Should I add drywall or not? Converting garage into listening room. Goal is flat/accurate frequency response.

[destinationsound]

I do not need soundproofing. My neighbors do not mind sound exiting the garage. I have a quiet neighborhood and do not care about outside noises entering the room.

Here is a brief overview of my garage structure.
- The outer most siding is vinyl with a half-inch Styrofoam insulation.
- under that is the original wood tongue and groove siding.
– then it is just the exposed bones of the wall, the 2 x 4 framing
– the ceiling is exposed rafters with a tongue and groove wood, then shingles.

Option one would be for me to fill the wall and ceiling cavities with Rockwool insulation, then drywall over it and finally add my room treatment on top of the drywall. My first assumption is, this would create more problems in terms of frequency balance, because the room would become more of a resonator, and of course, high frequency reflections.

The second option, ia to leave the wall framing exposed, add rockwool insulation in the cavities and place sound fabric over top. I of course, would also add diffusers and could potentially double or triple up the insulation in certain spots for bass trapping.

The second option sounds like a better choice. Because, I can utilize the space, more efficiently, I have options to add diffusion and absorption.

Considering soundproofing is not a concern, Can you see any reason why I should add DryWall and seal the walls?

 

[kemmler3D]

Hey, welcome to ASR!

My personal take is option 2 seems more practical. The drywall will probably be more reflective than the framing, and the framing might scatter sound more, so it seems fine to keep it as-is.

Drywall has an aesthetic argument in its favor, but I'm guessing that's not on your list of priorities.

I think adding rockwool between the studs would be a handy way to improve high frequency absorption, to the extent you need that.

As ever, take measurements and listen before adding significant amounts of treatment, I would definitely recommend leaning on diffusion as much as you do absorption in an unfinished room, since you won't have as much flutter echo and whatnot as a finished space.

 

[Chrispy]

My garage/workshop I left open (walls/rafters) aside from the pre-existing pegboards (which cover a fair amount of wall space). The open parts of the cement floor is largely covered with rubber gym type mats. Lots of stuff in there to act as diffusers I suppose. I don't use any one particular listening spot really, except maybe the workbench gets more time than other workstations (no cars go in there). Haven't bothered measuring but the 7.3 system I've got out there sounds pretty good.

 

[kyuu]

Curious if your garage space is currently echo-y? If so, then you might want to add some rockwool between the joists. If not, you probably want to be careful not to make the space too dead by overabsorbing the reflections. Maybe throw a rug on what I assume is the concrete floor.

No need for drywall for acoustic purposes, most likely.

 

[JustJones]

First thing that comes to mind being a practical sort is where do you live? Is this space going to need heating in winter and AC in summer? I would definitely insulate the walls and the ceiling as well unless you're in a mild climate and heating and AC isn't needed.

 

[destinationsound]

Curious if your garage space is currently echo-y? If so, then you might want to add some rockwool between the joists. If not, you probably want to be careful not to make the space too dead by overabsorbing the reflections. Maybe throw a rug on what I assume is the concrete floor.

No need for drywall for acoustic purposes, most likely.

I'll definitely be shooting the room and adding proper amounts of reflection, baffling and diffusion.

It's not all that echoey. Drywall and hardwood rooms are probably 3x more echo.

Current garage floor is sealed concrete. I'll be adding laminate faux wood flooring.

I think the open vaulted ceiling helps with reflections as well

 

[destinationsound]

First thing that comes to mind being a practical sort is where do you live? Is this space going to need heating in winter and AC in summer? I would definitely insulate the walls and the ceiling as well unless you're in a mild climate and heating and AC isn't needed.

Good point!

Ok so if I insulate without drywall, the room may be too "dead."

I'm in California zone 9a/b, but I definitely want it climate controlled.

 

[DVDdoug]

I've read Ethan Winer's book and he says drywall can act like a resonant bass trap. (He doesn't say it makes a great bass trap but he implies that it can help.) But of course it will reflect mid & high frequencies.

 

[destinationsound]

I've read Ethan Winer's book and he says drywall can act like a resonant bass trap. (He doesn't say it makes a great bass trap but he implies that it can help.) But of course it will reflect mid & high frequencies.

Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chrispy]

I think your first step before doing anything is getting it furnished as intended for use and taking measurements to see just what you want to do where....

 

[OldHvyMec]

I've built a few rooms in my life, and here is an observation when I was building. With exterior siding installed and bear studs, the room is pretty lively
BUT the studs do break up the echo quite a bit. Even with open rafters. When you add batting insulation like R19 on top and R11 with 2X4 studs and the
of course, the floor is covered by now, the room is better than 90% of the treated rooms I've been in. It's one of the best ways to treat a room. I've never
used @Rockwool except for growing cannabis, so I haven't got a clue how it sounds with stud/insulation. As soon as you start sheeting the room it is an
instant echo chamber. LOL

I always wanted to JUST insulate the room and hang something that would keep me from breathing free-floating fiberglass and rock wool. I KNOW
how coarse fiberglass sounds and how it works in a sound room.

It is quiet even with bare concrete floors. You can literally hear a pin drop but there is ZERO echo. As soon as I sheet rocked with 5/8 fire rock it was one
noisy room. The decay rate went through the roof vs very good accurate sound and a decay rate that went to instant zero decay, comparatively.

I don't know about bass traps and sheet rock, but that has never been my experience. Sheetrock is as reflective as a cave from what I've experienced.
It's pretty good for fire protection and easy to get smooth or add texture. The one thing I look forward to with SR is paint. LOL

Regards.

 

[Jim Taylor]

These articles cover many of the considerations of design and the details of furnishing a listening room. Putting these articles all together gives you an overview of the various inherent problems and the possible solutions available to you.

A Beginner's Guide To Acoustic Treatment

An account of an acoustic newbies journey from bare walls to a well-balanced, sonically pleasant space.

www.soundonsound.com

Building a Listening Room - The Absolute Sound

Building a Listening Room -

www.theabsolutesound.com

Building The Ultimate Home Listening Room: A Step-by-Step Guide - Audiophil.io

Learn how to build the ultimate home listening room with this step-by-step guide. From choosing the right location to optimizing acoustics, we've got you covered.

audiophil.io

Designing listening rooms - CHRISTENSEN AUDIO

A practical guide to acoustical design of listening rooms and placement of loudspeakers Listening rooms work best, when they are designed from the viewpoint of the loudspeaker first, and secondly for the listener. The walls near the loudspeaker should work as an extension of

christensen.audio

How To Build The Ideal Audiophile Listening Room – Acoustic Fields

Last week one of our YouTube subscribers messaged me the following "My wife is finally going to let me build a dedicated audiophile listening room...

www.acousticfields.com

Room acoustics guide

How acoustic treatment can make a good audio system sound even better

www.crutchfield.com

Some of the information might not be pertinent to you ... just use what you need.

 

[BlackTalon]

I'm in California zone 9a/b, but I definitely want it climate controlled.

I think you are referencing the 'growing zone', which does not dictate air barrier placement, potential need for vapor retarder, insulation r-value requirements, etc. Those are governed by Zones defined in the IECC. Here is a map -- https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map

What zone are you in?

 

[Mr. Widget]

Ok so if I insulate without drywall, the room may be too "dead."

A friend built out a room with 100% of the walls covered in exposed fiberglass insulation and it was waaaaay too dead. I think you will want 50% or less to be fabric covered insulation. Some experimentation will be required.

I don't think it is possible to use too much diffusion.

 

[destinationsound]

I think your first step before doing anything is getting it furnished as intended for use and taking measurements to see just what you want to do where....

Correct. I wanted to decide

I think you are referencing the 'growing zone', which does not dictate air barrier placement, potential need for vapor retarder, insulation r-value requirements, etc. Those are governed by Zones defined in the IECC. Here is a map -- https://basc.pnnl.gov/images/iecc-climate-zone-map

What zone are you in?

gotcha. I'm a 3 (brown)

 

[alex-z]

Ok so if I insulate without drywall, the room may be too "dead."

Making a room "too dead" is an good problem to have. You can easily fix it by covering 25-50% of your mineral wool insulation with wooden slates. That way you retain nearly all the low frequency absorption and keep a reasonable amount of mid and high frequency reflection.

Mineral wool does shed fewer fibres than fibreglass in my experience but I would still recommend a fabric covering such as black denim. A DIY air purifier with an MPR 1200 rating is also nice.

Keep in mind that porous absorption isn't ideal for fixing axial room modes, you need a fairly low density and a lot of thickness for that. Mineral wool is really good for managing tangential and oblique modes however, leaving you free to optimize the axial modes with a good seating position and 1-2 subwoofers.

 

[destinationsound]

Making a room "too dead" is an good problem to have. You can easily fix it by covering 25-50% of your mineral wool insulation with wooden slates. That way you retain nearly all the low frequency absorption and keep a reasonable amount of mid and high frequency reflection.

Mineral wool does shed fewer fibres than fibreglass in my experience but I would still recommend a fabric covering such as black denim. A DIY air purifier with an MPR 1200 rating is also nice.

Keep in mind that porous absorption isn't ideal for fixing axial room modes, you need a fairly low density and a lot of thickness for that. Mineral wool is really good for managing tangential and oblique modes however, leaving you free to optimize the axial modes with a good seating position and 1-2 subwoofers.

Thanks! Great info.

I'm weighing the options of possibly paying an acoustician $500-1000 to give me a basic plan. Not pro level. Reason being I'd probably waste about that much in materials not knowing what I'm doing.

Could be worth it to have an expert consultant.