both domestic audio and video rooms and studios. There were several good options, but due to convenience, cost and efficacy we chose Green Glue sandwiched between two layers of plasterboard. The Green Glue attenuates sound by converting it to heat and decouples both plasterboard sheets allowing for poor transmission of sound. The glue stays quite soft and gooey over time. http://www.ultrafonic.com.au/Shop/cat/1/pid/3/Sound-Proofing/Green-Glue-Noiseproofing-Compound.htm

I had investigated some of the more soundproof versions of plasterboard that are available now. Talking to a few people that built rooms using it had commented the rooms had a harder sound once these products were installed (I have not heard any myself). We also used insulation within the wall cavity and ceiling. I did want bass to escape to some degree and hopefully be attenuated in the process rather than being completely trapped within the room.

In order to ensure that the room was well soundproofed required sealing all available openings. To this end we needed to seal around lights, power outlets and wall switches with a special compound recommended by the importer of green glue. This required all the switches and outlets to be mounted on spacers that protruded about 5 cm into the room, compared to normal flush mounting.

The door that leads into the room and a second door that leads into the study were both solid core. Initially I tried sealing the outer door with cheap soft rubber made by Raven, which did not work that well. It attenuated the sound to some degree, but nowhere near as much as I had hoped. In the end I had to fork out for a dedicated acoustic door seal made by Raven. I comprises of a rubber seal that it permanently mounted in the normal door frame within its own aluminium frame. We used the accompanying Raven door seal that is attached to the bottom of the door and is activated when the door is closed. The mechanism drops a fairly substantial seal that is compressed against the floor. This worked very well. Total cost of the seal was around $300, well worth it. Only hassle is the mechanism when retracted does make a snapping noise, no matter how slowly I shut the door (and it can wake our baby!), though I can use the outer glass door it is late at night.
http://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/ravenweb.nsf/e4e76a8b53a2e90de925734e0029390a/7750ef91e428c5b7e925734e002546fe!OpenDocument

For the glass window and sliding glass door we used heavy double glassing. I would have preferred to use VLam Hush by Viridian though it was out of our budget. The heavy double glassing works well for attenuation and insulation during those cold Canberra Winters.
http://www.viridianglass.com/Products/vlam-hush/default.aspx?ProductType=Specifier
I include these links not to advocate particular products, but in the interest of being helpful.

The net result is a well soundproofed room that allows me to play music at satisfying levels without disturbing the family, though I don’t play loud rock and orchestral music late at night. And you would never know it has been done, so it fits with our aesthetic criteria. ;D

More to come including pics.

zenelectro:

--- Quote from: springcreek on June 01, 2012, 12:37:01 PM ---Thanks guys  ;D Ceratinly a big investment in audio. The total budget for the extension would have been over $150K  :o

Soundproofing
The room was built on a separate slab from the rest of the house, though it is shared with the laundry, storage room and study. I looked at all the available sound proofing treatments and had discussions with various people who had used them in setting up both domestic audio and video rooms and studios. There were several good options, but due to convenience, cost and efficacy we chose Green Glue sandwiched between two layers of plasterboard. The Green Glue attenuates sound by converting it to heat and decouples both plasterboard sheets allowing for poor transmission of sound. The glue stays quite soft and gooey over time. http://www.ultrafonic.com.au/Shop/cat/1/pid/3/Sound-Proofing/Green-Glue-Noiseproofing-Compound.htm

I had investigated some of the more soundproof versions of plasterboard that are available now. Talking to a few people that built rooms using it had commented the rooms had a harder sound once these products were installed (I have not heard any myself). We also used insulation within the wall cavity and ceiling. I did want bass to escape to some degree and hopefully be attenuated in the process rather than being completely trapped within the room.

In order to ensure that the room was well soundproofed required sealing all available openings. To this end we needed to seal around lights, power outlets and wall switches with a special compound recommended by the importer of green glue. This required all the switches and outlets to be mounted on spacers that protruded about 5 cm into the room, compared to normal flush mounting.

The door that leads into the room and a second door that leads into the study were both solid core. Initially I tried sealing the outer door with cheap soft rubber made by Raven, which did not work that well. It attenuated the sound to some degree, but nowhere near as much as I had hoped. In the end I had to fork out for a dedicated acoustic door seal made by Raven. I comprises of a rubber seal that it permanently mounted in the normal door frame within its own aluminium frame. We used the accompanying Raven door seal that is attached to the bottom of the door and is activated when the door is closed. The mechanism drops a fairly substantial seal that is compressed against the floor. This worked very well. Total cost of the seal was around $300, well worth it. Only hassle is the mechanism when retracted does make a snapping noise, no matter how slowly I shut the door (and it can wake our baby!), though I can use the outer glass door it is late at night.
http://www.raven.com.au/domino/raven/ravenweb.nsf/e4e76a8b53a2e90de925734e0029390a/7750ef91e428c5b7e925734e002546fe!OpenDocument

For the glass window and sliding glass door we used heavy double glassing. I would have preferred to use VLam Hush by Viridian though it was out of our budget. The heavy double glassing works well for attenuation and insulation during those cold Canberra Winters.
http://www.viridianglass.com/Products/vlam-hush/default.aspx?ProductType=Specifier
I include these links not to advocate particular products, but in the interest of being helpful.

The net result is a well soundproofed room that allows me to play music at satisfying levels without disturbing the family, though I don’t play loud rock and orchestral music late at night. And you would never know it has been done, so it fits with our aesthetic criteria. ;D

More to come including pics.


--- End quote ---

Springcreek,

Sounds awesome! :) :)

As it appears you have found in your research, there is no magic bullet with soundproofing. You need isolation, mass and absorption.

If you want ideas, just look at recording studios - they go to extremes.   

One of my clients owns a rehearsal studio with 8 rooms. At peak hour, all full with bands going full throttle - that's a lot of noise
to isolate. Cost is also a huge consideration, so most of them use layers of gyprock - looks like you are on the right track.

The 2.4m ceiling is a -really- good idea. 

I'm converting my garage to a listening / live playing room. It certainly won't be nearly as comprehensive as yours but it's at the right end of the house and
noise is not a problem. Also 6m x 6m helps. Eventually I'll build a separate kit bungalow or something equivalent.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Z

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