Isolating room or sound proofing your room?

[XLayaR]

Hey guys, gonna set up my studio soon. Now my main prob is I can't decide if I should build a small sound isolation chamber-like room within my studio room, or just pad and sound proof the room.

 

[blueprintstudios]

go electronic DI

e drum kit
line 6.
and the only thing left is vocals.

 

[turbochicken]

depends on what you wana do, jam, audio post or simple recording.

if live jam, then the above suggestion is your best bet.

 

[lethalmaus]

why dont you post the size/specs of room, your equipment list and the type of production you wanna do. Home studio or semi pro? If overall studio size is small youre better off without the 'chamber' (regardless for drums or vocals)...too many early reflections screwing up your sound. Avoid parallel walls, 90 degree angles and calculate your room modes to check which are the resonant/problem frequencies.
http://www.bobgolds.com/Mode/RoomModes.htm - this is an online room mode calculator easy to use...... www.gearsluts.com or www.prosoundweb.com have got awesome acoustic resources.

 

[whitepen]

Can I ride your thread to ask a question?

Do insulation boards help to soundproof? I know of someone who sells insulation boards and she told me insulation boards can help to reduce the sound, but she says they are not the actual soundproofing boards. And insulation boards are much cheaper...

 

[lethalmaus]

if the boards are made of compressed rockwool or similar, they do control sound leak to a degree (broad frequency spectrum)... This is depending on how you install them. The chipboard or foam types (even sonnex and pro acoustic panels) dont help in containing sound..they absorb the higher frequencies and bass will still rumble...what is the degree of sound proofing (sound containment) you need? If you are playing speakers at a medium level and dont want to disturb your neighbours use the compressed rockwool option and cover as much space as you can.

Professional studios build walls (mainly gypsum+ rockwool) within walls and 'float' the floor to achieve maximum sound isolation. Imagine a decoupled box within a box..(inner walls not touching outer to avoid structure bourne sound transmission). Obviously difficult for 'semi-pro' studios.

IF your room is too 'dead' it also not good for studio work and you can add wood panels/ diffusors later.Remember that SOUNDPROOFING needs to be treated separately from ACOUSTIC TREATMENT.