Snarl 12/8 wrote:I believe Nick Sevilla's mixing room has no "treatment," per se, although it was carefully constructed from the studs up to sound good. I've always wanted to ask him to talk more about it. He's had good results in there too.
Hi,
My room is a converted garage, the construction is from 1951, and we took it down to the frame.
Changes included making the ceiling open up, hugging the original roofline, and not using a fake flat ceiling. This made for more unequal reflections coming from the ceiling.
The walls and ceiling were built as a one layer isolation treatment, which was as follows, from the outside wall in:
Rockwall, 3/8"
Original wall frame reinforced from every 24" to every 12" having a vertical stud.
Insulation batting rated at 31dB of isolation.
1lb/sq ft mass loaded vynil. We put it on every wall and the ceiling, completely covering everything, except for the holes for electrical conduit. There were about 500lbs of it total.
Auralex channel frames, made of steel, for hanging the next layers. This was every 16" vertically, all over the walls and ceiling.
Double layer of standard drywall, mounted on the Auralex channels. This decoupled the inner wall surfaces from the vynil and the outer walls, and created more isolation.
We also used flexible caulking, which helps dampen vibrations between drywall edges, furthering the isolation a little bit more.
The floor was done floated, with special rubber u channels that support the floor beams. 2"x6" floor beams every 16"; and regular flooring afterwards, I.e. plywood subfloor, followed by moisture barrier and IKEA wood flooring on top.
I measured the original garage before doing this treatment, and got a difference of 42dB isolation, which was close to my goal of 45dB. If I had needed more than this, it would have gotten ridiculously expensive, requiring a double wall construction to get only 6-8dB more isolation.
As to room treatment, as in acoustic panels, after using the room for about 10 months, I installed some Auralex foam and a wood frame behind the speakers, to lessen the reflections coming from the walls back to the listening position.
Other than having furniture all along the back wall, there is no other treatment. The room is a nice combination of live sound inside, with the added convenience of isolation from the outside world.
Cheers!
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.