DIY Soundproofing- - Help!
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Posted on Aug 28, 2005 11:03 am
fartnik
Member Since: Aug 28, 2005
(Sorry I couldn't find a better forum to post on)
Up until now, my band and I have been using a little concrete, unfinished room in our basement for practices, but it's getting too cramped and we've decided to move into the basement guest bedroom.
Only one problem: Two of its walls are exposed to the outside, and our neighbors tend to complain alot.
We have a really low budget (being just three high-school kids), but my mom likes to sew and therefore has infinite fabric and extra stuffing.
We can't afford to buy a bunch of soundproofing foam, but we could afford to buy some cheap Home Depot supplies
So far we've come up with:
Thick curtains for the windows
Acoustic tiles covered with fabric and filled with stuffing, fabric, or whatever else we can spare from around the house.
Any other suggestions/improvements would be much appreciated.
Also, the room contains a rather large desk, and two armoirs. Will their presence screw up [any possible] acoustics? Is there a way we can use them to our soundproofing advantage?
I've never done anything like this before, so I would be ever thankful for some advice from a more experienced person :P
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pjkPrince CZAR-mingMember
Since: Apr 08, 2004
Aug 28, 2005 11:58 am Hey there,
unfortunately, bass frequency doesn't stop from fabric, curtains, and the like. It needs mass to eat up the energy, like wood, or drywall (sheetrock). With a low-to-nothing budget, it's gonna be tough. High freq can slow down with carpets, blankets, and the like, but the lows will be sailing on through.
The furniture can slow down sound from going through the walls, if they're in the way, but wont be very effective as sound will go around such things. Sounds is kinda like water, if there's a hole, it'll go through it.
If you have any type of budget, adding a layer of drywall onto the two walls will help, probably the ceiling too. Putting dense foam into the window opening will help too, but mass is the objective, not thickness.
Hopefully there's some other ideas I didn't think of, maybe someone else can pitch in.
As a side note, i've been looking into soundproofing, but soundproofing material isn't cheap, so maybe you guys could get a part time job or something =)
Good luck, and welcome to HRC.
Aug 28, 2005 01:59 pm sound "proofing" is hard and expensive. However,y ou could likely get a big help by simply tuning your room and controlling frequencies. Ringing out the room, treating it with some sound control that you can buy or make (read homerecordingconnection.c...story&id=50 ) and such things like that.
ciinxMember
Since: May 15, 2004
Aug 28, 2005 02:04 pm when I was about your age, I used old matresses collected around the neighbourhood and stuffed them up together with a couple of 100w VS and a pair of iron cobras in our old garage...
i thought it was gonna work well but we had these people from the city council and the police hanging over for the next few weeks.. haha..
carry on guys- just a few flicks of flashbacks..
el musicoFreeleance Producer/Engineer/GtrMember
Since: Aug 11, 2002
Aug 28, 2005 05:56 pm Dude, I feel you... Just from building this new studio I've learned infinitely more about how to stop sound. What you need is mass, an airspace, and more mass. So consider building a room within the room. That would be the best way and since there are only 2 walls you need done it shouldn't be too expensive.
Basically build a wall frame in front of the wall you need done, insulate it then add drywall.
Good luck
Sep 09, 2005 07:24 am Hi,heres a tip,find a firm that cuts up foam and ask if you could have some of the outer skins that they trim off the blocks for free.Fire retardent if poss.
