Installing a control room window in an existing wall

[Mankinda]

I acquired a (seemingly) nice 4-pane studio window (for free!) off Craigslist and I want to install this between my control room and the tracking room of my basement studio.

The control room is a finished large bedroom in a clean, dry basement. I want to open a wall between this room and the larger/tracking area of the basement. The wall is very basic: just some simple framing and sheet-rock.

I want to install some apropriate (and affordable) sound proofing materials into the rest of the wall, while I have it opened up for the window installation too.

I think fundamentally I could figure out how to cut a hole and fill it with a window and I'm somewhat handy, but I'm hoping you can tell me:
1. Basic steps/what to pay special attention to when installing a window like this...
2. What materials should be used to insulate the wall between studs
3. What should I do the the wall on the tracking side?

FYI - This is my home studio where I am working on building my portfolio of recordings but I'm not making real money out of it....yet. I want to be able to offer a few extra comforts and ?pro studio? elements like this to attract more clients

I dont expect to be able to get 100% soundproofing out of this wall... and I don't record extremely loud bands... I want it to be effective at keeping the monitors out of the mics on the tracking side and the vocals/acoustic guitar out of the control room...

This forum has already been a big help. Thank you for thinking this through with me...

[Mankinda]

2. What materials should be used to insulate the wall between studs

I should have asked what materials should be used around the window itself.

BTW there are no structural support posts in the wall...its all ad-hoc

I'm sure there is a lot to know and a lot that's already been said/written. I'm looking for some pointers... Pointing me to some of this pre-exising info would be really helpful too...

Thanks a lot.

[;ivlunsdystf]

Is the wall structural? If so, you can probably get away with no proper header (which would be two 2 x 4s running across the top of the window, with some plywood sandwiched in between, to prevent sagging from damaging the window someday)

And: are you 100% sure there's no plumbing or electrical within the wall near the intended window site? (if you built the wall yourself you can be the most sure)

Otherwise, just cover everything in the room (drywall dust is awful) and then get out the sawzall and 'ave at it!

[JWL]

If you just want to add the window to the existing wall, then take down all sheetrock where the window will go. You'll need to modify the framing to accomodate the new window. Install the new window into the new framing, then put sheetrock back up around the window.

It's important to make everything airtight around the window, airleaks = sound leaks.

Inside the wall framing, standard fluffy fiberglass insulation works fine. I prefer Ultratouch cotton if there is a dealer near you.

Do you have drywall installed on both sides of the framing? If so, you may not be maximizing your isolation.

I'd suggest getting Rod Gervais' book, "Home Recording Studio: Build It Like The Pros." It goes into great detail for both door and window installation, as well as most other aspects of studio construction.