OSB-covered walls: a bad idea for a studio?

[Pocket Dave]

FOR THOSE WHO MAY HAVE MISSED IT, THE OP IS CONCERNED ABOUT REFLECTIVITY VS ABSORPTION.

HE DID NOT MENTION ISOLATION OR SOUND PROOFING.

Carry on.

 

[Joe Lonsdale]

OSB and drywall are almost identical in terms of reflectivity and neither are absorbent. A double skinned wall will create an air pocket which WILL BE absorbent. All these acoustic behaviours are intrinsically linked and must be addressed as a family rather than though of as separate entities to be dealt with as and when they occur. Air/impact acoustic transmission, room-size related standing waves, isolation, absorption, reflectivity... Neglect one and they all start to crumble. It's not that hard, you just need to do a bit of reading, watch a few videos and then make a plan.

 

[Dadum]

If you want to record vocals only in isolation, build a small vocal sound booth inside the room. Don’t fix the whole room. Google vocal sound booths. Don’t fix the whole room!

Here is a guy who uses acoustic blankets to make an isolated spot. You can make a more elaborate version as well (like better isolating the floor, enclose within a physical booth, etc. ). This is a cheap low end version that you can expand on as you determine the level of isolation that you *actually need*.


How to Build The Best DIY Vocal Booth (On a Budget) July 2023

 

[Bob_Ross]

Studio design and acoustics is well beyond web posts.

QFT

 

[Aloe]

hi, past me and everyone.

yesterday I ended up moving and trying the recording gear to the room. let me share some pics of how it ended up:

for now I need to record some bass, will experiment with recording something miked in a while.

it's been some time, we're using the new room as a practice/jam space and, well, yeah, it's a bright reflective room. vocals sound great in it unplugged. let's wait for conclusions until I'll really record something here, but so far it's been less problematic than I expected, so far carefully moving the speakers around resolved the problems we were facing without additional treatment.

yeah, this room also shares this crazy reflecting metal cellar. it looks great and makes everything look brighter.

by all means don't consider my posts as any kind of reference how it should be, but that's where I'm right now. cheers.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

No reason for that room not to sound fine to play in, as long as you don't overload it with volume. Perc rig indicates you already know how to do this!

 

[dannylectro]

If sound isolation / proofing is not a concern and you are focused on reflection, I would use furring strips on the OSB wall and mount 2" - 3" of 703 fiberglass board to them and cover with some cinema poly batting then finish with a nice acoustic quality fabric stretched over that. Fabric on the top 2/3rds of wall and carpet the bottom 1/3rd with a nice piece of trim between the two is nice. A drop ceiling with Nubby Tiles works well.

That is a cheap easy way to kill a room.

This is the answer.