What goes into professionally soundproofing a studio?
Studio 3 is our newest film studio, soundproofed to 60DB and professionally finished. To create the studio, we upgraded and converted an old warehouse building.
We designed the studio to be suitable for recording live audio, so one of the most important steps in the conversion process was professional soundproofing.
What was the process behind soundproofing Studio 3?
1. ROOF
First a brand new roof was installed. Over the top of this was laid a layer of Silent Roof material which counteracts the sound of rain falling onto the roof, which is often a cause of noise disruption in non-soundproofed warehouse studios.
2. INSULATED SOUND WALLS
Any gaps and cracks between adjoining walls, roofs or beams were filled in, and covered with an insulating rubber.
Next a steel stud wall structure was built around the whole perimeter of the studio and filled with layers of Rockwool insulation and multilayered plasterboard.
A suspended ceiling was also built using the same methods, leaving us with an entirely boxed-in insulated studio space within the external building structure.
Door blanks were all chosen for their acoustic and insulation properties. A rubber butcher's curtain was added on the outside of the load-in shutter as an extra barrier to external noise.
3. ACOUSTIC BARRIER SYSTEM
A quilted acoustic fabric barrier system called ABS was then installed on top of the sound walls to improve and reduce internal reverb.
ABS is a class A sound absorption product consisting of a foil glass cloth with a reflective back surface to provide an acoustic, thermal and condensation proof barrier.
So how soundproof is the studio?
The completed studio is soundproofed to an overall level of 60DB, meaning it meets the professional standard for a soundproofed studio.
The term 'acoustically treated' can also be used, however this is a looser term which is often used to describe studios which may have some acoustic measures like foam panels but which have not undergone a full soundproof fit-out.
Studio 3 is specifically designed for recoding live audio so works well for interview shoots, short films, commercials, youtube videos, and more.
You can find more information about the soundproof studio on our website here, or follow us on Instagram to see how our clients use the space.
With thanks to TV & Film Studio Group for their hard work on the studio soundproofing and fit-out.