Before I start I would like to say that this post is going to be big,and any advices are going to be extremely welcome.So take your mug,tea,and enjoy it like a sir.

Well,let's take it from the beginning.My dad built a dancing room/studio here in my house.But due to some lack of deep planning,I now feel the effects of it.The studio/dancing room has double walls,with a gap between them,split air conditioners and a few more things made to avoid sound from getting in and out.It does the job when speaking about electronica,rap,rnb genres,when played through the 4 selenium PA's that I ocasionally use for rehearsals.But the problem really happens when drums,guitars and bass kick in.Sound leak A LOT on the outside.My dad metered the drum leakage on the other side of the house,something like 20 meters (65 feet) away with an Iphone app, 70 decibels,yeah I know,absurd.But what I really want to know is what I can do to smooth out the sound leakage and also the huge amount of sound on the inside,drums are extremely loud,WITHOUT AFFECTING THE STRUCTURE,without breaking walls and stuff. I was thinking about some rock wool absortion panels, will it be good?

I'll provide some pictures of it,and measurements of the room if needed.A sound engineer from my town said it would cost him 10.000 Brazilian reais,something like 5 thousand dollars just to take his measurements,share his knowledge,WITHOUT any material that would be used on the soundproofing.Dont know how things are abroad but this is a lot of money here.I could buy a top notch studio equipment with that and wouldn't even care about the room.

Here are the pictures.


Hosting site rotated the image,sorry.As you can see the floor is granite.Lots of reverberation indeed.


I thing that the length of the room is something like 14 meters (45 feet).I dont know exactly but I remember seeing on the blueprint that the room has around 35 square meters.As you can see there are many rugs trying to reduce reverberation,and its super effective.


View from the other side of the room.


Thats the diagonal wall,double windows,which I think cant do the job.Maybe some soundproofing curtains would come in nicely.The only bad thing is that they are hard to find here,and pricey as gold.

Thats it for now, again, any help will be EXTREMELY WELCOME, maybe some DIY stuff,positioning,anything that you pro's think that would give the room a better sounding.

Ps: With your help I'm saving 5 grand,and forgive any english mistakes, Brazilian here.

I can't help with your acoustics questions, but just wanted to say what a nice room to work in! Looks like you have a nice view, so whatever you do, make good use of it. I've seen far too many dull studios with no natural light.

Quote Japasetelagoas:

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...and forgive any english mistakes, Brazilian here.

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Your English puts many native speakers to shame, so don't worry

Just one thing, try and add a space after full stops (periods) and commas. It makes for easier reading.

I've moved this to the DIY forum where this is one of the most popular topics of discussion.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

The good news is that you do not need to spend $5,000 on some bogus (or perhaps brilliant - who knows!) advice from someone. There is a simple and relatively cheap book on the subject, called 'Home Recording Studio - Build it like the Pros, by Rod Gervais, http://www.amazon.com/Home-Recording-Studio-Build-Like/dp/143545717X/ref=s r_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329657604&sr=8-1

The bad news is that you are going to have to rip out all the stuff done already and start from scratch all over again! Adding this and adding that will be of absolutely no use to you whatsoever! The sound is leaking through the very structure of the building and along things like wooden beams and joists and straight through window frames. Putting stuff on the walls does nothing to stop the bass notes travelling along the beams. That book will explain to you simply and using easy to understand diagrams, how to do a good job yourself.

There are other books and some websites that purport to tell you how to build a reasonable home studio, but quite honestly, nearly all of these people don't have the foggiest notion what they are talking about.

People who tell you how to build a studio fall into three categories -

1. A select few who really know what they are doing, but will insist of very expensive materials and methods, as well as charging a high fee.

2. A large and vocal majority, who have never built or operated a commercial studio in their lives and really do not have the slightest inkling of what is needed, required and financially possible.

3. A handful of people, like our own Max on this very forum, who have hands-on experience of building studios to a low budget and still getting a decent result. I am sure Max (or one of his on-line identities) will pipe up here any minute now!

Its hard to say exactly why the soundproofing doesn't work without knowing precisely how the construction was done. It could be as simple as a door that's letting all the sound out, or as suggested above, mistakes in the fabric of the structure and its design. But to be honest I'd suggest that if the sound is leaking out of the doors, then your Dad, quite understandably doesn't have huge experience of this sort of design. If that's the case it's likely that that isn't the only weak point. But soundproofing is a sliding scale. It's not a question of loud or silent, but rather degrees of noise getting in and out. It might be that a series of small improvements to the weakest areas of the build will get you just enough attenuation to do what you want to do. I'm not sure what to suggest, but the more information you can provide about the build, the better some of our resident experts here can advise you. J

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www.jackruston.com

Quote Jack Ruston:

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Its hard to say exactly why the soundproofing doesn't work without knowing precisely how the construction was done. It could be as simple as a door that's letting all the sound out, or as suggested above, mistakes in the fabric of the structure and its design. But to be honest I'd suggest that if the sound is leaking out of the doors, then your Dad, quite understandably doesn't have huge experience of this sort of design. If that's the case it's likely that that isn't the only weak point. But soundproofing is a sliding scale. It's not a question of loud or silent, but rather degrees of noise getting in and out. It might be that a series of small improvements to the weakest areas of the build will get you just enough attenuation to do what you want to do. I'm not sure what to suggest, but the more information you can provide about the build, the better some of our resident experts here can advise you. J

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Thanks a lot for the reply, hope more advices come out.

Rockwool panels and sound absorbent curtains aren't going to make any difference to the sound leakage although they might help to tame the reverberation. If you are on a tight budget, you need to identify the weak points and sort those out. Windows and doors are often the main problem.

However, I suspect your room has been built by someone who is a good general builder but doesn't have a clue about soundproofing. They often make mistakes like joining walls to the outside structure which allows sound to be transmitted outside. I would guess that you may have to rip the walls down and start again if you need much better results than you are currently getting - although check the windows and doors first.

James.

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JRP Music - Audio Mastering and Restoration.
http://www.jrpmusic.net