acoustic environments
So how do we soundproof a room, well basically we don’t!
We do however construct and modify rooms to isolate sound, whether it be airborne or impact vibration. We design recording studios, production suites, practice rooms, pods and dance environments. All have differing acoustic requirements and differing ways of dealing with sound transfer.
We spend a lot of time constructing these spaces to a high acoustic standard isolating area to area and minimising sound transfer between adjacent spaces.
We effectively build rooms within rooms, isolating each layer by means of decoupling techniques and effective use of air gaps with obsessive detailing of sealing any air transfer gaps between layers and cavities.
This obsessive attention detailing applies to walls, floors and ceilings/roofs and we design solutions that incorporate all 3 elements together as a whole relative to your building to ensure that the joints between each element perform correctly and eliminate sound transfer at junctions.
The most critical points in the design are nearly always penetrations through the walls, including door sets, windows and services. We design door solutions that realise a 40–45 dB sound reduction using acoustic seals and acoustic bars. However, this isn’t always enough to attenuate the room sufficiently and we will often also install a double door set to provide further sound reduction.
We design acoustic windows in a variety of sizes and specifications depending on the required usage, with each window being designed to perform in accordance with the adjacent wall and door specifications. This can range from straight forward double glazed isolated floating units for dance studios through to sophisticated high isolation units featuring two sets of double glazing with various weights of glass at differing angles with neoprene isolation bars giving a sound reduction of 65-75 dB.
Special attention is paid to services with electrical, fresh air, air-con all dealt with specifically with a variety of techniques to ensure any penetrations into the rooms maintain the integrity of the structure and do not allow sound leakage around the penetrations.
Further attenuation covers sound transfer through pipe and duct work with isolation fixings utilised to prevent vibration transfer.
Fire alarms are dealt with specifically utilising the same techniques as the electrics to ensure minimal sound leakage with special attention placed on locations of sounders/lights/beacons and system interlocks to ensure minimal delay to egress in the event of the fire alarm being activated.
Further tuning of the spaces can be provided utilising acoustic absorption/diffusion panels and bass traps to ensure the rooms perform correctly.
So there we go, all pretty straightforward and anyone can build a studio or practice room to achieve this, after all it isn’t rocket science. But here’s the rub, the only way you’re going to know if you’ve got it right is when you use it for the first time……no pressure.
Alternatively, like ACM (who know a thing or two about acoustics themselves), you can make sure that it is done right by contacting Space-pod.
To find out more about our acoustics and sound-proofing services contact us >
