VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Bob T]

I know. Look in the archives. Done that and and other web crawling but still have one teeny missing piece:

I have a guest room /den that needs to be my studio when it is not harboring a guest, which is almost all the time now that the nest is empty. It is a great space for my purpose because the exterior wall is faced with brick floor to ceiling height (it has the only window), the floor is carpeted concrete, one wall is mostly masonry fireplace floor to ceiling, another is opposite the garage, and the fourth wall is opposite the foyer, but it is also masonry to half its height. An empty bedroom is above. The house is a tri-level. I won’t be doing any full-blown production, it will be just me doing a lot of long form narration.

I am thinking hard about acquiring a soundproof window to mitigate noise from mowers, Harleys, power tools, chain saws, sirens etc. that enters through the window. That should handle outside noise from that direction, right?

The door to the room is on the wall with the fireplace. It is hollow so I will treat that by green gluing acoustic drywall to both sides and weather stripping.

My question is how to treat the wall between the room and the foyer? The whole space (about 11 x 12) is paneled in tongue and groove knotty pine. I only want to remove the paneling from that wall as a last resort, and I don’t want to glue anything directly to it if I don’t have to. I have read about clip and channel systems on new walls but can’t find anything about the technique on an existing wall. It that a viable solution?

My goal is to isolate from the world at large and household noises like appliances, and foot traffic and the opening and closing of the front door.

I would be extremely grateful for any advice.

Thanks in advance
- Bob T.

[Mike Sommer]

Hey Bob,

As timely as todays headlines, here is my Blog post from yesterday:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/2011/08/sound-isolation-and-your-studio.html

My first bit of advice is that whatever the room you use, make sure that it is fully dedicated to the function of the business, that it is indeed your "office."

If the room needs to double as a guest room, what do you do when you need to use it for a last minute audition at 12 AM when guest are in there?? In these hurry up inconsiderate times, when every job counts- these things need to be considered.

Also take advantage of the tax benefit of a fully dedicated home office. Doubling as a guest or laundry room, is a quick temporary solution. If this is truly your career you need to make it your career, that means a dedicated work space. Just my 2¢ on that.

Once you figure out which room you want to use, you need to set your mic up in that room turn everything on in the house (TV, Hi Fi, dishwasher, AC, washer and dryer- anything that makes noise including flushing the toilets and running the shower) go into the room, close the door and record the room. Then we can listen to what you've got, and what you need to deal with. This is you possible daily reality.

Long form narration is time consuming, and considering the pay, the first thing you want to do is make sure your room is as quiet and as efficient as possible to reduce punch ins and retakes because aunt Pauline flushed the toilet during the dysentery scene of King Rat. But you seem to understand this reality Bob. (This is for the benefit of other readers)

Total isolation can be easy and reasonably affordable, or it can require a lot of work and money. It all boils down to what the problems are. Mid and high frequencies are somewhat easy to deal with, frequencies below 150Hz or so can be a real problem. Luckily we only need to get you free and clear to about 75 or 80 Hz, the rest can be EQed out.

As for the window, changing it out can be a good solution, spendy but a solution. It also needs to be done right, without cutting corners. Often adding a glass storm window and sealing it, is enough cut down on a lot of the noise. And or covering the window hole from the inside with a 1/2 laminated piece of glass and sealing it will helps a lot too. Sometimes you find that after the window is sealed, that just as much of the noise is coming form the walls as the window. Windows that have more isolation STC's than the walls is a little pointless - if you know what I mean.

Fireplaces are sound ducts to the outside world. So you may want to reconsider this room just for that reason.

I would not bother trying to stick drywall to a hollow core door. Just remove it and the jamb, and replace it with a 20 minute fire door. I can give you more details on that if you contact me.

If a lot of noise is being transferred through interior walls you may need to take some big steps to improve their STC performance. I hate to have you pull off the T&G pine. If it's not glued on you maybe able to pull it off and replace it. Some old homes that have wood paneling as finish walls do not have any plaster or drywall behind them, which is a bad thing for isolation. So you'll need to pull it off insulate double drywall and replace the wood (OR work from the other side of the wall). If there is drywall or plaster there, you can drill a few holes, blow some insulation into the cavity patch the holes and add a layer of drywall or quiet rock and refinish. --You won't know until you get there.

Pictures and sound samples really help. It's the only way we know what you got.

You can always email me: MikeSommerVO@gmail.com or call 818-325-9769

Good luck.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[captain54]

I was in a room the other day that when the door was closed, your ears popped from the isolation. There were Grammy winners and hit albums all over the walls of this place. Michael Jackson recorded a few hits there. They have 4 floors of rooms, 12 rooms all told I believe

The room I was in was about 11 x17, carpeted floor, 703 covered every invh of every wall. No right angles. Can't remember the ceiling, but I do remember after a while of being in there my ears were ringing from the dead dead quiet.

When I went home to record in my room I couldn't believe the difference...I wanted to torch the place it was so disheartening.

[Mike Sommer]

There ya go folks.

When you're in a good smallish room like that and your ears pop when the door closes, usually it's because the room is air tight. Depending on which way the door closes it will either increase pressure or create a small vacuum.

Oh, and your ears have always been ringing, the background noise was just masking it.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Bruce]

Maybe Simon and Garfunkel were alluding to this in "The Sounds of Silence".


B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .