Modular Sound Reduction Concepts?

Posted on Dec 12, 2006 09:23 pm
zekthedeadcow
Eat Spam before it eats YOU!!!
Member Since: May 11, 2002

My main problem is gunshots. I live a couple hundred yards away from an indoor gun range so there are bassy "thuds" that would afffect vocal and acoustic guitar tracking... My place is a rental and it's also for sale (though not actively listed) so I expect to have this place for maybe a year or two. My hope is to build a rigid panel system that can be reconfigured and or removed.

My main obvious worry is that the sound will just wrap around the panels or... being bassy will just pass through.

My current concept is basically seperate 4'x8' (or _almost_ ceiling height) rigid panels... how rigid? well... right now I'm thinking interior layer will be the thickest gypsum I can get... some sort of fiber insulation, and then 1/2" hardibacker concrete boards. Possibly 1/2" hardibacker on both sides but the resonances will be the same... and it's my understanding that a preferred method is to allow soud to escape into fiber. I could use a different concerete board on each side... hardibacker on one and another brand on the other...

ok so I have a bunch of 4x(whatever) panels. I would then mount them in two layers with say, 1' overlap on each side with fiber filling the seems... so for a sound to not go though about an inch of concrete board it would have to go though essentially a foot of fiber after turning 90 degrees. The top and bottom seams would be baffeled by smaller prices of hardiboard and more fiber.

One problem is I can't figure out a reasonably accessable fiber...I assume that I would preffer mineral wool... but I havn't found a place locally that sells it.

Someone here mentioned cramming blow in insulation helps significantly...

Floors are oak so I would preferr not to cover them... no significant sound comes from the basement that can't otherwise be delt with. furnace, well, sump, softener...

roof... I was probably going to add fiber to the attic and maybe some OSB/ or concrete board... to deal with airplanes...

I'm not looking for sound proofing... but a significant reduction... so any comments? :)

Any suggestions on a fiber that I could get at a Home Depot / Lowes

...almost forgot about a door... I can't afford an acoustic door... so I should be looking for a solid core door right? ...basically _heavy_ is good right?

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