SOUND ON SOUND

[jamesheather]

hi there, my first post, nice to meet you all. I am soon to be building a 30m2 squared garden studio. I have to have brick as the outer layer of the wall for council reasons (i know it takes longer to build). Can anyone recommend a type of brick that has the best sound insulation to not let sound out or in. I am a pianist but will be making electronic music as well. Gonna need to soundproof as the inner layer too of course, But for now the Brick advice would be really appreciated. thanks!

Instagram/jamesheathersounds

[Wonks]

Hi and welcome.

The simple answer is that the more mass/higher density the brick has, the more sound it will absorb.

It's not just building/council regs that need to be thought about with regards to sound getting out, its also the level of sound getting in. So brick construction is pretty much a necessity.

However, there is more to soundproofing that just choosing the bricks, and it is the overall design that needs to be considered. You can make the walls really soundproof, but the wrong roof, window or door construction can mean that it's all for nothing and let a lot of sound out/in.

You really need to get some advice from a proper acoustic/studio consultant before you start building. And be aware that your standard builders know nothing about making things soundproof, so they need a good set of plans to follow and close supervision (because they will revert to doing it their standard way).

[James Perrett]

And be aware that your standard builders know nothing about making things soundproof, so they need a good set of plans to follow and close supervision (because they will revert to doing it their standard way).

I want to strongly echo this - I've had a couple of studio builds which were less effective than they should have been because I was persuaded to let the builders do things the way they wanted. My current studio has a layer of grey engineering bricks beneath 150mm thick medium density concrete blocks. The general advice is to go with something as dense as possible.

Don't forget the roof either.

[Wonks]

Our comments may seem harsh but we only want to help. It's very easy to spend a lot of money in an effort to build a soundproof studio and through poor design or implementation, have it fail completely and have the building unfit for purpose or else require very large sums of money to then fix the mistakes. We've seen it happen many times in this forum.

At least you haven't started building yet, so there is still time to ensure you get a good result.

I suggest you read some of the build diaries on here, if you haven't done so already.

[Studio Support Gnome]

generally cheaper and quicker to use blockwork and render .

use high density block if possible, and decorative render outside, simple cement render inside (improves isolation values in end result by making it marginally more airtight )

(Yes it really really does.... )

then float a reinforced screed (minimum 75mm ) on top of a sprung insulation layer inside and then build inner room on that (timber frame and multi-layer plasterboard structure , with insulation infill in framing.

make sure the roof is also dense and structurally independent from the inner room.