sound proofing ideas ????

[jckid]

Hi All,
I have a question about soundproofing / blocking … I am familiar with the ridged insulation technique but I was wondering if anyone has used loose insulation for this purpose... I am looking for cheap effective alternatives to soundproofing / blocking I live in a residential area with close neighbors and renting a space is not an option… thank you in advance for all your help…



Bill
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[dcwave]

Sound proofing requires mass. Lots of mass and often sympathetic vibration elimination - i.e floating rooms. Fiber-glass, will not sound proof, it will absorb certain frequencies which help, but I guarantee a kick drum will still be heard outside.

[jckid]

I am looking for cheap effective alternatives to soundproofing / blocking I live in a residential area with close neighbors and renting a space is not an option… thank you in advance for all your help…

[robertruetz]

He answered your question... Loose insulation isn't going to provide the mass you need for "soundproofing." Adding carefully placed mass to your walls can help cut down on some of the frequencies escaping. Plugging holes can help too (meaning door/window openings and any other places sound can leak out). But there isn't some cheap, quickie product that you can apply to an already standing structure to make it "soundproof."

Check out John Sayers Recording Studio Design forum, it has got a lot of resources for home-studio builders. Search sound proofing or something like that.

There's cheap, good-quality and easy. You can usually only have two of the three.

Le_Singe

[TimOBrien]

Originally Posted by jckid

I am looking for cheap effective alternatives to soundproofing / blocking I live in a residential area with close neighbors and renting a space is not an option… thank you in advance for all your help…

You keep yelling at people all over the boards....

....it just don't work that way. No sense in getting mad when people are trying to tell you that soundproofing/blocking CANNOT be done for pennies in tiny rental spaces.

*** We don't make up the laws of sound waves, we just pass 'em along ***

[GZsound]

Really true...

About the only way to keep the sound level away from your neighbors is to run everything direct. The problem will be if you have live drums.

You can build an insulated box for your guitar amp if necessary, and like I said, run the bass direct. But live drums are tough to keep quiet.

There isn't much of anything you can do to existing walls except maybe cover them with acoustic vinyl, which is really expensive and probably wouldn't help much in the first place.

Like everyone keeps saying, it's a function of mass, dead air space, decoupling and more mass.

There is no cheap way to defeat the physics of sound.

[robertruetz]

In theory, you could build an enclosure inside your room, for the drums. Kind of building room within a room. I would equate it with a voice booth, except you'd need more space. This is really the only way you can better control the environment, by building one yourself. Even then, you're still looking at shelling out for expensive materials.

Le_Singe

[Bino_5150]

Originally Posted by jckid

I am looking for cheap effective alternatives to soundproofing / blocking I live in a residential area with close neighbors and renting a space is not an option… thank you in advance for all your help…

Play when your neighbors aren't home...

[swellis01]

Hi jckid:

I went through a TON of soundproofing ideas for my drum/tracking room back in 2005-2006. I ended up creating a wall design that has defiantly helped, probably more so than just a 2X4 wall with expensive panels.

Without going into too many details, I made a 5 walled room in my basement. One of the walls is actually at a 45 degree angle to the two adjacent walls, and is only 3' long wall with a window in it. The walls I made utilize a "Staggered Stud" approach. On the floor and ceiling, I used 2X6 pine boards and screwed 2x3 studs into them, staggering the studs every 8", giving me studs on each side of the wall that are 16" on center on one side and the same on the other side. This helps prevent the sound vibrations from being transferred through the drywall, as it normally would in a typical 2X4 wall. The inside studs vibrate, the outside studs don't. The walls have R13between each set of studs, essentially giving me the sound deadening qualities better than R19. (Not the best, especially in the low end, but again, better than a typical 2x4 wall.) I also used 5/8" drywall on the inside, 1/2" on the outside. I was going to use 5/8" on both sides but I read somewhere that this could cause the similar masses to resonate.

The ceiling I did has R19 in between the joists and two layers of drywall with Sound solutions "Quiet Glue" sandwiched between the drywall. This stuff is great and I actually used it all over the room. It‘s glue that dries very flexible, absorbing sound waves and preventing sound transference through the drywall. I also "popcorned" the ceiling.

I also used a lot of "Great Stuff" expanding foam. What a mess that stuff is! But it is perfect for sealing around the door, outlet boxes, and in the gap between the drywall and the floor.

I am impressed with the deadening properties of the room. I will say however, that it is not "soundproof” More like VERY sound attenuating. I can crank out on my drums and you can't hear them at all outsideof the house. You CAN hear them faintly on the first floor of my house, but not enough to prevent someone from watching TV.

If I did it again, I would save up for the "Sound solutions" Quiet Rock and just do the wall and ceiling with that stuff.

If you are making all new walls, the saggered stud approach is a great way to go. If your room is alreay there, and you just want to make it more sound attenuating, you could try doubling up on the drywall inside the rooms' walls and ceiling with some of that quiet glue "sandwiched" between the old drywall and the new. Of course, then you will need to tape and mud the new drywall (I hired someone for this) and repaint it all.

Then there's the 2'X4' sound panels on the walls and ceiling. It all goes on and on.
Steve

[vulcan_dc]

Originally Posted by Bino_5150

Play when your neighbors aren't home...

LOL

[MichaelLombardi]

After 40 years of trial and error, my conclusion is that sound proofing is not possible in a house without spending a truck full of time and money. Everything in your house walls, floor, heat/AC vents water pipes, windows, even cement block walls contribute to resonant transmission and they are all connected. Even your roof can act like one big bass speaker. Swellis01 has the best idea of building an isolation room in a room but in order to make it truly sound "proof" it would have to be isolated from touching any other part of the house and air tight as would the larger room it resides in. Blankets, egg cartons, or the best insulation / isolation material you can buy can make your room sound great but it will not soundproof it.
When I bought my house I had room built specifically for my studio. I even had the ceiling pitched approx 30 degrees (9 foot walls, 14 foot center) to reflect any bounce into the walls (covered with $1800 worth of Sonex). The walls are double stuffed with R-19 to the point that the chalkboard is bulging. The room sounds great but definitely not sound "proof". The only way I see to control the sound is to control air movement. Not practical in a home studio that doubles as a residence.
Just one last note, I had a buddy in Orlando that decided to use sand between his studio walls. His idea was not only to sound proof but to protect his studio from heat in case of a fire. The sand worked great as a deadening material but now he has ants he can't get rid of!
Just my 2 cents.
Michael

[Johnnywaud]

I am building a studio curently and havesurrounding cinderbloc on 3 walls, and none of the walls touch others. The room is totally selfsupported and isolated... still not totally soundproof... and I have thousands of dallars into it buy the time i am fiished...