That’s right, we built a recording studio inside our skoolie! In this guide, we walk you through the steps of soundproofing the floor, walls, and ceiling of a mobile studio.
Previous Steps
At this stage, it’s expected that you already:
The 4 Principles of Soundproofing
Chances are, you have already spent hours researching how to soundproof your space. If you have, you’ve learned that the main principles of soundproofing are mass, damping, absorption, and decoupling.
This is how we did our best to cover all four:
- Mass. We used mass loaded vinyl (MLV) and 1/2 inch plywood for our “green glue sandwiches”, resulting in 1 inch thick plywood walls. This use of MLV and thick plywood walls was all about increasing the amount of mass a soundwave has to travel between the outside of the bus and the inside of the studio.
- Damping. We used green glue, sandwiched between two rigid layers of 1/2 inch plywood, to provide some damping defense. Learn more about what green glue does here.
- Absorption. We chose mineral wool as our tool for absorption. Mineral wool is commonly used for acoustic absorption panels in recording studios and performing arts centers. We included it inside the long walls. On the short walls, it is exposed and covered in canvas, forming soft walls. Exposed, canvas-wrapped mineral wool also covers the inside of the studio doors. This doubles as sound absorption panels and helps reduce reflections inside the studio itself, so that the space is suitable for mixing recordings.
- Decoupling. We did our best to decouple the studio walls and ceiling frame from the outer shell of the bus. We did this by reducing the amount of places the inner frames met the outer frame of the bus, to the greatest extent possible. Wherever they did meet, a piece of vibration foam was placed between them.
However you build your mobile studio, try to cover as many of these principles as possible. If you haven’t spent some good time understanding these principles yet, check out this article.
The Tutorial Video
This video goes hand-in-hand with the step-by-step guides below (minutes 8:00-23:42). As always, get in touch if you have any questions!
Let’s dive in!
Soundproofing the Studio Floor (Video 8:00-9:33)
Tools & Materials for the Floor:
- Green glue (5 gal)
- Sausage caulking gun (this model has a great video showing how it converts for bulk loading)
- Wood screws
- 1/2 inch plywood (quantity depends on the size of your studio floor, we used ~2 sheets)
- Impact Driver + Drill Combo Kit
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Steps:
- Apply green glue to the subfloor. Follow the instructions on the bucket regarding the quantity to apply (or just gauge the amount we used by viewing our video at minute 9:14).
- Lay the second layer of 1/2 plywood on top of the green glue, creating a “green glue sandwich”.
- Secure the top plywood sheet to the subfloor using wood screws.
Soundproofing the Studio Walls (Long & Short Walls)
Tools & Materials for the Walls:
- 2×2 wooden boards
- L-brackets
- Green glue + sausage caulk gun
- 1/2 inch plywood (quantity depends on the size of your studio walls, we used ~8 sheets)
- Wood screws
- Heavy duty duct tape
- 1 lb/sqft mass loaded vinyl with foam backing (we had about 15 sq ft to work with)
- This is the exact stuff we used (you’ll have to order directly from Soundown Corporation)
- This is a slightly cheaper option
- Loctite PL 530 (one tube)
- Loctite PL 3X (one tube)
- A degreaser
- Rockwool Safe & Sound insulation (3 inch thick)
- A stone wool insulation knife
- Acoustic caulking sealant
- A jig saw
- Impact Driver + Drill Combo Kit
Soundproofing the Short Walls (Video 9:39-11:31) Steps:
- Cut a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood to match the short wall frame. This will be the first plywood layer in the “green glue sandwhich”.
Tip: Building walls to match the curved ceiling of the bus is tough. It helps to make a cardboard template first. Cut a piece of cardboard to match the curve, continuing to refine it over and over until it matches the curve completely. Then use that template to mark your plywood before cutting the curve into the plywood with a jig saw.
- Create an exact copy of the first layer of plywood, also using 1/2 inch plywood. Now you have both “layers” of the “green glue sandwich” ready to go.
- Secure this first layer to the wall frame using wood screws.
- Apply green glue to the second layer, then place directly over the first layer so that both layers are perfectly flush.
- Secure both layers together using wood screws.
- Repeat this process with all four short walls, always on the outer wide of the wall (the side of the wall pointing away from the studio).
Soundproofing the Long Walls (Video 11:40-20:50) Steps:
- Build a frame using 2×2 boards, securing the boards together with a combination of wood screws and L-brackets. Try to build the frame to fit entire, uncut pieces of rockwool batting. When it is finished, it will look something like this:
- Secure the wooden frame to the short walls and and to the floor using a wood screws and L-brackets. Wherever the top of the frame touches the frame of the bus above the windows, insert a strip of vibration foam. For good measure, we also lined the back of the frame’s highest board with a strip of MLV.
- Cut the MLV to match the size of the upper windows.
- Thoroughly degrease the windows.
- Glue the MLV sections to the upper windows using Loctite PL 530, then secure in place with duct tape while it cures. The MLV may bend away from the window. To keep the MLV pressed firmly against the window while the adhesive cures, place a small plywood board over the MLV and hold it in place with scrap wood wedged between the plywood board and the frame.
- Fill in the frame with 3 inch rockwool batting. In the video, we mistakingly say it is 3.5 inches. The rockwool we used in the studio is 3 INCHES. It’s the rockwool we used in the rest of the bus that is 3.5 inches.
- Secure the first layer of 1/2 inch plywood to the frame using wood screws. Seal off all seams between plywood sheets with acoustic sealant. Also seal where the plywood meets the short walls.
- Apply green glue to the first layer of 1/2 plywood.
- Secure the 2nd layer of 1/2 plywood over the green glue, creating a “green glue sandwich”. Secure the two 1/2 inch sheets together with wood screws.
- Once again, use acoustic sealant everywhere two pieces of plywood meet as well as everywhere plywood meets the short walls.
- Surround all electrical boxes with pieces of MLV secured Loctite PL 3X. The MLV patches we showed in the video (minute 18:50) were samples donated by Soundown Corporation. You can easily recreate these by cutting pieces from your MLV roll and gluing them with Loctite.
Soundproofing the Studio Ceiling (Video 21:01-22:45)
Tools & Materials for the Ceiling:
- 3/4 inch bendable plywood (quantity depends on the size of your mobile studio, we used ~3 sheets)
- Sheet metal screws
- Drill bits matching the size of your sheet metal screws (buy 3 because chances are you’ll have a few break)
- Blue Sylomer TSS vibration foam strips, cut into small squares (we had about 3ft to work with)
- This is the exact stuff we used (you’ll have to order directly from Soundown Corporation)
- If you decide to look for a different option, read up on Sylomer here and try to find another material with similar soundproofing qualities
- Rockwool Safe & Sound insulation (3 inch thick)
- A stone wool insulation knife
- Masking tape (buy this in bulk to save in the long run, you’ll use tons of it when painting your exterior)
- Wood screws
- A staple gun with 3/8 or 1/2 inch (crown-width) staples and a brad nailer for 23 or 21 gauge brad pins (invisible nails)
- This kit might be worth the investment (it includes nailers and a crown stapler)
- A jig saw
- Impact Driver + Drill Combo Kit
- Access to an air compressor or buy your own (both the staple gun and brad nailer require compressed air)
Steps:
- Secure furring strips along the ceiling, perpendicular to the metal ribs of the bus. Secure the furring strips to the ribs of the bus using sheet metal screws. Pre-drill the holes in the ribs, even if you are using self tapping screws. Wherever a furring strip is secured to a rib, place a square of vibration foam between the two.
- Cut the rockwool into sections to fill the ceiling space. Reduce these sections to 2″ thickness, using this method:
- Secure the sections of rockwool to the ceiling using masking tape.
- Install bendable plywood over the insulation, securing it to the furring strips with wood screws and brad nails. Use wood screws where two pieces of plywood meet to form a seam. Use brad nails (invisible nails) in the areas far from the seams.
- Secure the seams together using crown staples so that the seams are flush.
- The seams have a bit of a Frankenstein thing going on, but later they will be covered by strips of bendable plywood secured with brad nails.
And that’s that!
Our next studio construction guide will show how we sealed off the studio doors and hatch, finished the inside walls, and then built a studio desk, closet space, and murphy bed inside the mobile studio. Stay tuned!
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So you’re building a skoolie, huh?
We feel your pain, my friend! We also know how good it feels to finally make a dream reality.
Our skoolie took 9 months and $28,000 to complete. We documented the entire build and are slowly building a series of guides on every step of the bus conversion process.
We spent a crap ton of time figuring out how to do this and that. We also could have saved a few bucks along the way. We hope our tutorials help save you some time and money!
Our TOP 5 Bus Conversion Tools & Materials:
- 5-in-1 Painters Tool (you will use this a MILLION times)
- Impact Driver & Drill Combo Kit (there won’t be a day you won’t use this)
- 100% Silicone (buy in bulk to save a LOT of money!)
- Angle Grinder (get used to using this ALL the time!)
- Table Saw (it will be nearly impossible to complete your conversion without this. It’s WORTH the investment!)
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