What material is the best for soundproofing?
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
- I test out different materials for sound proofing.
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Way to get right to the point! On behalf of everyone whose time you did not waste… 👏much appreciated.
Amen!!!! ❤❤❤
Exactly. So many videos now are like "2 simple things for ___" and it's a 17 min video
Completely agreed
Shut up and it should’ve wasted time
No
Cool vid but it would be even better if you could run a slow 20hz-20khz sweep to see how they cope at different frequencies
60-100hz alone would be a great test since these low frequencies are the most penetrating and hardest to block. Mids and highs are easy.
@@JP5466 You're going to need a bigger box! Or you could put the mic in the box. Much easier.
@@FreshAirRules Lots of mass using various dissimilar materials and seal it air tight. There is nothing better.
Obviously there are a million more things that you could have tried out if you wanted to spend months on this, but as it stands, this is a really easy to understand test that gave clear results using fair comparisons. This is the best video I've seen on this topic. Thanks.
The Decibel scale is logarithmic. So a 5 db drop in db by the foam is not "very little to nothing".
on the other hand your ears and senses are also working a bit like logaritmic. If you add double the sugar you are not feeling it is double salty. Same with hearing.
There are 2 factors contruibuting to transmission loss: density and thickness of material, and internal damping. 1/2 inch bitumen (preferrably lead lined), for instance, is very heavy, and has high internal damping and therefore will work very well. Light foam obviously will not work well, and everytnig in between should behave somewhere in between.
Recently made some plywood barriers with lead sheets glued to them. Heavy as F, but it's best results I ever got after years of trial and error..
Where can I find that bitumen as you describe?
There are basically two ways to increase sound insertion loss, increase the areal density or have multiple mediums. The sound has to excite the barrier material to transit through it. The denser it is, the more energy needed to excite the molecules. There is also an energy loss as sound transitions through two dissimilar materials.
There are a few other ways, but they are not as common or significant.
I believe the biggest loss factor is due to the frequency response of different materials. Foam is a low-pass filter, and it greatly attenuates high pitched noise. Something like metal is a high-pass filter (in the audible range, at least), and it greatly attenuates low frequencies. If you have both in series, then neither high nor low frequencies can propagate well.
Agreed, and thank you for explaining it for people at the physics level. I have drywall, mass loaded vinyl, rockwool on top, a 24” truss air gap, osb subfloor, an acoustic underlayment about 3/16” thick, and then hickory flooring between my shop downstairs and an apartment upstairs. It isn't “soundproof”, but running a 12” planer, dust collection, and a router at the same time wouldn't wake you up or prevent conversation in the apartment. Only a vacuum will give you true soundproofing, which is your point about exciting molecules.
Rigidity of material also matter. For sound to pass barrier must move. It is hard to move something heavy, or something very rigid.
Also restrict air movement. Sound moves through air. The space has to be tightly sealed or a lot of work and material will seem wasted by the results.
@@altersami9660 What kind of metal ought to be used?
I spent way too many hours thinking about the noise my NAS is making; this video was a Godsend. Well done.
Be careful to keep the cooling going though. Disks can easily die when they don't get enough cooling. Learned that the hard way when I silenced my computer back in the 2000s.
@@KarstenBecker But at least when it didn't run anymore it was really, really cool.
Everyone, who wants to build a soundproof server cabinet is glad for this video. Thank you!
Exactly my purpose!
More than you want to know: I appreciate what you're tryna do. Controlling sound is tricky. Matching materials to task at hand is critical. Simply, mass is what blocks sound. The lower the frequency, the more mass per square ft is required. Foams etc control reflections by absorbtion (sort-of), but because they aren't comparatively dense they don't do well blocking lower freq sound waves. (high freqs are easy) Your little boom box doesn't produce much low-end or volume. Sheetrock in double layers works well. It's dense. Bottom line. Mass = blockage. Your sheet rock box did well basically proving the point. It did better when you added sonopan because it added mass, along with scrubbing off some energy. (a studio control room I helped build back in the 80's used a combo of sand-filled cynderblock, double layer 3/4 inch sheetrock, owens-corning compressed fiberboard, and wood diffusers. The total weight of the materials was about 18 tons IIRC. MASS) .02
This is the only useful video about this i have seen, and it didn't appear in search results, it just showed up in my recommendations.
Thanks for the test. It would be great to see you add double layer drywall (both 1/2" and 5/8") and double layer drywall plus green glue to this test.
I agree, was going to say the same thing
Yah these 3 were the key ones as they're the go to installs.
Also one with 1/2 or 5/8 drywall + MLV and 2x drywall+MLV as the other go tos.
I wonder how much 2x drywall+MLV+sonopan would do.
And some glue as well. Forgot about the glued versions
Sonopan needs acoustic sealant. Also, it should be combined with 5/8 drywall. Just used this combo on my home recording studio build and it worked really well.
Sonopan is a gimmick, just use two sheets of drywall.
@ I strongly disagree.
I have spent hours upon hours of researching online about soundproofing for building my portable at home studio. This by far has been the absolute hands-down, most helpful video I have ever found. Thank you!!!
Look at using bath towels as sound diffusers inside the booth rather than foam. Just hang 4 or 5 towels behind your Mic and give it a test.
Missing MLV (standard sound proofing material) comparison....major loss!
I recently saw a couple of videos by @MandicReally where he uses cheap moving blankets as an upgrade from the towel method. In case it helps someone, here's a link:
www.youtube.com/@MandicReally/search?query=sound%20blanket%20panel
@@snarkymcsnarkface1863 yeah just hang a towel in front of a 7 piece drum kit thatll solve it 🙄
Building a staggered stud wall is the most effective way to achieve sound dampening most of the sound telegraphs through the studs
Love you quick and to the point test. Remember that sound travels in different frequency, higher frequency will reflect off hard surfaces while lower frequency has a longer wave length which takes much denser sound proofing to absorb.
I used osb plywood with rockwool insulation to make a sound box for my air compressor in my garage. Rockwool is an awesome sound deadener. With a baffle so the compressor can breath and cool itself now its just a low hum instead of the typical roar.
I bought a quiet compressor because my last one was insane. Was only 300 cnasdian for a 15 gallon unit that is way quieter.
If ypu did this with a California air tools compressor, you wouldn't be able to tell it was on.
I would love for you to have done this with one of those RUclips frequency range speaker test videos so we could see which tones each works better on so we could make sure we get most frequencies and know what’s best on bass because your test is one of the best please one more part to the video thanks
True, it obviously depends on what frequencies you're trying to block, but if you're looking at bass frequencies, the foam may have performed better than drywall, as there won't be any amplification through resonance or standing waves.
High frequencies travel on air - stop the air flow (Sonopan & the foam are air-open).
Low frequencies vibrate surface diaphragms, turning surfaces into drums - weigh down the surface, make it rigid, "deaden it" (MLV, layers, etc.).
Stop low frequencies?... the material is lead.
Sound attenuation depends on the mass and the completeness of the barrier. In other words, the heavier the sheet, the less the sound that gets through -so long as there aren't any gaps.
Your best performing option had two barriers with the outer one having reasonable mass.
One thing to be careful with is what the soundproofing is trying to achieve. Some soundproofing measures are designed to reduce noise inside the 'chamber' by absorbing the sound and stopping it from reflecting back. That's where some paints work best, and definitely the foam.
Loved the no-nonsense practical demonstration though!
Nice test! In recording studios, the ideal concept of isolation comes from "floating chambers"
I think that concept will help you.
Recenty tested that MDF board is excellent for blocking low frequency sounds as well. Lots of mass and very dense..however not cheap.
It's a lot cheaper than decent quality plywood.
I saw a video a while ago that inspired me for future projects, and was not even considered here. In a nutshell, bath towels in a frame covered in a stretchable fabric like something you would find on a speaker grill. Something about the cotton loops absorbed the most amount of sound. You could buy up a bunch of towels from good will stores, wash them and use them. I plan on making several panels for my office and home maybe this winter.
Ever try yelling into a folded bath towel? Muffles the sound pretty darned good.
I think the video that inspired me was a way to muffle the sounds from a gasoline electric generator.
We always used MiCORE for sound proofing either directly on drywall or attached to 1/4 mdf on top of dry wall. Thats been several years ago.
sound passing from one material to another is most effective. double hung drywall with a gap between layers is fantastic. I use 5/8 fire rated. Also different frequencies are absorbed differently. using fiberglass insulation in walls helps broaden the spectrum of sounds deadened. If you get even fancier frame the walls with a 6" plate and have 2x4 studs individually for each side of the wall, this will eliminate low frequency transmission through the framing. It's worth the extra work for a recreation room or a high volume home theatre.
I did a basement ceiling (half) leaving 1/2" drywall up, adding sonopan, resilient channel and then 1/2 acoustic drywall (at $106 sheet mind you) and.... I'm not impressed. I did decouple corners and used acoustic caulk. The next half I've already pulled down the old drywall, am insulating with acoustic insulation, adding resilient then 2 layers of type x (5/8) drywall. Lower cost but better results, still not what I hoped for.
Thanks for the demo, it was straight forward and informative. They say a variety of densities is implortant, so I wonder how ply and sono would do, compared to two layers of ply, or ply and DW.
It essentially comes down to the density of the material. Build a container out of lead flashing and see it out perform these other materials by a huge margin.
I did that. I glued 1/16" lead flashing to a piece of 2'x4' plywood and screwed handles to it. It worked very well to block the sound coming through my basement window, but the weight is a lot to handle.
The key to sound proofing from my experience is first and foremost making the enclosure as air tight as possible as well as using an equitably dense material. I have seen rooms use very dense material but fail with air gaps and also the other way around. This is of course for rooms you want virtually no sound to enter of escape. If you are happy to have a sound deadening setup where some noise is acceptable then the gaps are not as crucial.
Sound being pressure waves travelling through air, this makes sense.
What are the most common gaps for air/sound travel to travel? I’ve heard electrical outlets can pass noise between rooms and floors
@@Brucey69 Outlets and HVAC ductwork.
Great test - and these are the expected results of SONOpan! It's engineered to be used in conjunction with drywall, not as a finished wall covering. 5/8" type X specifically which adds good mass to an assembly. When installed in conjunction with drywall to soundproof a room the overall results will be substantial. Thanks for running the test.
When will this product be offered in US Home Depot’s?
@@artman2119Was gonna ask the same
@@artman2119 We're working on it
Still doesn't make sense, the test showed drywall being better so doubling up drywall would still be better/cheaper than using sonopan.
@@fickitonetime which is true, sonopan is 1/3 the weight of a sheet of 5/8 fire x DW, mass is key. plus when sonopan is asked for their lab results, they WILL NOT send them out.
this is so helpful for me. im in very tight budget to get things wrong. you save me a lot. God bless you sir
OSB cost less than plywood, and it's denser, so it should perform even better. Im going with OSB to soundproof my room. I'm hanging it on the outside of my ADU with joist tape on the studs.
the best sound absorber is a glass wool, because it made of long thin elastic fibers. Density influences to the frequency, in a general case the best is a combination of two different density: 40kilograms per cubic meter and 80 kilograms per cubic meter (sorry, don't know inches 🙂) And the best for a sound reflection is the most heaviest board you may found. So three goals to be achieved: heavy walls + the best absorber + good assembling (fully sealed). Reflection + absorption.
i think one of good book in english is "Master Handbook of Acoustics" Everest, Pohlmann.
I build double stud walls, foam board insulation on the outer wall and fiberglass insulation to fill in the rest. I use OSB on the studs, basically sheathing the inside walls like you would the outside walls, then I add the decorative layer - ie shiplap, tongue and groove on top of the OSB. It is a lot more solid that drywall, easier to hang and easier hang stuff on compared to drywall. It isn't perfect, the windows are the weak point, but it is a lot better than a single stud wall. I also seal all of my outlet and switch boxes and this makes a difference. I also caulk all of the seams on the OSB. I have seen double studding done where you have the first stud wall, then a 2inch gap, then the 2nd stud wall. I'd be interested to see how that does for soundproofing and insulation.
Helpful video. The cost of drywall compared to the other materials really makes it a clear winner. Would like to see drywall + rockwool vs drywall + sonopan and maybe even drywall + 2nd drywall layer to see which combo performs best. I plan to build a partition wall with drywall on both sides and rockwool in between to keep furnace and dryer noice out of my office/studio.
You are testing two different effects here. Sound travelling directly through dense material, and sound reflected. The Sonopan is designed to reduce reflective sound. Drywall, due to its very compact but random crystalline nature, best reduces through sound. Through sound reduction breaks up soundwaves, but you also want vibration reduced. Again, drywall is very good at reducing vibration. Insulation, both rockwool and fiberglass, are quite poor at sound reduction. The best I have found is actually a triple layer wall. From a construction point of view (as a partition wall between internal rooms), a 3" timber frame sandwich. In the cavity, rockwool. Then going outwards (both sides) rosin paper. Then 3/8" structural ply. Then 1/2" drywall. The room to room sound reduction is amazing. Trouble is, ply is very expensive, but slowly coming down in price.
What about instead of ply wood you use osb??
@@MenouaHakopian That would work instead of ply.
@@trevornelmes9331 would it be better though considering osb is treated, oriented strands, and stronger
@@MenouaHakopian Treated or not, so can ply be treated (for example marine ply). The issue here is sound proofing. Raw, natural wood has poor sound proofing properties. The idea is to either reflect the sound waves, or to deaden them. Good sound proofing does both. Curiously, the bonding adhesive in both ply and OSB may have more effect than the wood itself.
@@trevornelmes9331 OSB pine has a very strong odor. I can't stand it. Probably needs to be sandwiched or painted over. I had 4 sheets of pine OSB siting outside for 4 weeks, the pine odor has reduced, but still pretty strong.
Wow! I need box number 4! Thanks for sharing!!!
I think acoustic sealant was missing from sonopan box, since as long as air can escape sound can too. It looked like you used spacle for drywall which improved the sound proofing
Roxul in the stud bays works amazing well. The only issue with drywall is that sound bounces off the hard surfaces. The low cost option to build surface boxes to hold Roxul and a cloth cover to hide the roxul, when sound hits the roxul the sound is absorbed (attenuated).
In this test your presuming the sound is total encased in the drywall, but that isn't the real world. If you have even a small opening (pinhole) it enough to allow sound to escape.
Lot of effort there thanks.I have used mass loaded vinyl in an emergency to block out garden machinery noise for my son who has Hyperacusis (sensative hearing, after Meningtis ) and it made a difference, I have since built a studio (a room with in a room, in a large shed) in drywall with a cavity, including the ceiling, (decoupled) I wish I had lined with ply now, although it's 5 x the price of plasterboard (we call it). Even though your db mtr showed it was lower, if you turn the volume down until the ply box isjust silent, the drywall plus box can still be heard, is that just the video ? Just about to fill some door panels with scrap drywall, not now, I also have some left over 18mm ply.
Thanks a lot. Great video, very clear and straightforward. I wonder why you have not try Plywood with Sonopan . I think I can safely assume it would have been the winning combination. I am building a soundproof booth trying to get an electrical device that got fans making noises around 70dB so outside the box it is about 20db. I am planning the wall of the booth to be 20cm thick. The middle will be a wooded structure 70mm thick, then resiliant bar on either side to avoid direct contact of the 15mm plasterboard. I'll have 15mm plastboard + 5 mm acoustic adhesive + 15 plastboard + the resiliant bar (27mm) + the wooden frame 70mm + + the resiliant bar (27mm) + 15mm plastboard + 5 mm acoustic adhesive + 15 plastboard . In between in the void, filled with acoustic rockwool 100. I hope this will do the trick....
I would love to see a comparison with carpet, memory foam, acoustic blanket and mass-loaded vinyl. The advantage of these material is they are flexible or light and doesn't need a lot of construction work.
Cork sheets would be another good one to try.
In my many years of trial and error experience, high density memory foam works well as a sound absorber (better than fiberglass), but it's expensive. For stud cavities Rockwool is only slightly better than fiberglass in the 60-100Hz range.
@@JP5466 Interesting. Thank you for sharing. Perhaps memory foam is better than rockwool? Many people give away their old memory foam mattress. The problem is that memory foam is open-cell, so dirt can get trapped there.
@@TheBostonFern Possibly, but I never had to opportunity to compare them. It has to be the high density memory foam, the softer cheap stuff doesn't do much. EVA is probably better, but even more expensive. Contractors in the UK are using 2" soft rubber mats to help dampen sound... that's another one I haven't tried yet.
Double sheets of 5/8” drywall has been the go-to for experienced general contractors for decades. Very curious how the industry standard technique works compared to your tests.
I know your comment is old but supposedly that Sonopan stuff is really great, it's just not so easily available in the US yet...
I think the people who say that are drywall installers. :D
@@mpbootcamp7009 maybe, maybe not - drywall is very dense but also CHEAP. There are several methods to reduce perceived noise and density of materials is one of multiple ways to get some of the way there and significantly cheaper than most other alternatives.
@@rafezetter8003 Having just built a booth with drywall on the inside and ceiling and plywood on the outside, the plywood was much easier for me to deal with. I hate drywall, it is ugly, messy, and difficult to hang stuff on (which you will want to do once you finish.) I should have placed plywood on the inside for easier mounting of things.
Soundproof application still usually required 'res-bar' beneath the drywall. 'res' = Resonance.
Drywall carries low-end vibration quite well, so if you have big trucks on a nearby road, you'll need something to absorb the vibrations. Drywall attached to stud will mainly just carry the sound.
You would also use acoustic caulking between the framing tracks and structure.
So simple an experiment, and yet so useful.
Thanks 🙏
If you don't know it by now. John Heisz is not also an awesome maker but he is a specialist for Sound Design and High End Acoustics. He has a channel dedicated to nothing else than Audio-Projects. It's called *_John Heisz - Speakers and Audio Projects_*
Noise travels faster through dense/solid/thick materials, and slower in porous materials or just literal air. The denser it is, the more the noise is heard.
So, doing layers of air and dense materials, slows down the noise, which makes it harder for you to hear it
Low frequencies do, but highs and mids are nowhere near as bad.
I took a tour of a company that built Transformers when I was in college and they had a room that was supposed to allow no sound in or out and it was literally a giant box with textured foam similar to egg cartons and it was eerily quiet in there even with a bunch of other people when they close the door
Odd. I heard that egg cartons and foam do not block sound well.
@@earthenscience I'm not a sound expert but they are suppose to be quite good because sound waves maintain there shape/ signal (not sure of the correct terminology) if they are bouncing off of a relatively flat surface.
The egg carton and the foam of a similar shape takes away that flat surface.
To the best of my knowledge that's why it works.
@@corymain115 I have some sound foam and it doesn't block sound much at all. Maybe they used a particular brand? Foam is categorized as sound absorption so it isn't supposed to block sound, its placed to reduce echo. The foam would have to both absorb and attenuate the sound to reduce perceived dB. If the room was meant to block outside sound from getting in then Occam's Razor states we should explore other factors that may be in play. For example, maybe the interior wall construction of the room was special? Or the room blocked sound as good as any other room, but there just happened to not be much noise at that particular time it was measured?
@@earthenscience hmm yeah it's possible that it was a particular brand,
I don't remember the where abouts the room was in the building in relation to the production area but you could still hear the machines running until the door was closed and it was eerie how still it was in there.
It was distinctly different from being in a place was simply quiet or not noisy. The more i think about it yeah I believe it is fairly likely that there must have been another material woking in tandem with it. I don't remember how thick the walls were knowing that would certainly be in indication as to whether or not something else was at play.
Wood working wasn't as strong of an interest to me at the time so I never made note of the construction of the room the way I would now.
Yep, this would be a great solution to test
If you can also make any joins “airtight” then you will also get further reduction, no noise leakage.
I need to build an enclosure for my CNC and dust collector that will be placed under it. Based on your results I should see a significant decrease in sound if I use 3/4 plywood or OSB and line it with drywall. I will need to let air in for the dust extractor so I’ll need to build a baffle to suppress the noise but still allow enough air so the dust extractor stays cool. Since I will also need windows for the CNC I’m going to try two layers of plexiglass with a space in between the layers for air.
Good comparison. Different materials will dampen sound most effectively at different frequencies, so it's possible that drywall+sonopan will still be more effective than two layers of drywall.
plywood + soundboard + 5/8 drywall works pretty good. if blocking sound between rooms be sure to not put back-to-back wall electric outlets.
I believe the best combination would be soft foam on the inside, with about 2-4in air gap separation, the reason for air gap is so the vibrations and resonating sound doesn't just directly transfer through the materials, then a denser foam, with another 2-4in air gap and then finally a rigid dense layer like mdf or plywood. This would be the most ideal situation but for your use case would probably be overkill. This solution would be best used for building a soundproof room or chamber for recording 😅
Just an FYI for many of the people commenting here: Soundproofing IS NOT THE SAME as sound absorption. You DO NOT want soundproofing in a studio.
Soundproofing is meant to trap all the sound energy inside the room so that you cannot hear anything outside the room.
In a studio, sound energy escaping the room is a good thing. Sound 'absorption' relates to dampening of reflections, turning the kinetic energy of sound into heat so that you only hear the sound coming from the speakers rather than the sound reflecting off the walls.
A thick concrete wall would provide the best soundproofing but the worst sound absorption and make for a terrible studio.
A room made of foam panels would cause the least reflections and make for a great studio but would provide the worst soundproofing.
If you are building a studio and are worried about making noise, rather build the walls thicker (fill with rockwool insulation) and offset the studs to minimize sound transmission.
Also, very thick (1.5-2 feet) DIY sound panels made with cheap low density fiberglass wool insulation absorb low frequencies MUCH better than the acoustic panels you see being sold for a small fortune.
Could you do a similar test with bass frequencies please. You blocked out the easiest frequencies to block out, but most noise problems today have to do with bass.
1:13 "The foam is held together with tape because nails wouldn't work" LOL
That's a lot of effort. It was a good idea to put a box inside a box while using lid panels of the same size. This makes a well-isolated box and provides a good basis for comparing different materials.
To further improve sound isolation, it might be beneficial to add a thin, airtight elastic mat, like a silicone mat, between the boxes and the first lid. Additionally, pressing the whole thing down with some weight could make it more airtight, resulting in better sound isolation.
And if you want to go even further, making sure each seal and connection of the sides of the boxes as well as the lids is airtight could make it even quieter. Anyway, it's an interesting project already!
the best way is A meter thick wall of granite and 1 meter thick concrete and steel blast door also 500 meters underground.
Surely the frequency of the noise source will impact determine the type of attenuation. Also, the room reverberation characteristics will affect resultant sound levels as will the resonant frequency characteristics of the attenuation materials. Double wall with acoustic material between should deal with low and high frequency noise sources especially if the two skins have different resonant frequency characteristics. Finally, continuity of the acoustic shroud is a must. A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link, so to speak.
You just saved some people a lot of money, thanks.
Hi , I am in between two options to soundproof my ceiling for my upstairs neighbor, mainly stomping and just impact noise (dropping things on the floor moving things) from upstairs option 1 would be blown in mineral wool insulation. Option 2 sonopan with 5/8 drywall on my existing ceiling . My question is which would be the best option to deaden sound of the stomping upstairs??
Hard-cover books, stacked with pages faces out, alternately stacked horizontaly and vertically in every other stack in a book shelf with compartments is THE best way to sound proof a recording studio type space.
The video was so well do. All the time you invested to put together the experiment, was much appreciated and super helpful. I gave it a like, before even getting to the end...but ghits and siggles took it to a whole new level 😆
i wonder what a double layer of drywall would give. that is what is used for soundproofing in Canada's commercial buildings with rockwool in between the studs.
3:53 *GHITS AND SHIGGLES...I AM SO STEALING!!!*
Great video!! I’m making a vacuum cart/box today. Going with plywood and Sheetrock inner wall.
Soundproofing is based either in damping, or absorbing. With damping, you need an elastic material that is glued to a heavy one (ie. plasterboard). The weight of the plasterboard will be used to stop the kinetic energy of the sound waves. When using absorbing, you need less dence but very thick materials that will scatter the energy, eventually diminishing it.
I would REALLY like to see a comparison of the better performing materials where you leave some kind of a gap between the materials, basically creating 2 boxes, one inside another. I've heard this makes a big difference but you need to have as little contact between the inner & outer box as possible. Maybe doing something like 1 sq inch stand offs (maybe 1 cubic inch so there's an inch gap between boxes). The reason is the sound travels through the stand off material better than through air. I remember seeing "sound proof" rooms (music rooms where kids practice) made like this at my school. I'm guessing that different stand-off material would make a difference as well. Anyway, just a thought, thanks for the video!
This would indeed be the best scenario though instead of just an air gap have the plywood (densest in the test) outer box, then foam liner then sonopan or similar noise reducing material. One importanty thing to note is a 10% gap around edges like a lid will emit 50% of the sound, so lids MUST be well sealed as well preferably with something like a silicone bead or draught excluder rubber or foam strips.
The best way to reduce sound transmission is to use materials of different densities as each material will reduce different sound wavelengths. In this test a box made of plywood outer then foam liner, then sheetrock with foam liner and finally sonopan - the reduction would be even more probably to about 40dB.
@@rafezetter8003sir can you explain what i do?? I have a low budget, can I use 1/3 inch plywood outside and inside 2inch foam acoustic panel
@@shivroy7 Yes that would work, it would not reduce the sound completely, but it will reduce it by enough to have a noticibly positive effect.
The truth is the only way to make something "sound proofed" (silent) is with very expensive materials and construction methods that in reality are only worth the cost for things like sound recording studios, for most people a 50% reduction in decibels is enough.
@@rafezetter8003 Thank you for your valuable response. My last question sir, answer when you have free time. Actually sir, I want to be a voice artist, I just started.
My house is inside a local road (village). Usually the sounds of people, bikes and small cars.
1)So if I build a plywood room inside my room, will it give me 40-50% better results?
2)Can I use a 1 inch thermocol between the plywood and the foam acoustic panel?
@@shivroy7 Building a plywood room inside a room would work, but you cannot build it square, at least the interior cannot be square. - It all depends on size whether you want a ROOM, or just what we would call a BOOTH, which is a much smaller size, think more like a small shed. The smaller the area you can get away with, the easier it is to reduce sound issues as smaller areas have less problems with echo's. The reason the INTERIOR should not be square is because unwanted sound waves will bounce off walls, and if 2 walls are opposite, but parallel to each other, the sound will reverberate back and forth, without losing any of its decibel magnitude (which is bad). The best way to deal with this is to have walls that are NOT parallel to each other so a sound wave hitting the wall will instead bounce off in a different direction and get reduced in decibel magnitude.
Making rooms "sound proof" or "sound attenuated" is a very complicated science.
You should also do soem reading on "sound attenutation baffles" which can be made with simple materials.
Using Thermocol, which I assume is a brand of dense foam insulation normall used in the building trade would help, but the honest best way to reduce sound is to use multiple DIFFERENT types of material as each different type will absorb different sound wavelengths.
Normal everyday sound isnt just 1 wavelength but many different ones up and down the scale and each one will react better or worse to different materials - foam (the kind used for sound baffles), rubber, wood, air gaps, drywall sheeting - each will work for a specific wavelength and the absolute "best" way would be to use all of them - but in practicale terms budget often doesn't allow that, so it would help to research which of the outside sounds are causing an issue - like traffic for example and use a material that corresponds to that frequency.
phew - long answer, but the engineering ans science of sound is more complicated than most people realise.
my advice is do LOTS of reading and research to make sure you build a sound recording area that works properly and suits your budget.
There's a lot more places to get information and a gogle search for "homemade sound recording booth" will be a good start. good luck!
You are a star. Thanks for doing this for us.
Cool! I'm a big fan of Rockwool/Roxul too!
Mechanically separate the sound foam from dry way. Make sure to tape or foam seal joints. THEN surround with drywall.
Tightly Bunched up beach towels work really well
Cool experiment! I'm super interested to know the difference between 1/2 and 5/8 sheetrock and 2 layers 5/8 inside and outside the framing. Rockwool between.
Plywood result would have been significantly better if seams were sealed with silicone (or even the duct tape used in the other experiments.)
The sound leaks come through the tiny air gaps between the wood. 4 screws will only make a seal if the pieces are perfectly flat / square surfaces / edges at point of contact.
Agreed, he could have used an acoustical caulk and let it cure for even better results. But I think he was not trying to be super scientific here. There are already STC ratings established for various wall assemblies published, and available for free for anyone to search online.
Sweet and useful experiment. Thank you.
What about plywood/sonopan or plywood/drywall? Take the two lowest and combine those.
Decoulping the two layer is best if you can't (by space or money) add mass & acoustic deading stuff. But can vary based on the type of noise though! Also, consider wrapping all the piping--a lot of noise from the stuff travelling in the pipes/duct work--can often be noisier than the motor/fan itself!
Thank You...great experimental demonstation...
What about thicker sonopan...?
You should have also tried using some 5/8 quietrock (or similar drywall).
Great vid. Fast and to the point.
Please try plywood lined by towel material (on the inside)
this is great! I wonder how two layers of drywall would hold up in this test.
No need to wonder. The tests have already been done. Do an internet search for "STC wall assemblies wood stud vs steel stud" More mass = better, but you need to seal it up really good. Green glue in between drywall even better. 3-4 sheets (or more) even better.
still inferior to two layers of marine ply
As mentioned earlier I will be doing the following for my basement studio. I will be installing Rockwood between the studs. Then using a 6mil plastic to cover the insulation. Next Sonopan. On top of the sonopan, I will use mass vinyl, then that metal clip, then 5/8 drywall. A second layer of 5/8 drywall, but I will use some carpet glue between the drywall..
On the outside of the room I will also install sonopan with mass vinyl, but with only one sheet of drwall.. I think that will provide the ultimate sound proofing method.. lets see how that works and I will post a video.. wish me luck..
Did you do it?
Air gap with a floating room construction is the best method. This is covered in depth now by books on studio design
Really excellent testing, dude! Fantastic work! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Objective, Quantitative Data & clear concise methodology…… HERETIC!!!! RUclips and the internet is no place for this heresy !!! 😂😂😂😂😂😆😆😆😆😆😆….. just kidding, glad to see there are reasonable and objective people like you still here in this world 😆😆😂😂👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The sonopan is going to work way better on low-end, rumbling noise than the drywall, which will be better on high-end noise.
Sonopan will help prevent resonant frequencies from vibrating the drywall, but loud low frequencies will pass right through Sonopan. Sonopan is way too hyped on these YT "soundproofing" videos.
What about 3/4" ply + Sonopan + MLV + 1/2" cement board? Or maybe the MLV stapled behind the studs somehow?
Is that a decent sandwich for absorbing sound?
What about plywood plus Sonopan combo?
Exactly what I looking for for a pump in my new project
Thanks, simple, but effective and informative.
This was Greta no go back and do two layers of drywall with acoustic sealant, and also rockwool /roxul safe and sound
It is not clear what frequency range is involved here. Low frequency sound penetrates material better due to its long wavelength. The only way to block low end sound is with dense material. Not surprised the plywood and drywall worked best here for that reason. Concrete or lead would work even better. That lightweight green stuff I would not expect to do much at all for blocking the low end, it's main use would be deadening high end echoes inside a room.
Sonopan does NOTHING for low frequencies. There is so much BS on the internet these days. I made 2'x4' panels with lead sheets glued to plywood, heavy as hell, but MUCH better at blocking low frequencies.
One thing to consider is that a room has ducting and venting, and occasionally windows. These can be sources of leaking and sound conduction that leads to reducing the soundproofing capabilities of the green board.
From what I understand, mass is what actually soundproofs and absorption (rockwool, etc.) only does so much (Plus helps with echo).
What I don't quite get yet is how mass actually soundproofs. I keep reading about "blocking" sound waves. Or hindering transmission. But doesn't that mean it has to absorb sound in some way? It can't just be reflecting the sound till infinity inside the room.
Same thing with mass loaded vinyl - It's very heavy, so it's good for actual soundproofing. But it's also flexible, unlike drywall. How is it actually blocking sound getting to the outside?
I keep hearing that soundproofing with mass is a different thing than absorption.
Also - When looking at sound proofing drawings, you often see (from the outside to the inside) : A layer of rockwool, then an air gap, another layer of rockwool, another air gap, then 2 drywall layers with a limp layer like green glue inbetween.
Why is it in that order with the drywall part being on the inside of the room. Doesn't that mean it's echoing like crazy and you have to get more absorbers? Why not do it the other way around, with the rockwool layers on the inside and drywall on the outside?
All depends if you are trying to prevent the noise from getting out, or getting in. I would bet most people that watch these vids are trying to prevent noise from coming into their house or bedroom.
The best is a combo of different materials that provide: mass, blocking, decoupling (with a significant air gap), absorption, deadening vibrations then sealing the entire thing air tight.
@@JP5466 Thanks so much for the reply! That indeed sounds like the perfect combination!
I’m confident a double dry wall box would perform almost as good as sonopan with drywall but for less money.
Would have buin interesting to have a frequency chart to show what frequency passed thought the different materials. Foam probably was only taking out the higher frequencies whilst letting the mid and the lower through
Foam by itself is not designed for soundproofing. It is used between air wall gaps to dampen resonance so the walls wont act like a drum. It is used as part of a system.
I like this short format 'Just the facts ma'am' format.
I wish you used 5/8" drywall instead of 1/2" as that's typically what's used when doing sound reducing assemblies, I believe it would out perform the thicker 3/4" plywood?
You need more of an air gap to allow more range of sound pressure wave lengths of different frequencies. You might consider testing with dynomat too...
Excellent! I would like to see the 5/8" drywall. Soundboard too.
My question is if you keep the meter inside the boxes, what's the result? How to eliminate outside noise to the cabin?
Good vid. Would have been nice to see a double layer of 5/8 drywall
Very useful experiment. Thanks for sharing!
Wish you tried the spray foam insulation