Sound Proofing and Sound Treatment

[RedWallStudio]

Hello All. I am a newbie here looking for a bit of advice on sound proofing, control/treatment. I've found a few valuable threads and have read quite a bit on Ethan Winers site.. as well as John Sayers. So, I guess what I am looking for is some confirmation on my studio plans... before I start throwing money at it. Here are the particulars... sorry if its too much detail, but I have seen other threaders give too little, and they were told so. : )
My studio is going to be housed in a townhome garage that has an attached room that I am going to use as a control room. The garage is your typical 20 x 20 x 9h (I know, not optimal) and the control room is 10 x 18 x 9h. The control room is separated from the garage by a 2 x 6 framed and insulated drywalled wall with no window. My neighbors are separated from me by a 10" thick concrete foundation that also has a 2 x 4 drywalled and insulated wall attached to it (so 2x4 drywall wall, 10" concrete, then 2 x 4 drywall wall). My living space above the garage is separated from the garage by 2 x 10 joists that are insulated and drywalled. Here are the problems (as I see them anyhow) and my potential solutions.

1) I think my separation from my neighbors considering there is 10" of concrete will probably be very sufficient in most cases, so I am thinking sound proofing the walls adjacent to my neighbors may not be necessary. My lingering concern is the sub bass. Basically, If I get complaints, I was going to treat those walls with Mass Loaded Vinyl like Auralex Sheetblok. And if that doesn't work, it will be more drywall and another inner wall. Does anyone have experience with Sheetblok? Its expensive, just not sure if it works.

2) My wall between the live room and control room will probably be a problem. Its basically 2 x 6 timber contruction with 5/8" drywall and R-11 insulation. My plan is to treat the live room side with Sheetblok. I also plan on having the drum kit on riser that will decouple it from the concrete floor.

3) Live Room. Since it is basically a 20 x 20 x 9 room, I plan on treating the entire ceiling with 703 bass traps (hanging them about 6-8 inches off the ceiling on toggle bolts or I was thinking of using those drop ceiling hangers you can get at home depot (cheap!). I was going to leave the concrete floor "live" and reflective and just maybe put a few throw rugs here and there for asthetics. I plan on putting bass traps in all four corners and where the ceiling meets the walls. Kinda like this thread:
Treating Studio Rooms - pictures added
For the walls, I was planning on a mix of absorbers and reflectors (from Ethan Winers site) and figure a way to hang them about 4-6 inches off the surrounding walls without permanently attaching them. Then I can move them around and experiment with placement.

4) Garage Door. The garage door is steel construction, but It is insulated. I don't know what the R value is or how sound proof it will be.. but my guess is not much. Thankfully, my street outside will be seeing only car traffic, so no trucks etc. But I do need to consider sound leaking out and in. My plan was to make 5 four foot wide x 9 foot high absorbers that have auralex sheet blok on the back side. Then when I have a session, I would stand them all up next to each other in front of the garage door (on the inside of course), and that would make a sort of inner wall that would be 20 foot wide by 9 foot high. The garage door is one of my primary concerns.

5) Tracking Room. My control room is roughly 10' wide, by 18 feet deep, by 9 foot high. My console will go from left to right along the 10' dimension, about 3 feet away from the wall in front of it. My plan with the tracking room will be similar type of treatment as the live room. Bass traps in the corners and where the ceiling meets the walls. I also plan on building a large trap to be angled over the mix position. Lastly, I am looking for ideas for a diffuser on the back wall behind the mix position to break up the sound bouncing off the back wall. I'm not going to have a window between the tracking and live room because of contruction limitations. So Im going to put a couple of video cameras in the live room and connect them to a cheap computer in the tracking room).

Well, I think thats it. Sorry for such a long post.. especially for being my first post. As I said, I do have somewhat of a plan... just looking for confirmation that I am on the right path and that I there isn't anything that is missing from the plan. Thanks for all your help!

[Trancetones]

1) I think my separation from my neighbors considering there is 10" of concrete will probably be very sufficient in most cases, so I am thinking sound proofing the walls adjacent to my neighbors may not be necessary. My lingering concern is the sub bass. Basically, If I get complaints, I was going to treat those walls with Mass Loaded Vinyl like Auralex Sheetblok. And if that doesn't work, it will be more drywall and another inner wall. Does anyone have experience with Sheetblok? Its expensive, just not sure if it works.

2) My wall between the live room and control room will probably be a problem. Its basically 2 x 6 timber contruction with 5/8" drywall and R-11 insulation. My plan is to treat the live room side with Sheetblok. I also plan on having the drum kit on riser that will decouple it from the concrete floor.

3) Live Room. Since it is basically a 20 x 20 x 9 room, I plan on treating the entire ceiling with 703 bass traps (hanging them about 6-8 inches off the ceiling on toggle bolts or I was thinking of using those drop ceiling hangers you can get at home depot (cheap!). I was going to leave the concrete floor "live" and reflective and just maybe put a few throw rugs here and there for asthetics. I plan on putting bass traps in all four corners and where the ceiling meets the walls. Kinda like this thread:
Treating Studio Rooms - pictures added
For the walls, I was planning on a mix of absorbers and reflectors (from Ethan Winers site) and figure a way to hang them about 4-6 inches off the surrounding walls without permanently attaching them. Then I can move them around and experiment with placement.

4) Garage Door. The garage door is steel construction, but It is insulated. I don't know what the R value is or how sound proof it will be.. but my guess is not much. Thankfully, my street outside will be seeing only car traffic, so no trucks etc. But I do need to consider sound leaking out and in. My plan was to make 5 four foot wide x 9 foot high absorbers that have auralex sheet blok on the back side. Then when I have a session, I would stand them all up next to each other in front of the garage door (on the inside of course), and that would make a sort of inner wall that would be 20 foot wide by 9 foot high. The garage door is one of my primary concerns.

5) Tracking Room. My control room is roughly 10' wide, by 18 feet deep, by 9 foot high. My console will go from left to right along the 10' dimension, about 3 feet away from the wall in front of it. My plan with the tracking room will be similar type of treatment as the live room. Bass traps in the corners and where the ceiling meets the walls. I also plan on building a large trap to be angled over the mix position. Lastly, I am looking for ideas for a diffuser on the back wall behind the mix position to break up the sound bouncing off the back wall. I'm not going to have a window between the tracking and live room because of contruction limitations. So Im going to put a couple of video cameras in the live room and connect them to a cheap computer in the tracking room).

Well, I think thats it. Sorry for such a long post.. especially for being my first post. As I said, I do have somewhat of a plan... just looking for confirmation that I am on the right path and that I there isn't anything that is missing from the plan. Thanks for all your help!

1. No, MLV will not stop the subbass, I would build a wall in front of it.
2. If you want some additional isolation between the two rooms you can add some 5/8" rock to both sides. Better would be an extra layer on one side, then on the other side isolating channels then two layers of rock. Second option is also better because in the process of tearing apart one wall you can add extra insulation.
3. Thats sounds fine, take the time to do some before and after acoustic measurements then after round 1 of treatment, treat the problem frequencies.
4. I would build a wall in front of that Garage door, same wall as mentioned two layers of 5/8 or 1/2" rock, insulation, isochannel, two layers of rock. Remember air tightness is key, so use lots of caulk backing and acoustic caulk.
5. I would high end trap the back wall in the mix room with 703 and trap and diffuse the tracking room.

[RedWallStudio]

Thanks! Im going to see what kind of feedback I get from the neighbors before I start with heavy construction. Thanks for the info on the MLV too... god that stuff is expensive. As far as the garage door goes, I probably won't be able to build a wall in front of it.. it may still need to be used as a garage. So, I was thinking of making a panels that could be put in place (maybe with some type of rubber gasket to get a good seal) but removed if needed. I know that may be a pain to set up and tear down... but I don't have too many other choices. Thanks for the control room suggestions too!

[nosebleedaudio]

Soundboard before more sheetrock works very well.

[RedWallStudio]

Does Soundboard go by any commercial name? Any ideas of where I can get that in the U.S.?

[A27Hull]

703, Owens-Corning

comes in 1, 1.5, and 2 inch.

[Scott R. Foster]

When you describe 10" of concrete - are you saying the foundations are connected between you and the neighbors - but they do not share a common wall?

If so, it would be nice if you could cut the slab and mechanically decouple the two structures. In any event MLV is almost certainly not the answer.

I suggest you post a sketch and a couple of pics here:

http://forum.studiotips.com/

This forum focuses on studio building issues just as you are looking into... spends a lot of time on TL questions... here is an example:

http://forum.studiotips.com/viewtopic.php?t=2418

You can get a lot of advice on maximizing transmission loss specific to your situation there.