KushKrew
New Member
I just posted this under the sound control thread, but seeing as it's a massive one I decided to post it as a new one too. Anybody has any sound questions, this really is my bag, baby!
I'm a sound engineer by profession, and soundproofing/acoustic treatment is one of my main sources of income. I'm going to lay down some 'ground rules' as far as sound traveling past where you want it goes:
1- There is a difference between soundproofing and acoustic treatment.Materials and methods used for each vary VASTLY. So if you see the word 'acoustic' on a product, it means it is designed to make the inside of a room sound good, not in any way prevent sound from traveling.
2- Sound needs AIR to move. One of the first steps you can take is to seal an area absolutely AIRTIGHT. A tiny crack of a few millimetres lets as much sound through as a door open half-way.
3- Sound is vibration, and vibration is contagious... In other words, the vibrations caused by a sound can set objects to vibrate at the same frequency, so if you have a wall that resonates at the same place as your fan, you've just turned that wall into a massive speaker...
4- Vinration can be dampened by using absobing materials. In the case of resonance where an object is set to vibrating by a sound (like the LF hum off an inline fan) simple rubber padding can make a world of difference.
5- Acoustic tiles are SHIT for stopping sound. If you do need to add an absorbing material to your walls, go for 100kg/m2 FRK semi-rigid rockwool boards, the best is made by Owens Corning. You need to mount these on frames leaving at least 20 cm of AIR between the rockwool boards and the wall. Cover them with some plywood, and make sure your seals are AIRTIGHT.
How much sound travels through something has a lot to do with density. You will NEVER stop all the sound coming out of a room constructed out of plywood sheets alone, NEVER. Concrete is the BAWS, it just hurtles everything back and bounces it around inside the room until the audio energy dissipates.
Acoustic tiles are of a very low density, their purpose is also only for the upper end of the frequency spectrum, they are simply not designed to deal with full-spectrum noise at all. In a grow, the problem sounds are all pretty low, and have tons of energy.
Rockwool boards have a density more suited to actual sound absorption within a useful frequency range far as growers are concerned. Simply affixinf them will make some difference, but in using rockwool you might need some tweaks, and it WILL DEFINITELY shrink your room inwards in the order of about 100mm at the very minimum to start being useful...
6- Door also need to be airtight. Rubber strips do a world of good, fix them to your frame so the door closes onto them making a tight seal.
7 -Glass is fucking GREAT for absorbing sound. Replacing the glass in your windows with the thickest you can afford will make a vast difference too. Windows cause a LOT of problems, there's always a sneaky little crack there somewhere. Adding thick drapes in fromt of a window dampens to absolutely magnificent levels.
I cannot stress enough that sound needs AIR to propagate, and that sound and vibration are the same thing. What you want to do is absorb it, and there are MANY things that can help.
Using an inline fan as example I'll apply the principles mentioned above:
So we want this thing DEAD quiet. Sealing off an entire room might be an option, but let's focus on just the fan. We know it vibrates and we can do something to absorb some of that, so we'll be using some rubber somehow. We also know that audio energy dissipates when moving through high density objects, so perhaps a wooden housing. And of course, it's a fan, so correct ducting is essential. We also know sound needs air to propagate so let's try give it as little as possible shall we?
Simple idea no1: Build wooden box for fan, line inside with rubber matting (to be extra safe I'd stuff it with some glasswool around the fan), seal all joins and ports with ducting meticulously so the air inside the box is completely disconnected from the atmosphere. It'll take some planning, remember odds are you'll want to take the fan OUT at some point. How you do your carpentry is none of my business, it is only a principle I am trying top share...
Any sound questions, feel free to give me a shout!
Surge
I'm a sound engineer by profession, and soundproofing/acoustic treatment is one of my main sources of income. I'm going to lay down some 'ground rules' as far as sound traveling past where you want it goes:
1- There is a difference between soundproofing and acoustic treatment.Materials and methods used for each vary VASTLY. So if you see the word 'acoustic' on a product, it means it is designed to make the inside of a room sound good, not in any way prevent sound from traveling.
2- Sound needs AIR to move. One of the first steps you can take is to seal an area absolutely AIRTIGHT. A tiny crack of a few millimetres lets as much sound through as a door open half-way.
3- Sound is vibration, and vibration is contagious... In other words, the vibrations caused by a sound can set objects to vibrate at the same frequency, so if you have a wall that resonates at the same place as your fan, you've just turned that wall into a massive speaker...
4- Vinration can be dampened by using absobing materials. In the case of resonance where an object is set to vibrating by a sound (like the LF hum off an inline fan) simple rubber padding can make a world of difference.
5- Acoustic tiles are SHIT for stopping sound. If you do need to add an absorbing material to your walls, go for 100kg/m2 FRK semi-rigid rockwool boards, the best is made by Owens Corning. You need to mount these on frames leaving at least 20 cm of AIR between the rockwool boards and the wall. Cover them with some plywood, and make sure your seals are AIRTIGHT.
How much sound travels through something has a lot to do with density. You will NEVER stop all the sound coming out of a room constructed out of plywood sheets alone, NEVER. Concrete is the BAWS, it just hurtles everything back and bounces it around inside the room until the audio energy dissipates.
Acoustic tiles are of a very low density, their purpose is also only for the upper end of the frequency spectrum, they are simply not designed to deal with full-spectrum noise at all. In a grow, the problem sounds are all pretty low, and have tons of energy.
Rockwool boards have a density more suited to actual sound absorption within a useful frequency range far as growers are concerned. Simply affixinf them will make some difference, but in using rockwool you might need some tweaks, and it WILL DEFINITELY shrink your room inwards in the order of about 100mm at the very minimum to start being useful...
6- Door also need to be airtight. Rubber strips do a world of good, fix them to your frame so the door closes onto them making a tight seal.
7 -Glass is fucking GREAT for absorbing sound. Replacing the glass in your windows with the thickest you can afford will make a vast difference too. Windows cause a LOT of problems, there's always a sneaky little crack there somewhere. Adding thick drapes in fromt of a window dampens to absolutely magnificent levels.
I cannot stress enough that sound needs AIR to propagate, and that sound and vibration are the same thing. What you want to do is absorb it, and there are MANY things that can help.
Using an inline fan as example I'll apply the principles mentioned above:
So we want this thing DEAD quiet. Sealing off an entire room might be an option, but let's focus on just the fan. We know it vibrates and we can do something to absorb some of that, so we'll be using some rubber somehow. We also know that audio energy dissipates when moving through high density objects, so perhaps a wooden housing. And of course, it's a fan, so correct ducting is essential. We also know sound needs air to propagate so let's try give it as little as possible shall we?
Simple idea no1: Build wooden box for fan, line inside with rubber matting (to be extra safe I'd stuff it with some glasswool around the fan), seal all joins and ports with ducting meticulously so the air inside the box is completely disconnected from the atmosphere. It'll take some planning, remember odds are you'll want to take the fan OUT at some point. How you do your carpentry is none of my business, it is only a principle I am trying top share...
Any sound questions, feel free to give me a shout!
Surge
Everybody here is so awesome about sharing what they know, I just thought to throw my weight behind the community. I'm extremely grateful to have discovered RIU, only thing is all these hi-tech mofos are giving me serious GAS... Gear Acquisition Syndrome HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... But yeah seriously a goldmine of useful info!
