A person doesn’t realize how noisy the world can be until they want to create a studio. Suddenly it becomes apparent how many background sounds exist that you never really heard before. But when these intrusive noises come through and compromise the quality of your sound, you know it’s time to soundproof your studio.
Soundproofing a studio will make the room quieter as it blocks out external noises. This process also keeps sounds made inside the room, trapped inside the room, so they do not disturb others in the building or neighborhood. Once you have had a room soundproofed, you will notice sounds are missing that you never paid attention to before:
Any of these noises are capable of ruining your recordings in a studio without soundproofing.
Soundproofing is also known as isolation and is intended to stop sound from bothering others in your building but more importantly preventing the noise outside of the studio from interfering with your work inside the room. It is critical to stop sounds from contaminating what you are creating or recording. In the studio, listening room, or home theater, you want to keep the noise floor to its absolute minimum, so it doesn’t mask details or limit the dynamic range of the room’s equipment system.
In a typical room, noises from the floor are usually at 50dB. Your HVAC fans, people walking, washing machines, dishwashers, and outside sounds all contribute to this number. So if you are attempting to put out 100db, you can only accomplish 50db since the rooms noise level will take away from or mask your output. When you soundproof this studio, and achieve a 20-30 dB noise level or less, you can enjoy a more dynamic range without having to turn things up to hear the small details.
Sound travels between a room in two different ways. It moves through the air and the structure. When it goes through the air, it is easy to understand. If there are any holes in the room, the sound can leak out. Leaks can happen through gaps in the floor, HVAC ducts, outlets, switches or any other type of hole in the walls, ceiling, or floor. This leakage is why insulating your studio is so important.
When sound moves through your structure, it is understood less. It will vibrate off your walls, floor, tin ducting, and ceiling. All of these areas are connected to other areas in your building. When these areas vibrate by the sound you create, what they are connected to also vibrates and recreates a sound in other areas of your building. Even if you have a solid concrete floor in your basement, it is a flanking path for sound to reach other areas in your structure. (The term ‘flanking’ describes a path which sound travels on within the boundary of a particular space.)
Dealing with soundproofing depends on your budget and your situation. If the room is already built and what level of performance you are looking for will affect the type of soundproofing you will require. There are several levels of soundproofing depending on your personal requirements.
There are other steps you can incorporate with each of these levels. If you are considering the insulation of a studio to create a soundproof area, talk to the experts at Pure Eco Inc. They have the experience needed to build an insulated, soundproof studio that will match any level of requirement you have in mind.
When you decide you want to soundproof a studio or any other room, you want to prevent the sound from exiting or entering the area. This prevention of sound movement means the walls will require a lot of mass to prevent them from vibrating when sound is created. If the room is part of new construction, the mass can be added by building the walls with a dense material such as concrete.
If the room already exists in a structure, you want to add to the existing walls with materials such as mass loaded vinyl or sheetrock. Check how effective the materials will be at soundproofing the studio, by using the measuring metric known as the STC (Sound Transmission Class). Materials such as concrete that are hard have higher STC’s and the softer materials such as insulation tend to have lower STC’s.
A guideline to understanding the numbers of the STCs is; 20-30 is poor, 30-40 is average, and 40-50 is good. Another metric used to measure is the STL (Sound Transmission Loss). This system is often referred to as the better measurement as it measures isolation in dB at specific frequency bands.
There are a lot of construction materials advertised as having noise reduction characteristics. Some of these materials are very effective for providing soundproofing and have data obtained by testing to prove it. Others are not as good as they advertise and will only give you a slight effect. These are some of the effective soundproofing materials that will work on soundproofing your studio.
Pure Eco Inc is your soundproofing expert, and we are ready to help you with soundproofing your studio. Call our insulation contractor at (877) 870-7998 and find out about the soundproofing services we have available in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. Pure Eco Inc has full knowledge of the soundproofing market and will find the best quality and affordable solution for your needs.
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I already had my main attic done last year by a different company that did not do what they said they would and ended up damaging my ceiling. Decided to go with a different company this time around for a smaller attic of an addition that isn’t directly connected to the main attic.
The attic had no insulation at all (built in the 1930s). It needed debris vacuumed out, rodent proofing, and R-38 batt insulation.
After getting quotes from several folks, decided to go with Pure Eco. Quick turnaround, reasonably priced, good professional crew lead by Martin, and clear communication through my assigned contact Jasmine. Discussion and quote was based on photos I took. Contract and payment was handled all through e-doc services. And they made sure to give me an overview of the work done before leaving. The difference in temperature was a noticeable improvement that night.
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Our home needed some serious insulation and duct work done. It was awful and quite old (the insulation shrunk to approximately 3″). We called three companies for a quote, and we only saw two. We decided to go with them, before seeing the third, because of the amazing deal they offered and because they would be able to do it immediately. Ben was our sales guy and he was more than helpful and extremely knowledgeable. He made sure to inform us that they are licensed, bonded, and have workers’ compensation insurance, which kept me at ease.
The following day was the installation. Ben told us that they would be there from 8AM – 7PM (latest). They arrived on time, and completed the job by 3PM!!! I was shocked and thoroughly pleased. William, the supervisor of our job, was extremely friendly, and his crew was very professional. They cleaned up their mess; it looked as clean as when they arrived.
I highly recommend them and think that anyone that uses them will do so as well. Hi
I am a firm believer in referrals from friends when it comes to anything for my home and this company was a good referral for sure. My husband and I love Pure Eco and would definitely recommend them to everyone.
They have very professional installers and managers. Everything went smoothly from the scheduling to the end of the job. They use new machines and trucks (I tend to judge a book by it’s cover, unfortunately).
We had them replace our duct system and they installed Radiant barrier. They came in and did their job and left with no mess behind. Definitely give them a try!
We recently bought a house in Canyon Country and the garage was completely exposed and got extremely hot this time of year. When it was 90 degrees outside, the garage was well over 100 degrees. I got quotes from about a half dozen companies but was the most impressed with Pure Eco, especially their representative Sara. She was very helpful and she worked with me on the quote and gave me a lot of of great suggestions as to the best way to get our garage as cool as possible while staying within our limited budget. She recommended insulating the ceiling and front gable and then putting in radiant barrier. Her team came out and did the job in one afternoon and cleaned up afterwards. And now our garage is a LOT cooler. I can definitely recommend Pure Eco.