This is the fifth post in a series of blogs to teach you about the six key things we have done to make sure the music studios at Royal City Studios are completely isolated from each other. Most music rehearsal and recording studios are built on a tight budget, resulting in sound getting in and out of the studios easily. At Royal City Studios, we have invested heavily to make sure both sound waves and sound vibrations stay in the individual studios where they belong. The six major aspects to control this are:
- Subfloor and floor treatment
- Double walls and drywall mounting
- Soundproof doors
- Hung ceilings
- Vent socks
- Duct insulation
Part 5: The Vents
The Problem
In our last post, you learned how the music studio ceiling is designed to absorb sound and keep it inside. However, there are several actual holes in the ceiling that we need to worry about. These holes are for lights, wiring, and the big air vents provide a way for sound to escape. In addition, air coming through the vents, if not properly designed, can create air noise that might interfere with rehearsals and recordings in the studios.
The Solution, Part 1
First, we had to think about the sound moving through the air in the music studios. Leaks or gaps in the ceiling, where objects such as the lights and ducts puncture through, could allow sound to escape. It’s fairly easy to remedy this. We put acoustic sealant and foam in the gaps between these fixtures and the ceiling. This prevents air (and therefore sound waves) from passing from inside the music studios to the outside. We even put some acoustic foam coatings on the top side of the fixtures to make sure no air could pass through the fixtures themselves.
The Solution, Part 2
The other concern is vibration. When sound waves hit these fixtures, some of the sound converts to vibration. These vibrations can pass the sound into the air above the ceiling, and we definitely didn’t want that to happen! For the light fixtures, the acoustic foam coatings absorb the vibrations. However, the vents are a different story!
One air vent in the ceiling brings in air from the outside, to make sure musicians can enjoy a comfortable temperature as well as sufficient oxygen to breathe. We didn’t think that oxygen deprivation would be considered a good thing! The other vent allows the stale air to escape. However, these vents and the pipes that feed them are made of metal. Metal is a great material to pass sound vibrations from one place to another. This was a big concern!
Thankfully, the design and construction team came up with a way to eliminate this problem. Between the lower ceiling and the upper ceiling, the pipes are joined by “socks” made of a material that absorbs and dissipates the vibration while allowing the air to pass through. You can see a couple of example photos below.
The last piece of the puzzle is noise caused by the air moving through the vents. Sometimes you will get a whistling sound if the air is moving too quickly. To solve this, we used relatively large vents. These vents allow the air to move slowly and spreads the air around the room evenly. As a result, the risk of whistling wind is eliminated.
What’s Next?
Now that we have made sure the music studio floors, walls, doors, ceilings, and vents are vehemently vibrationless, where else should we look? Stay tuned for our final installment in Part 6: The Ducts. You’ll learn how we control the sound passing out of the music studios through the vents.
Leave a Reply