Best practices for soundproofing your Music Studio rooms
Soundproofing refers to the noise transfer from one room to another. To control the amount of sound transfer between rooms within your Music Studio and between your Music Studio and adjoining spaces in your building it is best to think about the following:
Use dense and air-tight materials.
Walls are the most soundproof part of the studio.
Alternatively, problem areas are:
Windows
Doors
Pipe or cable pass-through
Anywhere the wall is penetrated
Shared HVAC ductwork that interconnect rooms
Walls that do not extend to the structure above (floor, ceiling or roof)
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There are two common methods for creating an effective soundproof environment:
#1 – Purchase a prefabricated vocal booths
We recommend installing a prefabricated vocal booth (such as www.whisperroom.com) in your recording studio.
Prefabricated vocal booths are a great solution for achieving a high degree of soundproofing and room acoustics.
They can be purchased in a variety of sizes and configurations depending on your needs.
#2 – Construct walls, ceilings doors and windows with the follow specifications in mind
Interior and exterior walls and ceilings. A best practice is to use dense and airtight materials.
We recommend extending a solid wall to the ceiling or roof above. If this is not possible, a “solid cap construction” ceiling (2 layers of wallboard) is recommended.
Drop ceilings are not recommended for Music Studio facilities.
Cinder blocks, poured concrete, or brick construction are ideal wall materials.
For new walls, we recommend a single stud wall with 2 layers of wallboard on each side of the studs:
Homosote sound board (inside layer)
5/8” gypsum board on the outside faces of the studs
Rockwool batt insulation in the stud cavity
Solid walls (no windows or doors) provide the highest level of soundproofing. Tips for optimizing areas that provide lower levels of soundproofing:
Windows – Ideally use double-glazed with thick lites (i.e. 3/8” to 1/2”) and a 2 to 4-inch air space in-between. One of the lites should be laminated, which provides sound reduction properties.
Doors – Use solid-core acoustical doors with non-adjustable neoprene gaskets (at the head and jambs), as well as an automatic drop seal at the threshold to provide the best sound isolation.
Pipes or cable pass-throughs – Avoid using these when possible. Tightly seal anywhere the wall is penetrated.
HVAC
If possible, use Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner & Heat Pump units (PTAC).
Forced hot air HVAC systems are not recommended in the recording studio rooms. If the existing facility uses forced hot air, you may need to contact a professional to help design a system that provides very low background noise conditions.
Avoid shared HVAC ductwork that interconnects between Music Studio rooms (especially recording studio rooms). Sound will travel through the ductwork transferring a significant amount of noise between rooms.
Audio Wiring and Connections – Audio equipment uses specialized cable connections and wiring. It is best to contract with an audio specialist to help determine the needs of your Music Studio. You may consider a cable pass-through like a “Wiremold 4000 large raceway cable channel.” This allows for a custom and organized way for interconnectivity between various rooms in a recording studio facility, but minimizes the sound that passes from one room to another.
NOTE: Any featured products are based on the experience and opinions of Network members and Music & Youth. We do not receive any financial benefit from the vendors to promote their products. We just thought they were helpful and you might like ’em.
“Found Sound” Sampling Project – Send participants on a soundscape scavenger hunt, creating unique beats using field recordings from their surroundings. Get participants to critically listen to their surroundings and use those sounds to create music that is unique as they are. These projects also empower participants to utilize the technology they bring with them everyday in innovative ways, as an alternative to traditional instruments.
Voice Memo App (FREE) Voice Memos turns your iPhone or iPad into a portable audio recorder. Easily capture and share audio clips using built in editing tools like trim, insert, and replace let you fine-tune your recordings.
Garageband (FREE) You can record (or sample) a sound using a microphone, or add an audio file, and then play it back like a melody on the Sampler keyboard.
Koala Sampler ($4) Koala is the ultimate pocket-sized sampler. Record anything with your phone’s mic instantly. Use Koala to create beats with those samples, add effects and create a track.
Flip Sampler ($10) Flip is a sample-based mobile music studio that was designed for a fast and intuitive workflow. Import your own sounds via AirDrop or the Files app, or record sounds directly with your device’s microphone or a connected iOS interface.
iMaschine 2 ($10) Create a beat on 16 pads with hundreds of professional sounds. Use the Smart Play keyboard to add melodies and basslines that are always in-key. Spice up your track with vocal and field recordings or sample directly from iTunes.
Samplr ($15) Explore the samples melody and texture using the different play modes and create compositions with the gesture recorder. Samplr is the ideal tool for audio experimentation, music composition and live performance.
Two sound design projects that will build your participants’ critical listening skills and creativity. Help your participants tap into their inner voice actor or foley artist by encouraging them to rebuild the audio for short video clips.
Create a community podcast to get youth talking about their experiences from this past year, social issues, music, sports or whatever topic they’re interested in. Have them interview each other, staff, parents and local leaders in the community.
Need more Ideas for your Summer Programming?
DIY Summer Activity Kit – Fun and unique “Do It Yourself” activities submitted by Music Impact Network members
Virtual Summer Camp – Whether your summer music camp is going to be all virtual, in-person, or a bit of both, below are some programs to help engage your participants this summer.
Send participants on a soundscape scavenger hunt – creating unique beats using field recordings from their surroundings
Music is everywhere and the sounds in the world around us can inspire an original beat or song. Found Sound Sampling Projects can get participants to critically listen to their surroundings and use those sounds to create music that is unique as they are. These projects also empower participants to utilize the technology they bring with them everyday in innovative ways as an alternative to traditional instruments.
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How to…
Equipment needed:
Smartphone or tablet
Note: Recording in stereo is essential for capturing ambience – Starting in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, you can now capture stereo audio using the built-in microphones on supported devices
Plan your Found Sound scavenger hunt – Send participants to explore sounds in various settings like:
In your building
Outside or in nature (take a field trip!)
At home or at school
Around town or in the city
Encourage them to go to a location and sit in silence and just listen to their surroundings or experiment by interacting with everyday objects in uncommon ways
Discuss and explore different environments and textures and how those sounds will influence the beat and those creating it. For example:
Sounds from nature vs. sounds of the city
Sounds from machinery vs. organic sounds
Sounds made using your body (e.g. stomps, claps, sound effects, etc) vs. sounds from an object
Sounds from everyday objects that played like instruments (e.g. touched, plucked, struck, etc)
Consider a found sound checklist – e.g. collect sounds that sound like:
Drums e.g. Kick, hi-hats, snare, toms, cymbals, shakers, etc.
Pitched samples e.g. taping on a glass or blowing into a soda bottle
Vocal samples e.g. people talking in a room or someone shouting outside, etc.
Risers e.g. doppler effect of a car or train passing by, etc.
Bass drops e.g. sound of an elevator or engine
“Seasoning” e.g. anything out of the ordinary or unique
Load samples into Sampler apps and start creating
Encourage participants to use their creativity to come up with unique sounds
Experiment with effects to manipulate the sound (e.g. EQ, reverb, chorus, gates, transposition, panning, reverse effects, pitch correction, distortion, chopping samples, etc.)
Finalize the project with ideas like:
Create a custom drum kit or sample pack and share among youth participants
Write lyrics that fit the mood that inspired the beat
Share your participants’ creations!
Optional project:
Consider starting with a premade beat (especially for younger or beginner participants)
Ask them to find samples that sound like the following:
Kick Drum
Snare Drum
Hi-Hat
Percussion
Etc.
Replace the samples and play the altered beat
Tweak the mix, effects or record new samples until participants like the sound
Perfect for beginners on guitar, drums, bass, piano or vocals
Categorized by Key
Simply add them to your library
Here is how Josh uses these playlists in his programming everyday. “I spend a lot of time building relationships with my teens. I try my best to listen to them and understand what they like – this means spending time each week listening to top 40 music. When a participant requests a song or I come across a popular song, I learn it and add it to the playlist (if appropriate). This way I have go-to songs ready for participants to learn which keeps them motivated to keep playing.”
Do you have a Spotify list that your participants can’t get enough of? Please share it on the Music Impact Network Facebook Group and we’ll add it to the list.
Created to assist advanced, stylistically diverse female guitarists with their educational development.
The Smart Women in Music (SWIM) Fund – The SWIM Fund supports women in the music products industry in the development of their leadership proficiencies and aspirations.
SoundGirls.com – Extensive list of scholarship information
If you have a music themed Women’s History Month resource or project to share, please post it on the Music Impact Network Facebook Group and we’ll add it to the list.
If you have a music themed Black History Month resource or project to share, please post it on the Music Impact Network Facebook Group and we’ll add it to the list.
Emphasize key events and leaders in Black History while creating an original beat
“I used this large group collaborative project during Black History Month to help teach my preteens and teens about their own history – for example, many of them didn’t know the basics of historical events and leaders. I combined an educational approach (researching basic Black History facts) with beat making in our studio to create an original song that we rehearsed, recorded and performed for the rest of our Club.” – Josh Alfonzo
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How to…
Organize/print age-appropriate historical facts about key individuals, leaders and events to explore during Black History Month – Example resources include:
Given the COVID related limitations on the number of youth in a room and limits on contacts with staff members, here are some thoughts on how to have an instructor in one room providing lessons to a group of youth in another room.
Overview
The easiest way to do this is by setting up a Zoom session between an instructor and the various youth participants. The general idea is that each participant joins the same Zoom session and the instructor can watch them play their music. The instructor can also offer one-on-one feedback by using Breakout Rooms. The following describes the process in greater detail.
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How to run a Zoom music session
The instructor invites each participant to join the same Zoom session. Each participant will need to have their own Zoom device to join the session, which could be any of the following:
Laptop
Desktop
Chromebook
iPad
Smart phone
NOTE: It would be great to be able to connect the instruments or the production equipment directly to the participant’s Zoom device, but unfortunately this capability does not currently exist for Zoom – so the Zoom device really just captures the video and audio of the participant using their instrument or production gear.
The instructor uses Zoom to see and hear every participant as they perform
The instructor runs a workshops without being physically present with the participants
All participants sign into the same Zoom meeting
Instructor provides participants with general instructions and expectations for the lesson
Participants can all be in the same room, or they can be isolated in different rooms
Using Zoom breakout rooms
With Zoom breakout rooms, each participant can be in their own breakout room to get individual instruction, and then be added back into the larger Zoom session for group instruction.
Participants could be assigned to different breakout rooms depending on things such as their:
Skill
Song choice
Instrument
Musical Equipment Recommendations
In order to get the best musical sound using the built in microphone of each Zoom device, we would suggest following these guidelines for the various Workshops your instructor might lead.
Voice Workshops
For basic Voice workshops you can use the built in microphone of the device your participant is using to connect to Zoom. This may not be of high quality, but is fine for this purpose.
Optional – Advanced setups could include an external microphone and audio interface
Piano Workshops
We recommend the participants play on a Digital piano with built-in speakers. The sound of the piano is picked up by the built in microphone of the device your participant is using to connect to Zoom.
We highly recommend using an iPad-based Portable Music Production Station – $1200/each. This will give each participant an iPad, midi-keyboard, microphone and controller – everything they need for making beats.
NOTE: Any featured products are based on the experience and opinions of Network members and Music & Youth. We do not receive any financial benefit from the vendors to promote their products. We just thought they were helpful and you might like ’em.
To download the full, Essential Musical “PPE” (ZIP File) – Click here:
Or… Download by individual links below:
Programs
Creative ways Music Impact Network Members are adapting Programs to keep their participants from getting “Zoomed Out”. Try these best practices for virtual or hybrid programming:
Participants create a simple Google Site using drag and drop templates to showcase who they are and their personal/musical achievements
Portable
Equipment
Social distancing is challenging for small facilities. “Expand your walls” and involve more participants by making music in the gym or even outside with these Portable Equipment solutions
Everything needed to make beats and record on the go.
Can be set up anywhere (e.g. outside, gyms, etc) – Easy to clean and sanitize – Equipment is 100% battery operated – Mounted/packaged in lightweight portable cases
Solutions to leverage your existing music equipment and make music anywhere
To download the full, Essential Musical “PPE” (ZIP File) – Click here:
Need more ideas?
The “Back to School Backpack” features program resources and ideas including Fun musical Icebreakers, New Student Orientation tools, Programs, Projects and Performance ideas, and cool gear you could buy. – Originally posted – Fall 2019
Stay@Home – Play@Home is a curated a list of programs and resources that will help your organization and participants transition to virtual programming – Originally posted – Spring 2020
Participants create short videos and contribute to virtual ensemble, songwriting, and open mic projects
The novelty of ZOOM is wearing off but many music programs still need virtual solutions to engage their participants. Flipgrid is a simple, free, and accessible video discussion experience for educators and their participants. Basically, an “Instagram” type of platform where participants can record and share short videos with their peers while ultimately you control who has access to the projects.
Music Staff email used to subscribe must be a .org or .edu email domain
Participants can use any email to join
Benefits of Flipgrid:
Many schools already use it – youth are familiar with it
Not public – Videos are only available to participants, staff and parents that you invite
It’s playful and fun (e.g. video effects)
No video/audio compression
Simple and accessible (easier than uploading to google drive, etc)
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How to…
Example #1 – Virtual Ensemble We’ve all seen the “grid” style virtual ensemble videos and while professional musicians might be able to pull this off with nothing but a key signature and click track, young beginners may need some additional support.
Create an audio “Conductor Track” (in a DAW) to help virtually conduct your participants with:
Correct Key
Tempo/Click track
Song Form verbal cues and count-ins
Performance instructions (e.g. “Don’t forget to smile”, etc)
Video cues (e.g. “turn off your video… now”)
Upload Conductor Track to Flipgrid and share topic link and instructions with your participants
Each participant then “Records a Response” using their cell phone
Video of themselves playing along with or singing along with the Conductor Track
Participant instructions (to sync audio and video):
Open Flipgrid App – Click “Record a Response”
Open the Conductor Track in Google Drive – press play
Count along with the 1 or 2 measures of the Conductor Track (e.g. “1, 2, 3, 4”) before starting to play or sing. Counting will help sync the audio/video from other participant’s videos
Switch back to Flipgrid to view yourself while recording
Tips for recording in Flipgrid
Use your cell phone and a set of earbuds that have a built in microphone
This will isolate the audio and video of each participant’s performance
Invite vocalists and instrumentalists to participating until you have a complete track
Provide participants with video feedback and have them re-record if necessary
Edit the performances together in iMovie, Final Cut or other video editing software
