Hi all,
I'm building a home studio in my garage, which has rather leaky walls which helps with 50Hz and below quite well. My original idea was to keep the acoustic treatment as light as possible, but I've realized the walls are all built a bit differently since the garage is at the far end of the house. Because all of this it's been difficult to get the room to behave in a predictable way.

Another issue is the tilted ceiling—which, unfortunately, slopes in the wrong direction. This causes pressure points to scatter unpredictably throughout the room.

Because of these issues, I've come to the conclusion that I need to build inner walls inside the existing ones. I've been reading Philip Newell’s book, and I’m wondering if the solution he presents might be the right one for my space. Specifically, I'm referring to the approach shown in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Ve6E-lBbI&t=906s

I’d love to hear if anyone has experience with how effective this type of build is in real-life scenarios. Would something simpler still do the job, considering that this solution is quite expensive?

To make things a bit more complicated, structural elements in the garage mean I can only implement the Newell wall design along 70% of the sidewalls—leaving the final 30% untreated. Does this brake the whole system or is there still benefit using it?

Thank you in advance!

/Mike

Isolation is only as good as its weakest link.

Thank you for your reply, Jason.

Since I’m not disturbing any neighbors, I was under the impression that I could skip isolation and go straight to working on the acoustics—benefiting from not having to tame the lower frequencies. But from your reply, it sounds like building isolation walls could actually help the room behave more logically?

On a side note, all the acoustic treatments I’ve done—bass traps, side panels, even trying Helmholtz resonators—have only made the dips deeper.

Someone once said that room acoustics is black magic, and I’m starting to believe it.

Modal and even Dispersion Prediction is fascinating and somewhat helpful. But I wouldn't make them the Prime Directors in a Built or Treatment. Sound travels slower in fibre treatments, thus the Acoustic size of the room will change from the physical. REW has a facility to slice the cursor directly onto a Mode to control the frequency of the Sine Generator. When a Mode is lit up this specifically walking the room to hear and feel the depth and power of the peaks and nulls can be very encouraging to apply more and better Treatment, exactly in the best locations. DD

I assumed your newell walls were for isolation. What are they? I dont want to watch a youtube video. Treating a room can eliminate some problems which expose others, especially in regards to sbir. There is no substitution for acoustic measurements and a solid plan. If your room bleeds 50hz and below and thats not a problem, thats nice free bass trapping, but sound does go both ways, outside noise can trash your recordings. Lots more info is needed for anyone to tell you anything meaningful

Welcome back

Is it the dandan?

It is, the prodigal son returns... dont tell the acoustical end boss

Haha

When I say “Newell-style acoustic wall,” I’m referring to a broadband structure capable of affecting frequencies from around 30 Hz up to 250 Hz, according to Newell himself. It’s a multilayered wall system that includes fibrous materials, dead sheets, and layers of plasterboard—up to nine different layers in total. Despite its complexity, it’s still relatively thin. Depending on the materials used, it can be built as slim as 22 cm. With the materials I’ve sourced, I believe I can construct it with a total thickness of around 25 cm. How the layers are connected and interact with each other is also crucial, and I’m currently focused on making sure the construction is done properly to ensure maximum efficiency.

I’ll share more details soon.

You mean this?