Studio Build/expansion

Skywalker

Hey there everyone.

I'm in the process of building another room in my studio and need your opinions/advice on some materials that I'm looking at using.

Let me give you a brief run-down of the setup. (I'll try and keep it short and sweet cos I tend to ramble a bit ?)

I've previously built 3 rehearsal rooms with the help of some friends and Auralex's "Acoustics 101" in an unused section of one of our warehouses where I work. We followed as closely as possible the guidlines and suggestions of the pros as to which materials to use etc. (Obviously also trying to keep within our budget :?) and we're happy with what we came out with.

Here's the thing though. In planning this "new" room I started to look at alternate materials to use instead of "rockwool" (You know, the fibreglass stuff that itches like crazy and is a pain in the butt to work with ?) and I came across a product called Soundboard or Homasote - very similar by the looks of it to a product our company sells called insulation board or softboard. I can get this stuff a helluva lot cheaper than the fibreglass "bats" that Sagex/Isover sell which is obviously a huge plus. I've checked out a few sites to get specs and more info on the product and I'm still not sure if it's right thing to use. I've basically built the framework of the room as soild as possible and will be building another room inside that using timber frames,MDF and either fibrglass bats or multiple layers of insulation board stacked together to fill the cavities in between the timber frames.

My first reaction to the insulation board was that it would work because of the fact that it is quite dense,yet softish and seems absorbant enough to ,well, absorb sound going through the walls. The timber frames are about 70mm thick so I'd need to fill that up with either insulation board or fibrglass bats.

Here are a few links to check out:
http://www.homasote.com/Catalogs/2006/Homasote-Wall-Assemblies.pdf
http://www.masonite.co.za/products/downloads/softboard.pdf
http://www.isover.co.za/Product-Range/pdf/STONEWOOL/INSULBOARD.pdf

What say the people??? :-\

AlanRatcliffe

Insulboard and Owens Corning Rockwool are the same thing - what the industry calls "Mineral wool" or Stone wool. The itchy stuff you are thinking of is low density fibreglass (Aerolite/"Think Pink"). Mineral wool is great stuff for insulation, not quite as good as rigid fibreglass (not to be confused with Aerolite!) at absorbing broad frequencies, but still very good and cheaper. So Insulboard would work well.

Homosote is a decoupling method for mounting your gypsum boards to the studs instead of using Z-channel. You mount the Homosote to the studs and the gypsum to the homosote.

Softboard is great for a really tight budget, but is very limited in sound control, particularly at lower frequencies. It's usually used in place of gypsum, directly on a wooden frame over (or even directly to) masonry. Used primarily inside a room to control reflections a little, especially with small holes drilled to act as Heimholz resonators/extra absorption surface (think of the stuff used in school music rooms), it does offer a little extra soundproofing, but that's not it's main purpose and most importantly is very durable and takes paint without losing anything. Far from ideal though.

So Homosote is an extra layer, softboard is instead of gypsum and you still need rockwool or rigid fibreglass.

Skywalker

Sweet! Thanks Alan 8)

I'll be using softboard then instead of rubber sheeting and strips (which are bloody pricey) as part of the layers in my walls. Thankfully I've got a connection at Sagex aswell to get the proper mineral fibre insulation for the wall cavities at very resonable prices. I'll have to keep putting a few more pennies in the piggy bank though :?. Homosote and softboard/insulation board look like the same thing though - or not???? ???

I've used the softboard and masonite's random drilled panels(which are no longer made BTW) to make my own "diffusers" for the studio. I'm looking at doing a mixed material kinda thing for this new room with softboard and profiled mdf similar to these:

http://www.acousticwoodsystems.com/products.html

Anyone here interested in having some made as an experiment??? I'd dig to check this out and do a few tests etc. :bopping:

I've got some of the Auralex foam on the walls of 2 of my rooms which look way cool but are damn expensive ☹ DIY rocks if you have the right info and do it right!

Back onto the construction side of things again quickly.
I am able to get different thicknesses etc of MDF way cheaper than gypsum board. Would this be ok to use for layers on the walls and ceiling etc? I tend to think it would be ok due to it's density and stability/rigitity :-\

AlanRatcliffe

Skywalker wrote Homosote and softboard/insulation board look like the same thing though - or not???? ???

I think the homosote is lower density. Certainly looks it.

I'm looking at doing a mixed material kinda thing for this new room with softboard and profiled mdf similar to these:

They look more like slot resonators, so probably more of a room treatment than soundproofing. Would work well for ceiling clouds.

I've got some of the Auralex foam on the walls of 2 of my rooms which look way cool but are damn expensive

Auralex does look good but is way too pricey and quite honestly a rigid fibreglass panel trap performs better.

I am able to get different thicknesses etc of MDF way cheaper than gypsum board. Would this be ok to use for layers on the walls and ceiling etc? I tend to think it would be ok due to it's density and stability/rigitity :-\

Maybe too heavy for a ceiling, but will work well for walls. Actually, might also be too heavy to mount on Homosote or channelling. I doesn't matter if your inner wall flexes a bit - the two layers of rockwool absorb the retransmitted soundwaves before they reach the outer barrier. In fact, a bit of flex is a good thing for the acoustics inside the room - because the walls then absorb some of the sound and act as a bit of a bass trap.