FREE Soundproofing Workshop: www.soundproofyourstudio.com/workshop

I really enjoyed your presentation on the topic, articulated well and in depth, the why does this work backed by facts as well as comparisons/contrasts, examples to help illustrate the point. Kudos for callling out the marketing tactics too, they have been a doozy. Subbed 👍

Dude. This is the video I’ve been waiting for. I saw a video awhile ago with a guy who used these and the fact that no data is advertised by the company is weird. I thought it was a gimmick then, glad to know I’m not alone. I think the worst part is dubbing it “soundproofing” was my first red flag. Thank you for the information. Really enjoy your content.

Great video! I found your channel through the studio tour you did on another KZfaq channel as I dive into my research for soundproofing. (Amazon is delivering me the Rod Gervais book today!) Exciting times for me as I plan to move my studio into a creative space surrounded by a couple like-minded artists I really respect! I will be moving my studio to a 16'x15'3" room in a warehouse in an industrial complex this September. I have free reign to do any type of construction to the room that I please. I am a mixing and mastering engineer as well as an electronic music producer with walls of synths. I say that information because I rarely ever use my studio space for acoustic recording. The combination of being in an isolated area from residential living and not doing acoustic recordings has got me looking at solutons that are more cost effective solution for some "soundproofing" without aiming for the stars. I am grateful I found your videos because I had just learned about MLV and Sonopan in other videos and thought it might be a simpler solution than building a double wall. My situation is quite unique because I am more worried about external sound coming into my studio and interrupting my ability to work rather than me trying to isolate my sound from disturbing others. The owner of the warehouse is the Southwests main dealer and repair man for a major PA speaker manufacturer so there will be times when horn loaded PA systems are being tested on the facilities. Is a dual 5/8" drywall with r15 insulation on a single wall with no air gap enough for me to at least get some level reduction? I don't need total isolation but it would be nice to only hear a low rumble if possible. Sorry for the long post and thank you again for the awesome video!! 😊

You did it! I asked you about this maybe a month or two ago and you made this vid! Love that you made it happen and I’m glad I never bought SONOpan it felt super shady when I was trying to get my hands on a panel. My only critique of the vid is you say, SONOpan is voodoo which actually is a West African religion so you’re alienating your Haitian market with stuff like that and YT could view it as hate speech, its a phrase folks say so no hate here just letting ya know love your videos keep them coming I’m a fan

Nice, thanks for the vid!

Just out of curiosity, what would you recommend for a whisper booth/vocal booth for voice over work? Im in a rented space so I can't soundproof my room, so building a vocal booth (3x4x8 ft.) seems like a viable option.

Thanks for this video. What do you recommend for soundproofing Floors?

Thank you for the video! I think you could achieve the same effect with double drywall. It's funny because it's marketed as if it's some unique material, but it's just a layer of wood.

Does 2 lb. mass loaded vinyl do considerably more to reduce noise transferred between apartments compared to 1 lb? When just applied to bare walls, would a pressure self adhesive be best to remove air gaps and provide a less permanent solution than glue or drywall?

hey Kyle! I'm looking to soundproof a double brick wall with my neighbours which I can easily hear their TV. Due to space issues, I cannot build a 2x4 wall and I can only put 1 layer of... something. Should I invest in a Sonopan and 1/4" dry wall on top or simply glue 5/8 drywall instead? Thank you for your answer, love your content!

I think its ironic that you are trashing this company for smoke and mirrors BUT you have never tested or used their product. I've used it in various ways and have been happy with its performance. I think that why it can work as a replacement for one sheet of the drywall in a double stud wall (and perform slightly better) is that it decouples the outer drywall from the wooden studs in a similar way to resilient channel. It also adds a soft deadening layer that has no conductive breaks in it. I was also happy with the way it acts like a gasket to the floor and ceiling, completley sealing them without the need for caulk. I thiink you are missing the point by suggesting that the drywall will work better, as they do totally different things, but there is no way to know for sure until some intrepid youtuber does a full head to head test comparison. Which I look forward to! Thanks for the channel...

So what do you recommend instead. I was going to use Rockwool safe and sound with sonopan

I was planning to hire contractors to install SONOpan till I saw this video. Thanks for the info! I want to reduce noise from my next door neighbor. I live in a new construction townhouse and my plan was to put SONOpan on my living room in 1st flr and directly above to my BR wall connecting to my neighbor’s side. What would you recommend if not SONOpan?

I'm wondering if SONOpan would be good for diy acoustic panels? Seeing how it's a lot cheaper than Rockwool insulation, at least here in Canada.

Great content.

Bravo sir, I say BRAVO!

Sonopan does sell to a distributer in the U.S. called FullScaleAV. Not sure why they said they don't sell Sonopan in the U.S. Sonopan is in all the home depot's in Canada. They're trying to get into the Home Depot's in the U.S. sometime next year. I don't represent them, I've just done a ton of research for my future basement studio.

So are you saying two layers of 5/8s is the same as Sonoran and one layer? I have a townhome that already has a STC of about 56 with staggered studs and 5/8s on each of our walls. Banging my head off the wall on what to do to reduce deep bass from their TV and hearing thuds.

Your channel is great! You and @AcousticsInsider give an easy but in depth view into soundproofing and room acoustics. Ever thought of doing something together? You both got a similar philosophy on how to "teach science", I think...

For what you said @ 12:41 you should try to contact them again. I saw it being sold in Home Depot yesterday 4/25/24 for $34.98 3/4 4’X8’ in Long Island. So it’s officially being sold in the USA now.

So now that drywall prices have skyrocketed and sonopan costs the same as 5/8 drywall, does this change anything?

Great analysis. Sonopan is slightly cheaper than drywall at Home Depot, so might as well use it. Unless it performs worse than drywall I don't see the problem.

I can't really build a double wall on a exterior wall. How would you build an exterior home wall to soundproof against a neighbour drumming? Great channel.

I just used it on half a residential basement in an area I wanted to isolate (rental). It goes up easy, although extremely dusty to cut. It's not as heavy as drywall, but not as stiff either. I used it as instructed on one of the options for existing structure in the pamphlet, that is I decoupled existing drywall corners, creating a gap, and put it directly over the existing drywall. The instructions made clear that removing drywall might not be worth all the extra work involved. I then used resilient channel over the sonopan, then used 1/2 acoustical drywall over the resilient channels. All corners were filled with acoustic caulk. All recommended techniques were used properly. The outcome after all the work and effort? Not impressed, I can still easily hear the dog barking quite loudly, and the wifes music where one could sing along. It does nothing for impact sound above. Lower volume sounds, like tv and normal speech are muted better definitely, but for the costs (especially the acoustic drywall) it doesn't seem to be worth the effort. I'm wishing I had removed the drywall and insulated with safe and sound first... another basement room has only the safe and sound with a drop ceiling and I believe the sound transfer to upstairs is better with safe and sound only. The other half of my project I will stick to removing the drywall and insulate, and have no plans to use sonopan this time. My 10 cents.

My understanding of how it works, is that Sonopan sits between the drywall and studs. Being that it's a soft material, it physically isolates the drywall form the studs, simulating a double wall. The benefit is that it's cheaper and used much less valuable space than a double wall. Does it work? Maybe someone can test it. They claim an STC rating on a single wall using sonopan as double wall system. If that's true, then it's a really useful product. To soundproof bass is next level stuff. You need mass and space to do that.

MSL is a manufacturing company. The company I work for buys tons of their fiber boards which are a lot like SONOpan boards because they're made of recycled wood pulp except they lack the green colouration and indents. They probably have a contract with SONOpan because they have the machines to produce the product.

You compared the Canadian price of Sonopan vs the U.S. price for 5/8 drywall. 5/8 drywall is $34 at Home Depot Canada.

Since mass is what's important, wouldn't using plywood instead of drywall offer better results? (would be more expensive for sure though ahah)

Great video. Pricing is off. SONOpan at HD in Canada $30/panel. 5/8" in Canada is also $30/panel. Like your room acoustics analysis at the end. Keep it up.

I used this to sound proof my theater room. Its hard to hear a movie playing outside since i used sonopan. And i did not decouple the wall or ceiling or use double layers of sheetrock.

Have you seen the homerenovision video?

All good points, the audio market has always been rife with snake oil. However, I think sonopan has its place. If you factor in weight, cost and ease of use; A sheet of Sonopan costs the same as a sheet of 5/8 drywall and weighs less, so it still might have a place in your system if you are trying to add to an existing system to keep the weight down. Say for instance on an engineered ceiling or a retrofit on a pre-existing wall or something. I’d absolutely love to see some low frequency tests, as I’m building a studio currently and I need to stop all sound 100% from leaking into the house from an attached garage. Drums are the killer.

Good video, so many people have been scammed by this

Did you test it ?

I am from Canada, and I also asked for the verified lab reports. They basically blew me off as well. They just sent be back the STC rating that was on their website. I was really not impressed.

This didn't exist when I sound proofed my HT room, I used 2 sheets of 5/8 with green glue on the inside and outside walls 1 sheet of QuietRock with green glue and 5/8 drywall.

It doesn't matter if it's good for soundproofing because it's not available in the U.S.

Jesus Christ. I barely have enough space in my basement to make walls that are twice as thick lol

How can you call your channel 'Soundproofing Workshop' when you provide almost no credible information on how to soundproof a space? In watching this video all that seemed to be communicated was 'don't use this...' and 'don't do that...'. With this and some of your other videos you seem to want to discredit most products claimed to be best at 'soundproofing' (i.e. Rockwool and Sonopan...and probably 'Greenglue' adhesive). You don't take anything that resembles a neutral starting position and you don't present factual evidence to support your criticisms. Build soundproof spaces for testing and comparison....otherwise......shame on you!

Thank you! I fell for their nonsense here in the UK with high levels of FOMO🤣 I'll get back to reality

Recycled wood with wood binders... sounds like plywood.

I couldn't finish your video, you use to too much assumptions and zero test (factual prof). Why instead of bla bla bla, don't you do a test for yourself? You are the one who is doing too much voodou here. If you want to make more mass than build a concrete wall and then do the whole covering. What this companies are trying to do is avoiding to spend too much money to build that mass that you you keep speak about it... Bla bla bla .... I advise anyone to check videos where they actually test the several products and layers. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nqyBicWEqLaVc6c.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ic-heNmdptXRpn0.html It seems too me that 3/4 of plywood is better than drywall but the mix of plywood and Sonopan is the winner mix. I know that some of this tests are not really for a music studio, but you can have an idea what those products really do (factual) without your voodou talking.

Dude you’re basically just guessing 😂