I am looking at the various Owens Corning 703 & 705 boards but everything I see is designed to cut EITHER low frequency or high frequency, but I need something to reduce sound coming from outside my studio door. I can hear people talking and keys clanging around when they walk by. The studio is in a city's town hall so there is no way of preventing people from walking past our door. My idea is to use velcro to adhere the material to the door and have it overlap the sides of the door. If it matters, the room is 25x15, has carpet floors, drywall on left/right and cinder block on front/back and has a drop ceiling. The front is where we shoot and the edit bay is in the back.

What about the pink foam insulation at Home Depot & Lowes? I was told that this foam board works great to reduce sound in general.

On a side note: with the drop ceiling, what benefit, if any, would there be if I cut sections from the OC 703 1inch and replaced the drop ceiling sections directly above where the talking heads sit?

Thanks

Is this 703/705 material for absorbing sound in the room, or isolating sound outside of the room?

Lead sheet is often used for isolation. I have no idea about cost and availability.

The OC material is for absorbing sound, either high or low frequency. Here is the site that I will buy from: Owens Corning 703 : Ready Acoustics!, Hear - Sound - Better (http://www.readyacoustics.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=26_3_21)

I'm no expert in this, but, you do need to cover some basics.

Isolation is different than absorbtion of reflections. You use different materials.

People walking around outside but heard inside is an isolation problem.

Rigid fiberglass board's primary use is for reflection issues. Mass is what tames isolation issues.

Drop ceilings are notorious for transmitting sound. Your problem may not (only) be at the door. Get on a stepladder and get your ears near the ceiling when it's noisy and see what you hear up there.

Take a close look at the t-bars that your ceiling panels are in. Is there a t-bar running along and touching each wall? This indicates a wall that goes all the way to the true ceiling (good!). Does it look like the t-bar pattern just continues over the top of the wall? That's bad because it indicates you have plenum space in common with other offices or common areas, depending.

There are ranges of remedies, but do be sure you know what the problems are before throwing solutions at them!

... I need something to reduce sound coming from outside my studio door. I can hear people talking and keys clanging around when they walk by. ...

The problem you have is that your space is physically connected to the space where the noise is. Seems like I'm stating the obvious, but it really is about that simple.

One of the biggest problems is that steel is an excellent conductor of sound, and your building is almost certainly made of I-beams. You can cover your walls is all kinds of things trying to knock the sound down only to have it transmit beautifully through the floor and the ceiling on I-beams. And let's not even talk about the evils of HVAC systems -- ducts are amazing at transmitting sound. As are water pipes and electrical conduit.

The classic way to fix this kind of problem is to build a room within a room. The walls and ceiling are spaced away and do not touch the building at all -- not even HVAC ducts, or electrical conduit. The floor is built on top of special reinforced sound absorber pads. I seem to recall that there's special plastic flexible water pipe for use in sprinkler systems in sound stages and recording studios.

You can go as far as you like to isolate from the noise. You probably won't want to go this far. The question is, how much is enough to get what you want done?

The person who can answer that for you is a local acoustical engineer. Someone who has the training and experience in noise transmission in buildings. And who is local to you so they can inspect your individual situation and make valid recommendations.

Or, you could just start slapping stuff on the walls and curse a lot when it doesn't do much. Which is what I did. I can tell you from experience that it's not a lot of fun. But it will make the acoustical engineer laugh when you finally do call -- you won't be the first he's seen do that.

Knowing what I know now, I suggest floor to ceiling heavy drapes across the entire entry wall, including the door. Space 'em off the entry wall a bit so they don't touch it, and make sure they overlap by a foot or more where each side meets (hopefully, in front of the door so it's easier to get in and out when the drapes are in use). Drag on the floor and ceiling, and make a seal with the two side walls. This will at least knock down the air transmitted sounds (cracks around the door, light switch, etc.). Just pull the drapes when you want it quieter. If you don't want to call an acoustical guy, that's where I would start.

Seth and Bruce offer the two parts of the solution: decoupling and mass. The top solution is the room within a room, including lead sheet. But that's expensive.

Calling an expert sounds like a plan. I would avoid spending money on fiberglass. It's for absorbing reflections, not for isolating external sounds. An expert should be able to let you know what will and will not work.

Steve .. Bruce has nailed it (no pun) call an expert .. without a doubt you'll save those costs and more.

If you're paying rent to the city then they approved your operation and it's not satisfactory. From the sound of the problem you'll need some specialist work done and they'll probably have to approve that too.

So you may be able to get help from the cities acoustic consultants or at least get pointed in the right direction.

Remember you can't fight city hall .. but you can do it once and do it right.
Cheers.

There are modular sound booths that can be put together inside your office. They cover all six sides and have their own ducting. They may not be cheap, but they accomplish the room-in-a-room function and look professional.

Check out Sheetblok, made by Auralex:

Sheetblok Sound Isolation Barrier - Acoustic sound studio construction products from Auralex Acoustics. (http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_sheetblok/sound_isolation_sheetblok.asp)

Description of the material and its application are on the website.

There are modular sound booths that can be put together inside your office. They cover all six sides and have their own ducting. They may not be cheap, but they accomplish the room-in-a-room function and look professional.

Hi Marcus looks like the OP is using his 25'x15' area as a sound stage, don't think you can buy booths of that size.

Sheetblok looks perfect. It uses the same principle as solid lead, but presumably avoids the environmental risks of lead.

I see that they have another version (Sheetblok Plus) that includes an adhesive backing:
Sheetblok Plus Sound Isolation Barrier - Acoustic sound studio construction products from Auralex Acoustics. (http://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_sheetblokPL/sound_isolation_sheetblokPL.asp)

Just make sure to note that the adhesive is not meant to be permanent.

I seem to recall a study done with results that sound isn't blocked by a material so much as the change in material's densities. I guess this is why a layered approach is often best.

BTW, the first thing you should do is put something under the doors. An amazing amount of sound goes under doors, especially if the floor is hard. A gasket all the way around the door is also a good idea if it is not already installed.

...., but I need something to reduce sound coming from outside my studio door. I can hear people talking and keys clanging around when they walk by. The studio is in a city's town hall so there is no way of preventing people from walking past our door.....

Thanks

This is considered an isolation problem. Although, there would nothing wrong with adding broad band absorption outside of the studio...the real problem may be the door itself.

Studio doors are traditionally 3" solid core with complete gasket seals from top to threshold.

What door do you have?

Thank You All. I really appreciate all of these responses.

Here is some more info about my situation:
-- the studio is for the town's gov't access channel.
-- the studio is located in the basement of a 2yr old $50 million town hall.
-- the only people walking past our door are the maintenance guys.
-- the drop ceiling is the 'good' kind
-- we need the drop ceiling because of all the hvac and pipes in our ceiling and now there is barely any noticeable noise coming from them.
-- the studio door opens into the room and is solid metal.
-- the studio door has absolutely no air gap around the edges when closed.

The sound coming from the hallway outside the studio can only be heard through the door. The amount of sound is not very high but would be easily picked up by our lavaliers.

My original idea for 'isolation' was to build a frame with 2 perpendicular walls that go from floor to one inch from the ceiling. This 'corner' frame would be moved in front of the door in the studio to block sound coming through the door when we are recording. I was thinking of using the 1" pink foam insulation from home depot and use 2 layers on each side.

I would be much more tempted to add a second door w/ an air gap between the doors to produce the impedence change, density, and air tight seal necessary for isolation.

I wouldn't recommend pink foam as an isolation or obsorption material (it would be reflective). You need a material that has a greater density...Dry wall, or durock (cement board).

The 705 material or equivalent 6 to 7 lb density Fiberglass material is excellent for a drop ceiling and you can add isolation to it by glueing 5/8" drywall to the top side of it.

Oh yea, and add on "On Air" recording light outside of the studio to let those key clanking maintenance guys know that you are recording.

Sheet lead (or some other lead based material) would probably be superb if you could find a type that was still legal - I remember people lining the engine compartments of boats with some kind of lead product back in the days before "lead" became a four letter word.

I've often wondered whether the heavy stuff the dentist drapes you in when you get an x-ray would work.

Change of density/impedance is, as you say, the key.

Edit --- Aha - I found something I had heard of - it's called Mass Loaded Vinyl and is used in place of sheet lead for soundproofing applications. A sandwich of something like this and concrete board or something similar - aybe with an air gap in between might be useful.

Edit --- Aha - I found something I had heard of - it's called Mass Loaded Vinyl and is used in place of sheet lead for soundproofing applications. A sandwich of something like this and concrete board or something similar - aybe with an air gap in between might be useful.

I think that's what Sheetblok is. At least that's what it seemed like when I saw a sample of it.

It's placed between studs, preferably offset studs, and then drywall is installed as normal. The Sheetblok must be installed in a way that leaves no gaps for sound to pass through. It reportedly has the sound resistance of five sheets of drywall.

Also, keep in mind that drywall is heavy. For ceiling applications you need to find out if the ceiling joists can support that weight. If you're dealing with a suspended ceiling, then Sheetblok is the way to go.

Consult with the manufacturer to determine how this material should be applied.

Jim's post make the best sense. In practical terms, sound proofing isn't that big a deal - BUT you have choices to make. Density and airspace are required, and both are difficult. Most people, who don't have huge budgets work on the room within a room principal. If the outer skin is lined with a sandwich of plasterboard, insulation board and something like MDF and then the same material is used to inner skin a structure of timber - typically 3x2" it works really well. Audio studio suppliers sell neoprene strip that the timer stands on to help prevent structure borne sound getting through. A second floor, neoprene mounted on the building floor then gets fitted. Double doors that create sound traps work well too. I've built 6 of these for clients now on low budgets, and they work - timber construction is fairly simple, and they are effective enough to prevent an idiot on a drum kit being a nuisance outside the room. Sound treatment on the inside to sort out the standing waves uses commercially available material.

The killer is sealing them. Any tiny airgaps ruin the isolation - so cabling and services need careful management. Worst thing is that sealing the structure also means stopping ventilation. You'll need either aircon (even in england!) or at least some kind of ducting to get foul air out, and fresh in!

Only make any alterations with the co-operation and approval of the owners of the studio. I believe it is being leased.

I'm not suggesting this is the case here, but I know of minor interior studio wall changes being made and the owner was looking for a lease deal breaker because they had a better offer. After 12yrs there, my unsuspecting buddy had no idea this was the case and had to move out. He knew that was going to be so costly he'd have no funds to fight back.
HTH Cheers.