Insulation in Studded Drywalls

[icor1031]

How does it affect a room's acoustics?

I am currently building a wall to the right of my TV for multiple reasons, one of which being that this side sounds dead, because there's no near wall.. And what sound does exist has a major echo.

Any way,

Is there going to be much difference if I put insulation in my walls? I assume not, because the room behind it is pretty large and most sounds will die off before it gets back. . The only difference I can foresee are the sounds that reflect back off the Second piece of drywall.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[DjDisturbed]

none

[icor1031]

Great, thanks.

[billfitzmaurice]

Is there going to be much difference if I put insulation in my walls?

Potentially quite a bit. An uninsulated wall will act like a resonating drum, so the potential is there for coloration. I'd thoroughly stuff the wall.

[Kevin G.]

Insulation, by itself?
Not so much...
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/

[diy speaker guy]

How does it affect a room's acoustics?

I am currently building a wall to the right of my TV for multiple reasons, one of which being that this side sounds dead, because there's no near wall.. And what sound does exist has a major echo.

Any way,

Is there going to be much difference if I put insulation in my walls? I assume not, because the room behind it is pretty large and most sounds will die off before it gets back. . The only difference I can foresee are the sounds that reflect back off the Second piece of drywall.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Bill is right. Ever hear of panel traps? Ethan Winer, the room acoustics guy has plans for broadband panel traps, they are basically a thin closed box with stuffing inside, and with a large surface plywood face area. The sound causes the plywood face to resonate at it's resonant frequency. Inside the closed box, the stuffing captures a lot of the energy inside and turns it to heat, so it's not re-released into the room.

This is the same concept as insulation inside walls. Whatever frequency the wall face is (probably drywall) and the stud spacing will determine the face's resonant frequency(s), and those frquencies will be the center of the broad band absorbtion. The panel trap face material is usually carefully chosen to be the right size and weight to be resonant in a useful frequency range. In your case, this will not be the case, there will be absorbtion going on but unless you do the math it will be at an arbitrary frequency range.

Check Winer's site and panel trap plans, I think he explains all this better than I can.

But the more pressing issue here, I think, is that most people would consider it a very bad idea to add a wall simply to add sound reflections. It's a weird idea, and in fact, in general it's easier to get better sound in a larger room, not by adding walls to a smaller, already problematic room. Bill suggests stuffing the entire wall, I suggest not building it in the first place. I'd rather knock out a wall (in a dedicated audio enjoyment room) than build in more walls. In general, for audio rooms, the bigger the better, unless they are already large enough to cause echoes (instead of room modes).

[Loudy]

It really depends on the goal. Batt insulation will minimally help with sound proofing or the transmission of sound but like Bill said, it will help deaden the wall itself from vibration.

If the goal is to have the wall help reflect sound, I would stuff the wall to help minimize vibration.

Here is a couple of quick links talking about wall construction, NRC ratings and STC ratings:

http://www.insulating-products.com/p...oustic_FAQ.pdf

http://www.stcratings.com/assemblies.html

Reflecting sound can be a tricky topic though.

[billfitzmaurice]

Insulation, by itself?
Not so much...
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/

He's not trying to soundproof the wall, he wants to know how having an uninsulated wall will affect the sound within the listening area.

[icor1031]

I can't knock out a wall, I'm in a studio apartment - very large, no walls to remove.

It's an L shape, image below. The TV is in red.

Regardless, I'm not building the wall just for sound - I am also running a home business out of this, and need a nice-looking way to hide my bedroom. (the top-right portion)

The planned wall (green) is 30" into the other room because of the (blue) window's location, and to be able to build (purple) 24" panel bass traps.

Also, the wall I'm adding is using 2x2's .. Should I insulate for sound quality? And, what kind of insulation, since it's a thin wall?

[icor1031]

What insulation do you suggest, since it's a 2x2 wall?

It really depends on the goal. Batt insulation will minimally help with sound proofing or the transmission of sound but like Bill said, it will help deaden the wall itself from vibration.

If the goal is to have the wall help reflect sound, I would stuff the wall to help minimize vibration.

Here is a couple of quick links talking about wall construction, NRC ratings and STC ratings:

http://www.insulating-products.com/p...oustic_FAQ.pdf

http://www.stcratings.com/assemblies.html

Reflecting sound can be a tricky topic though.

[Loudy]

Batts from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I haven't looked lately but they used to sell 2" batts (R6.7) which would work assuming the 2x2's are actually 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".

[NickJ]

I know this is a stupid question, but is your landlord ok with this? If not you might consider doing some moveable panels/screens to visually denote the space. I have seen some cool modern looking acoustic paneling that almost looks like modern art. It could make a pretty sleek looking screen assuming it matches with any of the other decor. How tall are your ceilings? What is the style of the space you are trying to make into a business area?

[icor1031]

8' ceiling.
Owner is okay with it.
To be legal/code, they're not permanent. They'll be held in place by another board.
I don't understand what you mean by style. But note, I've already bought the materials and part of the wall is built.

I know this is a stupid question, but is your landlord ok with this? If not you might consider doing some moveable panels/screens to visually denote the space. I have seen some cool modern looking acoustic paneling that almost looks like modern art. It could make a pretty sleek looking screen assuming it matches with any of the other decor. How tall are your ceilings? What is the style of the space you are trying to make into a business area?

[icor1031]

Yes, 1 7/16".

Thanks!

Batts from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.

I haven't looked lately but they used to sell 2" batts (R6.7) which would work assuming the 2x2's are actually 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".