Can you sound deaden a room to much? (1 Viewer)

[StevenDE]

I've been searching around here on ways to sound deaden a room both for improving the sound of the system I have and trying to keep sounds from outside the room from coming in. My question after reading everything is this. Is it possible to make a room to dead? Do the benifits of sound deadening a room only make sense for movies or dose it make listening to music that much better? sorry if this has asked befor but I haven't come across it in my searching. Thanks for your time and help.

Steven

 

[John S]

In a good dead room, more power will be needed to attain certain volume levels. But it should by all accounts sound better on both music and movies.

 

[Ted Lee]

i'm not too technical in this area, but i definitely agree that you can over-dampen a room. if it was as easy as nulling all the sound, all you would have to do is put foam on all the walls.

music and movies are lively, they have transients, etc. if you deaden a room too much, you kill all that stuff.

i've read some articles in sght by that russ h. guy. while i think he may be a bit fanatical, i agree with his assessment on being careful of how you attempt to adjust the room acoustics.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

You are mixing Sound Isolation and Early-Reflection reduction.

In general, the more you isolate the room, the better. But then things like the sound of your heating/AC can become a problem.

Some people have tried to totally deaden the area up front, but then they dont like the results. It's too ... 'lifeless'.

Remember that your favorite movie theater or concert hall is a large, open area with some reflection (or at least a sense of space). If you deaden the room too much, you ruin the simulation.

It's better to spot-treat areas behind and to the sides of your speakers to diffuse early-reflections. You WANT the other areas to reflect because this is how you get a sense of space. No reflections means no location/space information.

Have you tried "Sound Studio Construction on a Budget" by F.Alton Everest? It does a good job of explaining the issues, then gives some examples of how to solve them in several different sound rooms and 2 home theater rooms.

 

[ChrisWiggles]

ABSOLUTELY you can kill a room by overdoing the treatments.

IMO a room that is ridiculously overabsorbed is far worse than one a normal living room space that isn't treated.

You can't approach acoustic treatments from a "the more the better" perspective. There are certain qualities you want the room to have, and there are ways to reach that, but just putting treatments all over the place is not the correct approach.

Acoustics within the space is quite different than isolating the room from outside noise (and also to keep loud movies/music in the room).

Also, Everest's book: the master handbook of acoustics covers all these topics for listening rooms and such as well.

Different rooms and acoustic spaces are designed for very different purposes, as you will quickly notice as you move from a symphony hall, to a more heavily treated theater, to a 2-channel listening room.

 

[Derek B]

If this is true, then why do Sound recording studios have sound deadening material covering the entire room? Is this a completely different subject?

 

[ChrisWiggles]

They don't.
It is a different goal.

It is a different purpose, and they usually dont have dead recording rooms at all. Sometimes dead booths for vocals, but certainly not for most recordings.

 

[StevenDE]

Thanks for the info. I think I'll look on amazon.com for that book.

Steven