SOUND ON SOUND

[Folderol]

Wow! That is dramatically different! :bouncy: :clap:

[blinddrew]

Well that's one bass trap done, just three more of those and some broadband absorption and i'll have the perfect excuse never to do anything in there again... ;)

[ManFromGlass]

Don’t laugh! My buddy was building a bass trap behind him and he was told not to bother unpacking the Rockwool. Just ram it into the cavity under the stairs.

[blinddrew]

Things have been a bit slow whilst the suppliers and I resolved our differences on the sound proofing, however we have come to a mutually satisfying result and so I can start cracking on.
The first step is fixing the mistake I made with the specifications and sorting out the holes cut into the acoustic treatment.
Step one, make some 'plugs' with four layers of acoustic plasterboard, glue, leave under pressure to set:

Next add the new surface-mount electrical boxes, glue, leave under pressure:

Finally, slather everything with acoustic caulk and fill all gaps with the same:

All that x4. Painting will happen later to tidy things up a bit. They're bulky, boxy and stick out a lot, but they'll be much less obvious once the bass trap frames are in place and they've made a significant difference to the overall sound proofing. When it's not raining the room is now as quiet as the quietest room in my house. Not bad for a standalone, single-skin shed. :)
Speaking of bass traps, I got a bit of work done on the framework whilst waiting for glue to dry:

[Hugh Robjohns]

Good rescue :-D

[blinddrew]

Yep, I'm much happier with it now. There's still some low frequency rumble from the trains, nothing was going to stop that, but all the birdsong and neighbour noises are now inaudible.
We'll call that a win for now and crack on with the treatment side of things. :thumbup:

[ManFromGlass]

Will the gap that the wires poke through be filled as well?

[Folderol]

Well... It's a good recovery, but experience teaches that such a projection from the wall with {nice?} brittle surface mount boxes is rather thumbing your nose at Murphy :(

[Wonks]

Well... It's a good recovery, but experience teaches that such a projection from the wall with {nice?} brittle surface mount boxes is rather thumbing your nose at Murphy :(

If they do ever get damaged by Drew flying round the room on his wheeled Ikea chair, then at least they are full accessible and easily replaced (if he doesn't get fried in the impact).

The only real alternative is to embed them in several layers of plasterboard. But I can't see that happening.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I imagine they'll be protected by nestling safely between the acoustic panels in the fullness of the installation...

H

[blinddrew]

Will the gap that the wires poke through be filled as well?

Yep, a couple of inches of acoustic caulk squeezed into the gap. In fact I'm just waiting on that setting before I can reattach the front panels and restore power to the place.

As to the concerns around the protrusion of a brittle structure - yep, add it to the list of compromises. But as Hugh says, once the acoustic treatment is in place they will have a degree of protection from the frames of the acoustic treatment.
This will become apparent in future updates... ;)

[Arpangel]

I know this isn't really the interesting bit, but the outside is now done:

Further progress on the inside is currently on hold whilst I wait for the quality manager to visit next week.
Vexingly the sound meter i bought appears to be faulty. :(

That's amazing, I'd love a space like that!

:thumbup:

[Martin Walker]

Excellent work Drew, and so smart! :clap:

Looking forward to hearing music compositions emerging from this new and inspiring space.


Martin

[Luke W]

Nice work, looking very tidy. I'm a big fan of the hammer-stack-press by the way :thumbup:

[Wonks]

If you do find the sockets a bit vulnerable and you do hit them from time to time, then maybe you could cut out some deep acoustic foam panels to go found them and provide some more protection for the sides.