AUDIO STUDIO DESIGN

BY

JIMBE-OKAFOR WILLIAM 2016

An audio studio is a controlled environment where external sound (noise) is not required therefore it is prevented from coming in and sound produced in thestudio is prevented from going out to disturb the environment To achieve this weapply a process called ISOLATION to create an air tight room with no audio leakage

After Isolation we would also like to listen to the true sound produced in the enclosed space but this might be hampered due to artifacts occurring in an enclosed space like reverberation build up phasing standing waves early reflections low frequency build ups uneven frequency absorption flutter echoes and so on To correct all these problems and get a relatively flat frequency response we apply a process called TREATMENT to our room

Figure 1 Deep Recording Studios (Record Production 2015)

We are given a space of 940m by 1150m with a height of 340m to design

a studio facility I have chosen to build a recording studio with a control room a live room and and a vocal booth It would also have a lounge where guests can

relax and have refreshments The reception and studios are placed in a strategic manner so you do not easily gain access to the rooms without being authorized All sound sensitive rooms would be built as rooms within rooms to get good isolation

Figure 2 Given Floor plan

When building studio rooms we have to be careful in choosing dimensions due to room modes Room modes occur when audio waves of mostly low frequency reflect from walls and are incident on the source waves to either get amplified or attenuated In order to contain room modes we choose from a set ofstandard room ratios like Salford University ratios Louden Sepmeyer and Bolt ratios The worst ratio to choose for a room is 111 which means a room where the height breadth and length respectively are the same

The height of the rooms would be the given 340m I have a rough idea of what I want my rooms sizes to be so I will use that to get a rough ratio and look for standard ratios that are close to my rough ratio and then apply the standard ratios where my height would be 340m

CONTROL ROOMFor my control room I am using Salford Ratio 1 155 188 to get a height breadth and length of 340m 527m and 639m respectively The lengths of the room would both be angled inwards symmetrically by 60 to further reduce standing waves The room is quite large this would help in reducing early

reflection problems associated with small rooms Smaller rooms cannot also handle the long wave lengths of low frequencies

LIVE ROOMFor the live room I chose the Louden ratio 1 128 154 to get a room of 340m 435m and 524m respectively The live room is also quite big so low frequencies can be produced properly and instruments can breathe before they are reflected from the walls The gear room is behind the live room for ease of moving equipment and instruments into the live room

VOCAL BOOTHIn the rough design the vocal booth has a height of 340m breadth of 272m andlength of 315m This does not meet any of the room ratio standards hence the shape would be changed to a symmetrical kite shape to eliminate parallel walls and after building we would drop the height by building a false roof

Figure 3 Plan with rooms

ISOLATION

Isolation of sound is influenced by 3 major factors Mass Airtight construction and Decoupled Structures

Mass simply means that a denser material has better isolation A material like concrete is denser than bricks which denser than say plywood The Choice of material used depends on a few factors like cost ease of construction weight capacity and so on

Airtight Construction refers to building a structure that does not allow sound toescape and this is done by blocking all air gaps Sound is propagated by air pressure movements which means that a small air gap between the studio and the outside environment would cause the air pressure to attempt stabilizing by flowing in the direction of lowest pressure similar to a punctured tire (Sayers 2000) Sealants like ldquoGreen Gluerdquo are used to line all corners doors air gaps electrical installations ducts and openings to prevent air leakage

Figure 4 Green Glue Sealant (Sound Isolation Company ND)

Decoupled Structures entails building a room within a room hence the studio isnot mechanically connected to the main room This helps a lot with low frequencyisolation in that the vibrations in one room would not transfer from one wall through the air to the next wall It should also be noted that a 4 inch brick wallwould transmit more sound than 2 ldquoType Xrdquo gypsum boards on double row of studs spaced one inch apart (US Department of Housing and Urban Development2009) Our first choice for the outer wall material would be concrete but due to cost and difficulty in laying a concrete wall on an existing space we would opt for using brick which has an STC rating of 45

STCSTC stands for Sound Transmission Class and it is a calculation that defines the ability of a material prevent transmission of sound STC of 60 and above means that the material has excellent sound proofing STC of 50 means very loud soundssuch as musical instruments or a stereo would faintly be heard At STC of 45

music systems and heavy traffic noise could be a potential problem hence we would still need a bit more isolation It is important to note that despite the importance and popularity of STC it also quite limited as it does not consider frequencies below 125Hz (Sound Proofing Company) The values of STC for most materials are available from most building material companies or their websites

ROOM MODESWe discussed room modes earlier and now we would use our room dimensions and a room mode calculator to get our axial tangential and oblique room modes

Figure 5 Types of room modes (GIK Acoustics ND)

It should be noted that the dimensions of the room are going to encourage the some frequencies that have the same wavelengths as the axial tangential or oblique dimensions of the room This means that if a room is 5 meters long and then a sound with a wavelength of 25 meters is produced at one end of the room the sound would be in audible (Axial) or faint at the center of the room being that half of 5 is 25 Axial modes occur between 2 opposing surfaces in a room Tangential modes occur between 4 surfaces and Oblique modes occur between 6 surfaces

In the results of the room mode calculations (RESULTS ATTACHED) we need to get room modes occurring evenly over the frequency range of 20Hz to 300Hz andnot repeating on the same frequencies (we do not consider above 300Hz because of shorter wavelengths and the room mode effects here are negligible) I also didcalculations using bad room ratios of 1 1 1 to give an example of the room modes we want to avoid (Bob Gold ND) If there are multiple room modes occurring about a specific frequency in our results then that frequency would be amplified and if there are no room modes in a frequency region that region would be attenuated

Fortunately we have decent results for all our rooms including the vocal booth (dark green represents very good while red represents very bad dimensions) I also used the calculator to check the Bolt area which verifies good room ratios as shown below

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

relax and have refreshments The reception and studios are placed in a strategic manner so you do not easily gain access to the rooms without being authorized All sound sensitive rooms would be built as rooms within rooms to get good isolation

Figure 2 Given Floor plan

When building studio rooms we have to be careful in choosing dimensions due to room modes Room modes occur when audio waves of mostly low frequency reflect from walls and are incident on the source waves to either get amplified or attenuated In order to contain room modes we choose from a set ofstandard room ratios like Salford University ratios Louden Sepmeyer and Bolt ratios The worst ratio to choose for a room is 111 which means a room where the height breadth and length respectively are the same

The height of the rooms would be the given 340m I have a rough idea of what I want my rooms sizes to be so I will use that to get a rough ratio and look for standard ratios that are close to my rough ratio and then apply the standard ratios where my height would be 340m

CONTROL ROOMFor my control room I am using Salford Ratio 1 155 188 to get a height breadth and length of 340m 527m and 639m respectively The lengths of the room would both be angled inwards symmetrically by 60 to further reduce standing waves The room is quite large this would help in reducing early

reflection problems associated with small rooms Smaller rooms cannot also handle the long wave lengths of low frequencies

LIVE ROOMFor the live room I chose the Louden ratio 1 128 154 to get a room of 340m 435m and 524m respectively The live room is also quite big so low frequencies can be produced properly and instruments can breathe before they are reflected from the walls The gear room is behind the live room for ease of moving equipment and instruments into the live room

VOCAL BOOTHIn the rough design the vocal booth has a height of 340m breadth of 272m andlength of 315m This does not meet any of the room ratio standards hence the shape would be changed to a symmetrical kite shape to eliminate parallel walls and after building we would drop the height by building a false roof

Figure 3 Plan with rooms

ISOLATION

Isolation of sound is influenced by 3 major factors Mass Airtight construction and Decoupled Structures

Mass simply means that a denser material has better isolation A material like concrete is denser than bricks which denser than say plywood The Choice of material used depends on a few factors like cost ease of construction weight capacity and so on

Airtight Construction refers to building a structure that does not allow sound toescape and this is done by blocking all air gaps Sound is propagated by air pressure movements which means that a small air gap between the studio and the outside environment would cause the air pressure to attempt stabilizing by flowing in the direction of lowest pressure similar to a punctured tire (Sayers 2000) Sealants like ldquoGreen Gluerdquo are used to line all corners doors air gaps electrical installations ducts and openings to prevent air leakage

Figure 4 Green Glue Sealant (Sound Isolation Company ND)

Decoupled Structures entails building a room within a room hence the studio isnot mechanically connected to the main room This helps a lot with low frequencyisolation in that the vibrations in one room would not transfer from one wall through the air to the next wall It should also be noted that a 4 inch brick wallwould transmit more sound than 2 ldquoType Xrdquo gypsum boards on double row of studs spaced one inch apart (US Department of Housing and Urban Development2009) Our first choice for the outer wall material would be concrete but due to cost and difficulty in laying a concrete wall on an existing space we would opt for using brick which has an STC rating of 45

STCSTC stands for Sound Transmission Class and it is a calculation that defines the ability of a material prevent transmission of sound STC of 60 and above means that the material has excellent sound proofing STC of 50 means very loud soundssuch as musical instruments or a stereo would faintly be heard At STC of 45

music systems and heavy traffic noise could be a potential problem hence we would still need a bit more isolation It is important to note that despite the importance and popularity of STC it also quite limited as it does not consider frequencies below 125Hz (Sound Proofing Company) The values of STC for most materials are available from most building material companies or their websites

ROOM MODESWe discussed room modes earlier and now we would use our room dimensions and a room mode calculator to get our axial tangential and oblique room modes

Figure 5 Types of room modes (GIK Acoustics ND)

It should be noted that the dimensions of the room are going to encourage the some frequencies that have the same wavelengths as the axial tangential or oblique dimensions of the room This means that if a room is 5 meters long and then a sound with a wavelength of 25 meters is produced at one end of the room the sound would be in audible (Axial) or faint at the center of the room being that half of 5 is 25 Axial modes occur between 2 opposing surfaces in a room Tangential modes occur between 4 surfaces and Oblique modes occur between 6 surfaces

In the results of the room mode calculations (RESULTS ATTACHED) we need to get room modes occurring evenly over the frequency range of 20Hz to 300Hz andnot repeating on the same frequencies (we do not consider above 300Hz because of shorter wavelengths and the room mode effects here are negligible) I also didcalculations using bad room ratios of 1 1 1 to give an example of the room modes we want to avoid (Bob Gold ND) If there are multiple room modes occurring about a specific frequency in our results then that frequency would be amplified and if there are no room modes in a frequency region that region would be attenuated

Fortunately we have decent results for all our rooms including the vocal booth (dark green represents very good while red represents very bad dimensions) I also used the calculator to check the Bolt area which verifies good room ratios as shown below

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

reflection problems associated with small rooms Smaller rooms cannot also handle the long wave lengths of low frequencies

LIVE ROOMFor the live room I chose the Louden ratio 1 128 154 to get a room of 340m 435m and 524m respectively The live room is also quite big so low frequencies can be produced properly and instruments can breathe before they are reflected from the walls The gear room is behind the live room for ease of moving equipment and instruments into the live room

VOCAL BOOTHIn the rough design the vocal booth has a height of 340m breadth of 272m andlength of 315m This does not meet any of the room ratio standards hence the shape would be changed to a symmetrical kite shape to eliminate parallel walls and after building we would drop the height by building a false roof

Figure 3 Plan with rooms

ISOLATION

Isolation of sound is influenced by 3 major factors Mass Airtight construction and Decoupled Structures

Mass simply means that a denser material has better isolation A material like concrete is denser than bricks which denser than say plywood The Choice of material used depends on a few factors like cost ease of construction weight capacity and so on

Airtight Construction refers to building a structure that does not allow sound toescape and this is done by blocking all air gaps Sound is propagated by air pressure movements which means that a small air gap between the studio and the outside environment would cause the air pressure to attempt stabilizing by flowing in the direction of lowest pressure similar to a punctured tire (Sayers 2000) Sealants like ldquoGreen Gluerdquo are used to line all corners doors air gaps electrical installations ducts and openings to prevent air leakage

Figure 4 Green Glue Sealant (Sound Isolation Company ND)

Decoupled Structures entails building a room within a room hence the studio isnot mechanically connected to the main room This helps a lot with low frequencyisolation in that the vibrations in one room would not transfer from one wall through the air to the next wall It should also be noted that a 4 inch brick wallwould transmit more sound than 2 ldquoType Xrdquo gypsum boards on double row of studs spaced one inch apart (US Department of Housing and Urban Development2009) Our first choice for the outer wall material would be concrete but due to cost and difficulty in laying a concrete wall on an existing space we would opt for using brick which has an STC rating of 45

STCSTC stands for Sound Transmission Class and it is a calculation that defines the ability of a material prevent transmission of sound STC of 60 and above means that the material has excellent sound proofing STC of 50 means very loud soundssuch as musical instruments or a stereo would faintly be heard At STC of 45

music systems and heavy traffic noise could be a potential problem hence we would still need a bit more isolation It is important to note that despite the importance and popularity of STC it also quite limited as it does not consider frequencies below 125Hz (Sound Proofing Company) The values of STC for most materials are available from most building material companies or their websites

ROOM MODESWe discussed room modes earlier and now we would use our room dimensions and a room mode calculator to get our axial tangential and oblique room modes

Figure 5 Types of room modes (GIK Acoustics ND)

It should be noted that the dimensions of the room are going to encourage the some frequencies that have the same wavelengths as the axial tangential or oblique dimensions of the room This means that if a room is 5 meters long and then a sound with a wavelength of 25 meters is produced at one end of the room the sound would be in audible (Axial) or faint at the center of the room being that half of 5 is 25 Axial modes occur between 2 opposing surfaces in a room Tangential modes occur between 4 surfaces and Oblique modes occur between 6 surfaces

In the results of the room mode calculations (RESULTS ATTACHED) we need to get room modes occurring evenly over the frequency range of 20Hz to 300Hz andnot repeating on the same frequencies (we do not consider above 300Hz because of shorter wavelengths and the room mode effects here are negligible) I also didcalculations using bad room ratios of 1 1 1 to give an example of the room modes we want to avoid (Bob Gold ND) If there are multiple room modes occurring about a specific frequency in our results then that frequency would be amplified and if there are no room modes in a frequency region that region would be attenuated

Fortunately we have decent results for all our rooms including the vocal booth (dark green represents very good while red represents very bad dimensions) I also used the calculator to check the Bolt area which verifies good room ratios as shown below

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Mass simply means that a denser material has better isolation A material like concrete is denser than bricks which denser than say plywood The Choice of material used depends on a few factors like cost ease of construction weight capacity and so on

Airtight Construction refers to building a structure that does not allow sound toescape and this is done by blocking all air gaps Sound is propagated by air pressure movements which means that a small air gap between the studio and the outside environment would cause the air pressure to attempt stabilizing by flowing in the direction of lowest pressure similar to a punctured tire (Sayers 2000) Sealants like ldquoGreen Gluerdquo are used to line all corners doors air gaps electrical installations ducts and openings to prevent air leakage

Figure 4 Green Glue Sealant (Sound Isolation Company ND)

Decoupled Structures entails building a room within a room hence the studio isnot mechanically connected to the main room This helps a lot with low frequencyisolation in that the vibrations in one room would not transfer from one wall through the air to the next wall It should also be noted that a 4 inch brick wallwould transmit more sound than 2 ldquoType Xrdquo gypsum boards on double row of studs spaced one inch apart (US Department of Housing and Urban Development2009) Our first choice for the outer wall material would be concrete but due to cost and difficulty in laying a concrete wall on an existing space we would opt for using brick which has an STC rating of 45

STCSTC stands for Sound Transmission Class and it is a calculation that defines the ability of a material prevent transmission of sound STC of 60 and above means that the material has excellent sound proofing STC of 50 means very loud soundssuch as musical instruments or a stereo would faintly be heard At STC of 45

music systems and heavy traffic noise could be a potential problem hence we would still need a bit more isolation It is important to note that despite the importance and popularity of STC it also quite limited as it does not consider frequencies below 125Hz (Sound Proofing Company) The values of STC for most materials are available from most building material companies or their websites

ROOM MODESWe discussed room modes earlier and now we would use our room dimensions and a room mode calculator to get our axial tangential and oblique room modes

Figure 5 Types of room modes (GIK Acoustics ND)

It should be noted that the dimensions of the room are going to encourage the some frequencies that have the same wavelengths as the axial tangential or oblique dimensions of the room This means that if a room is 5 meters long and then a sound with a wavelength of 25 meters is produced at one end of the room the sound would be in audible (Axial) or faint at the center of the room being that half of 5 is 25 Axial modes occur between 2 opposing surfaces in a room Tangential modes occur between 4 surfaces and Oblique modes occur between 6 surfaces

In the results of the room mode calculations (RESULTS ATTACHED) we need to get room modes occurring evenly over the frequency range of 20Hz to 300Hz andnot repeating on the same frequencies (we do not consider above 300Hz because of shorter wavelengths and the room mode effects here are negligible) I also didcalculations using bad room ratios of 1 1 1 to give an example of the room modes we want to avoid (Bob Gold ND) If there are multiple room modes occurring about a specific frequency in our results then that frequency would be amplified and if there are no room modes in a frequency region that region would be attenuated

Fortunately we have decent results for all our rooms including the vocal booth (dark green represents very good while red represents very bad dimensions) I also used the calculator to check the Bolt area which verifies good room ratios as shown below

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

music systems and heavy traffic noise could be a potential problem hence we would still need a bit more isolation It is important to note that despite the importance and popularity of STC it also quite limited as it does not consider frequencies below 125Hz (Sound Proofing Company) The values of STC for most materials are available from most building material companies or their websites

ROOM MODESWe discussed room modes earlier and now we would use our room dimensions and a room mode calculator to get our axial tangential and oblique room modes

Figure 5 Types of room modes (GIK Acoustics ND)

It should be noted that the dimensions of the room are going to encourage the some frequencies that have the same wavelengths as the axial tangential or oblique dimensions of the room This means that if a room is 5 meters long and then a sound with a wavelength of 25 meters is produced at one end of the room the sound would be in audible (Axial) or faint at the center of the room being that half of 5 is 25 Axial modes occur between 2 opposing surfaces in a room Tangential modes occur between 4 surfaces and Oblique modes occur between 6 surfaces

In the results of the room mode calculations (RESULTS ATTACHED) we need to get room modes occurring evenly over the frequency range of 20Hz to 300Hz andnot repeating on the same frequencies (we do not consider above 300Hz because of shorter wavelengths and the room mode effects here are negligible) I also didcalculations using bad room ratios of 1 1 1 to give an example of the room modes we want to avoid (Bob Gold ND) If there are multiple room modes occurring about a specific frequency in our results then that frequency would be amplified and if there are no room modes in a frequency region that region would be attenuated

Fortunately we have decent results for all our rooms including the vocal booth (dark green represents very good while red represents very bad dimensions) I also used the calculator to check the Bolt area which verifies good room ratios as shown below

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 6 Bolt area for Control Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 7 Bolt area for Live Room (AMROC ND)

Figure 8 Bolt area for Vocal Booth (AMROC ND)

Our vocal booth is not in the Bolt area but based on our dimensions this was expected

RT60When a sound wave reflects off a surface it is known as reverberation RT60 is the time a reverberant sound takes to decay by 60 decibels (dB) of its original intensity (Hubber Runstein 2010 p71) We do not consider the time the sound wave takes to fully dissipate because this could take a very long time and when asound wave has decayed by 60 dB it is probably inaudible to humans already

For my rooms I have chosen RT60 of 02 seconds for my vocal booth because I want a flat dry sound where I have absolute control of the reverberation

For the control room I have chosen an RT60 of 05 seconds because I want a realistic sound without the artifacts of much reverberation

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

For the live room I have chosen RT60 of 07 seconds because I want a bit of natural reverberation added to the recordings for that ldquoliverdquo feel

The Live room would retain its dimensions but the control room has changed to a trapezoid so the new dimensions have been calculated to give H = 340m B

1 =

461m B2 = 526m L

= 642m and floor Area = 3157m2

Vocal Booth is now a symmetrical Kite shape and dimensions have been calculated to be H = 340m B = 305m L = 315m and floor area = 8977m2

Applying these values to our RT60 Calculator with brick as material we get our initial RT60 values

Figure 9 RT60 of Control Room before treatment

The RT60 formula is give as RT60 = 0161 x Volume Sabin

Where Sabin (Sa) is one unit of absorption area multiplied by absorption coefficient of the material These values are taken at different frequencies for the volume of the enclosed space and the average RT60 is calculated

Absorption Coefficient is the amount of sound energy absorbed by a material relative to that which is reflected It is a value between 0 and 1 where 0 is no absorption and 1 is full absorption (D Huber R Rustein 2010 p102)

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 10 RT60 of Live Room before treatment

Figure 11 RT60 of Vocal Booth before treatment

For the Control room we have RT60 of 202 seconds 188 seconds for the live room and 151 seconds for the vocal booth These values are far from the desired so we would have to apply more isolation We can also see that rooms are heavy in the low frequencies which means we would require a lot of sub frequency treatment

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

ROOM CONSTRUCTION

WALLSStudio walls can range from simple layering like layering the existing wall with a wall of another material like plywood or gypsum board to complex layering like leaving a space between the existing wall then layering the new wall with gypsumboards on staggered studs with fiberglass foam and air-gap in between then layering the inner wall with vinyl mat and gluing another layer of gypsum board ofa different thickness Layering a wall with different materials or same material of different thicknesses greatly impede the transmission of sound because all these materials resonate at different frequencies hence they do not encourage the resonance of the material before or after them as the sound waves pass through

Use of nails should be minimized because they could create air gaps rather use insulation glue Using acoustic sealant like green glue between walls also has a dampening effect

Isolation clips could also be used to connect studs to the wall They help for easy attachment and also act as a dampener between the inner wall and the stud

Figure 12 A Sound proof wall with an STC of 66 (sound proofing company)

The type of wall used would depend on the RT60 desired for the room the cost the function of the roomthe type of music being produced (folk or death metal) the type of building (is it a concrete building in a busy city with people living above and below or a country home with lots of farm land in the vicinity)

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

WINDOWSSince there are two walls it also makes sense to have two windows that are not mechanically connected to each other (air gap in between) The window arrangement should be the same thickness as the wall for best results and shouldbe slightly angled to reduce flutter echoes between the glass panes If the glass panes are different thicknesses it would further reduce sound transmission due to the resonance phenomenon stated when discussing walls The frame holding the glass would cushioned to reduce vibrations and sealed to ensure it is airtight You should also place a desiccant like silica gel in between the glasses during construction to prevent humidity build up

Figure 13 Window Construction (Sayers 2000)

Figure 14 Window Construction Detail (Sayers 2000)

CEILINGS

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

The methods of constructing ceilings are similar to those of walls It should be noted that if using angled ceilings they should be angled up and away from the mix position which means the back of the room should be higher than the front You should also minimize perforating the ceiling to run wires for lights and other electrical appliances and if any conduits are made they should be checked and properly sealed Below is the diagram of a ceiling arrangement with very high isolation but it should be noted that it would be quite costly and it would take a lot of vertical space

Figure 15 Highly Effective Ceiling Isolation (sound proofing company)

FLOORSFor proper isolation we use floating floors which means the studio floor would nothave contact with the building floor The new floor could be mounted on Neoprenepads U-Boats spring mountings or resilient bars which all have absorptive properties We could then lay a concrete floor or wooden floor (on studs) or both depending on cost and extent of isolation required

Figure 16 Floating Floor on Spring mountings (Sayers 2000)

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 17 Floating floors on black U-Boats (Dream Screen ND)

Note that in this type of room constructions the walls the roof and the floors would not be in contact They would be insulated and isolated from each other with absorbent materials like vinyl and spaces between them would sealed with acoustic sealant

DOORSDoors are a primary source of sound leakage so they must to close properly without any air gaps This can be done by using door seals

Figure 18 Door Seal for sides (SIM-Doors ND)

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 19 Bottom Door Seal (SIM-Doors ND)

If using double doors ensure to treat the air cavity between the doors by placing acoustic foam on the inner faces of both doors That way we do not get any resonance between the doors being amplified

For isolation of our rooms we would leave air space then 12mm plasterboard on studs (because it helps with absorption at low frequencies) with fiberglass insulation for the walls and frac12 inch gypsum board For windows we use laminated plate glass For our ceiling we use wood decking for the live room because it would help with the sound being that it absorbs more low frequenciesFor the floors I am using wood parquet on concrete because it has an even absorption across the frequencies I like the aesthetics Putting my dimensions and absorption coefficients of my selected materials into given RT60 Calculator we get the following tables below

First ResultsFor the live room we have 0164 seconds for the control room we have 0240 seconds and for the vocal booth we have 0163 seconds My RT60 values are far less than desired and they are uneven across the frequency spectrum especially at the low end

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 20 Treated Live room 1

Figure 21 Treated Control Room 1

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 22 Treated Live Room 1

Second ResultsI removed the fiberglass insulation added appropriate sizes of ceramic blankets to the roofs of the live room and the control room because it absorbs high frequencies and would help even out the absorption in the frequency spectrum I used a thinner sonnex foam to pad the walls of the vocal booth to get my desired RT60 and dropped the roof to give the vocal room a vertical height of 28 meters Note that this changes the area and volume of the room

RT60 0f the live room is now 0658 seconds while the control room is 0533 seconds and the vocal booth is 0203 seconds These values are better suited to my design

In the live room there is poor absorption at 125Hz

In the Vocal booth there is poor absorption above 1KHz

In the Control room poor absorption below 250Hz

All these irregularities would have to be treated

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 23 Treated Live Room 2

TREATMENT

Treatment deals with ensuring you have a relatively flat frequency response in your room It also relates to having an even loudness in the room avoiding accumulated or focused reverberation from the walls avoiding unwanted hums and noise and avoiding early reflections from the walls

The main devices used in treatment are absorbers and diffusers We have high frequency absorbers which are soft materials like foam or fiberglass which have good absorption at higher frequencies It should also be noted that high and mid frequencies are directional from their source while sub frequencies are not A good place to place high frequency absorbers is the side-walls close to the monitors so sound does not reflect from the side wall to the audio engineer causing phasing or flutter echoes

We also have Mid frequency absorbers like fiber board another very good example of a low-mid absorber is the Helmholtz resonator It could be likened to abottle with some cotton wool inside absorbing and converting the sound energy ofsound waves passing over it It is also called slats or slot resonator because it canbe locally made by build a wall with slats of timber separated by slots

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 24 Treated Vocal Booth 2

Figure 25 Treated Control Room 2

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Figure 26 Acoustic foam (Auralex ND)

Figure 27 Helmholtz Resonator on flooring of home theater (Audio Excellence ND)

Figure 28 Slats Helmholtz Resonator (Sayer 2000)

In our bottle example if we change the bottle size and blow over it sound changes This means we can also change or tune the frequencies the Helmholtz resonator absorbs by varying the depth of the slots (Sayer 2000)Low frequency absorbers are bass traps usually placed at room corners where

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

there is bass build up Some are made of ply wood panels that resonate at low frequencies Insulation is attached to the panels which is now enclosed in a chamber When a sound with low frequency makes the panel resonate it is absorbed by the insulation in the chamber

Figure 29 Bass Traps (Huber Runstein 2010 P 107)

DIFFUSERSAny surface used to scatter sound waves so that they do not all go in one direction and cause a build up could be called a diffuser A diffuser could be a book shelf with books of different sizes or a rough undulating wall A good place to place a diffuser is on the ceiling or at the back wall of a studio control room so that the sound from the studio monitors do not reflect directly to the front

Figure 30 A simple Diffuser at SAE Institute

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

CONCLUSION

My live room has high bass absorption so I would put some drapery and fiberglass board on the side walls to even out the frequencies and to reduce standing waves being that I used a rectangular room

My vocal booth has a longer RT 60 on the low frequencies and has steep corners due to its kite shape so I would place bass traps in the corners and in the cavity above the false roof I would also place a diffuser on the wall to take care of reverberation going towards the mic position

The Control room has longer RT60 on the high frequencies so I would place fiberglass boards on the walls to take care of that I would also place acoustic foam on the front end of the side walls to handle early reflections from the studio monitors and I would place diffusers at the back walls as well

The results in this design are not definite due to other factors that were not taken into consideration like objects to be placed in the rooms sound travel with temperature changes ventilation of the spaces and that design calculations wereconsidered below 125Hz but the design would give one a vivid understanding of the parameters that are relevant in acoustics the way sound waves behave in relation to materials and it would empower one to be able to solve one or two problems in isolation and treatment of a room

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

REFERENCES

Deep Recording Studios (No Date) Record Production Control room [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwrecordproductioncomdeep-recording-studioshtml [Accessed 25th March 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual [Online] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 22th March 2016]

Sound Isolation Company (No date) Green glue Sealant [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundisolationcompanycomsolutions-productsaccessories-2green-glue-sealant [Accessed 27th March 2016]

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (2009) Noise Guide Book [Online] Available from - httpswwwhudexchangeinforesource313hud-noise-guidebook [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a room [Online] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 27th March 2016]

GIK Acoustics (No Date) What are Room Modes Types of Room Modes [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwgikacousticscomwhat-are-room-modes [Accessed 3rd April 2016]

Bob Gold (No Date) Bob Golds Room Mode Calculator [Online] Available from ndash httpwwwbobgoldscomModeRoomModeshtm [Accessed 27th March 2016]

Andy Melcher (No Date) AMROC Room mode calculator Bolt Area [Online Image] Available from - httpsamrocandymeleu [Accessed 27th March 2016]

HUBER DM and RUNSTEIN RE (2010) Modern Recording Techniques 5th Ed United States of America Focal Press

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a wall Best Sound proofing wall solutions [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproofing-walls [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sayers J (2000) The Recording Manual Widow Construction [Online Image] Available from - httpjohnlsayerscomRecmanualindexhtm [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Sound proofing company (No Date) How to sound proof a ceiling Best Ceiling Solution [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwsoundproofingcompanycomsoundproofing-solutionssoundproof-a-ceiling [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Dream Screen (No Date) Dream Screen ProSilence rubber stud floater Floating floor on Uboat [Online Image] Available from - httpdreamscreennoproductsdreamscreen-u-boat-rubber-stud-floater

Soundproofing Company (No Date) Soundproofing installation Manualndash Doors Door Seals [OnlineImage] Available from - httpissuucomsoundproofingcompanydocsspc-doors-sim1e=0 [Accessed 5th April 2016]

Auralex (No Date) Acoustic foam [Online Image] Available from - httpauralexihostsolutionsnetacoustic_foam_wedgiesacoustic_foam_wedgiesasp [Accessed 7th April 2016]

Audio Excellence (No Date) Audioexcellence custom installations Helmholtz Resonator [Online Image] Available from - httpwwwaudioexcellencecomauportfolioprettyPhoto[media]18 [Accessed 10th April 2016]