Considerations for creating a killer music room

Sound is an important part of how we perceive the world around us. Throughout history, people have been looking for ways to manipulate sound waves into feelings. It’s one of the world’s favorite art forms. For those of us who appreciate it more than others, creating a music room is a natural eventuality.

Now that we all have some spare time on our hands, a lot of people are taking the opportunity. If you’ve been batting music room ideas in your head, there has never been a better time to take the plunge than now. 

Why create a music room?

Giving yourself a dedicated space to enjoy making or listening to music has a lot of benefits. Entering your own, calming world of music lowers stress and blood pressure. It gives you an escape. It also gives you a central location to store and display your music collection.

But, some of those benefits will be lost if you have a poor music room design. If the room sounds bad, or it emanates too much sound, it may not accomplish the things you want from it. Let’s look at ways to avoid that.

Insulating your music room

The single most important thing you can do for your music room is to insulate it well. If you’re building from scratch or are willing to take it down to the studs, you can use thick insulation and acoustic building materials to help you out. This is no small project. Plus, if you don’t own the home or apartment, it may be unrealistic.

When you want to treat your existing space without all the mess, some great music room ideas provide soundproofing without the headache. 

The main spaces to tackle are any large, hard surfaces, as they reflect sound waves most. These would be your walls, floor, and ceiling.

Tile or hardwood floors can be huge offenders. If you throw some rugs or carpeting down, that should be sufficient to help out quite a bit with any hard floor. Tackling the walls and ceiling require more planning.

Treating the walls

Music room wall decor will either help you or hurt you, so let’s make sure it helps. Lots of people automatically gravitate towards the acoustic foam that looks kind of like egg cartons because that is what they are familiar with.

While they provide a somewhat interesting texture and decent sound absorption, there are a lot of other great products that can match any aesthetic. Newer products also produce better sound absorption than standard foam.

Acoustic Wall Art panels are a great way to achieve the perfect music room wall design that considers acoustics. One acoustic wall art option is the hollow type. These are great for hiding wall-mounted speakers, allowing the music to emanate from your wall art.

If you prefer that they have sound-absorbing properties, you can choose the option with acoustic backing included. Whichever option matches your needs, they can both be printed with several beautiful stock images to match your style. If you have an image of your own that you’d like instead, we can do that too.

Treating your windows

If the room has a lot of windows, you’ll want to address them. Windows are an acoustic nightmare. Not only are they made of hard, sound-reflecting glass, but they open the room to outside sounds. If you have single-pane windows, your music will likely drift into neighboring yards and houses. Additionally, the noises that originate outside will probably make their way in, distracting you from the music you love.

If replacing all your windows is out of the question, you may want to consider some acoustical window inserts. AcrylAcoustic™ Window Treatments focus on high-performance sound reduction at all frequency levels. They feature up to 80% sound reduction with an STC (sound transmission class) rating as high as 51. Not only do these window treatments provide superior sound reduction, but they look great and provide thermal benefits to boot. Their price point makes them an ideal solution to tackling sound-leaking windows.

If your windows are decent sound insulators, but simply reflect too much sound, you may want to opt for acoustical curtains. They provide more sound control than traditional curtains and give you the added benefit of light control. They are constructed with sound-absorbing materials, sandwiched between the decorative fabric and a blackout layer. The blackout layer reflects thermal energy outside while eliminating blinding rays and glares.

Treating the ceiling

The last large surface you are going to need to address is the ceiling. Now that we’ve got your music room ideas flowing, this will be a piece of cake. Not only will treating it gain you extensive audio improvements, but you will amaze all your friends with your attention to detail. Start by exploring options you can easily install by yourself.

AG Starfield Ceiling Tiles are great for music rooms and movie rooms alike. The starry night sky design provides a beautiful ambiance while treating the whole ceiling with sound-absorbing properties. Installation is simple enough that you can do it yourself. Acoustically treating your ceiling may be just the bump you need to turn your great music room into a stellar one.

Choosing your furniture

Now that you’ve created a beautiful music room, it’s time to add some seating. When choosing music room furniture, make sure to strike a good balance between function and fashion. Your furniture needs to look great in the room and must also be comfortable and ergonomic enough to support you in your musical endeavors. Hard surfaces like metal chairs look nice but don’t do much to help you acoustically. Choose soft furniture instead. Soft furniture not only feels great but is much more likely to absorb some of the sound waves created in your new room.

Putting your music room ideas into practice

Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with some music room ideas, it’s time to decide what you want out of your space. If you are working with a tight budget, you may want to start with the walls and problem areas first. Once you see how that impacts your acoustics, you can proceed from there.

If you are going for a more professional sound studio, you may want to check out some of the room packs that were designed by industry professionals to give you results you’ll love.