Timber as soundproofing?

[Squaredy]

I am thinking of constructing a music rehearsal room in a disused office, but I will need some fairly decent soundproofing.

 

As I run a sawmill my instinct is to use timber, but my Google research suggests this may not be great.  Clearly some timber would outperform others, but has anyone got experience of this that they can share?

 

It seems a dense material is needed, but how can I look up relative merits of species and how effective they would be?

 

By way of background the building is timber frame with plastered walls and timber clad.  Floor is concrete pad.  So it is the walls and ceiling I would need to sort out, not floor.

[roys]

Not quite answering your question  re timber type but I recently saw used in an entertaining room and then for sale in B&Q were proper sound proof flat panels but with strips of vertical wood guessing 20 x 20mm strips, I thought it looked smart, I will have a search and see if I can get a pic.

I'm thinking could you make your own with your own timber buy the acoustic material and add your timber.

Edited Friday at 20:02 by roys

[roys]

[Mark J]

I have some drummer mates. Building a stud wall which has a gap between itself and the main walls is a good shout. You might cover the main walls with sound dampening materials, which then may allow the plasterboard, or milled timber, on the stud walls to create some acoustics. Adding Kingspan or similar to the stud walls might also help if sound dampening material isn't viable. The main thing seems to be the gap between main walls and stud walls.  Apparently.

Edited Friday at 20:03 by Mark J

[Steven P]

A producer friend of mine did her loft space - perhaps too much for you, professional specs to the extents that even the air intakes went through sound insulated boxes. Think she also used Kingspan or similar behind plaster board. Wood is quite hard so sound bounces off it - good to sound proof a room but for recording not so good - Kingspan absorbs the sound.

 

If you're not recording in there and happy for a few echo's it mighty be OK - not an expert I just remember from her photos she used fibre insulation

[Squaredy]

22 minutes ago, Mark J said:

I have some drummer mates. Building a stud wall which has a gap between itself and the main walls is a good shout. You might cover the main walls with sound dampening materials, which then may allow the plasterboard, or milled timber, on the stud walls to create some acoustics. Adding Kingspan or similar to the stud walls might also help if sound dampening material isn't viable. The main thing seems to be the gap between main walls and stud walls.  Apparently.

I have read that adding a second cavity can have the reverse effect, but maybe you mean a bit further away?

 

Thinking about it, I could maybe build an internal extra wall and fill the cavity with wood shavings.  Not dense but should absorb sound well.  Or would it?

[openspaceman]

29 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

fill the cavity with wood shavings.

sand might be better

[sime42]

Sound proofing is about the shape, topology of the surfaces as well as materials used as far as I've seen. For instance, Richer Sounds listening rooms are lined with a layer of foam, the surface of which is formed into pyramid shapes, a couple of inches big. Also, I've seen or heard, (the irony!) somewhere that egg boxes in large quantities can be used to similar effect.

 

 

[GarethM]

Egg box stuff was banned as it was a huge fire hazard, old cheap internal doors in the 60s used that.

 

The shape thing was also about making the sound bounce at an angle between the gaps like it was going down a corridor.

 

What about that eco wood insulation stuff ?.

[openspaceman]

48 minutes ago, sime42 said:

Sound proofing is about the shape, topology of the surfaces as well as materials used as far as I've seen. For instance, Richer Sounds listening rooms are lined with a layer of foam, the surface of which is formed into pyramid shapes, a couple of inches big. Also, I've seen or heard, (the irony!) somewhere that egg boxes in large quantities can be used to similar effect.

 

 

That's to control reverberation (an-echoic) rather than reduce transmission to the outside.