One of the most common problems encountered by the proverbial "garage band".
Do you have a garage you want to jam in but the neighbors just aren't your best fans? You need to whet that 130dB inside down to 5 or 10dB outside. The best and, maybe, only way to do that is to trap air in between several walls spaced far enough apart to stop the sound waves from getting to your driveway. This usually means framing a new, separate wall inside the garage wall, covering both sides with drywall, and building a room within a room. This article is, in no way, a technically accurate or sound engineering description of how to build a real, professional studio. It does, however, describe a room I built in Pasadena, TX in 1980, which kept my neighbors happy, and us jamming.
Using pallets (you can usually get free) will save you some money from not buying framing studs and you won't need a carpenter.
Is your garage already finished inside? I mean does it have drywall on the walls and ceiling? If so, you're automatically way ahead in the game. Also, you need to have a separate, normal sized entry door to get in and out of the garage. If the big door is the only door, this won't work.
This new room inside a room should limit the sound you hear outside to almost a whisper. In the one I built we were able to jam at full volume with a fully wailing drummer and only hear a muffled bass and a small thump from the kick drum. The neighbors heard nothing even standing in their front yard.
This takes care of the neighbors, but what does it sound like inside? With all those flat walls and ceiling it will sound like dog puckey. Way too reverberant and live. I suggest getting, again, rolled fiberglass insulation, but this time with a paper surface or "craft facing" on one side. Roll it out and use long nails, 16d will do, to tack it to the inside walls. Unfold and overlap the paper on the side of two rolls and use the long nails to tack that seam of the two rolls to the wall. Don't nail it all the way in, just far enough to hold it to the wall. You end up with a "tuck 'n roll" wall. Usually you will only need this on the two sidewalls. You might lightly spray paint the exposed paper face to glue any free fiberglass fibers down and keep them from getting on you and any listeners. Flat black makes for some great atmosphere. Black tuck 'n roll ! ! Reminds me of my '55 Ford Victoria.
Egg crates are usually no good for soundproofing. BUT, if you stack four crates into each other and tack them, as one crate, to the ceiling in a checkerboard pattern leaving every other space blank, it will absorb a lot of unwanted high end and make the room more playable. The back wall, opposite the amps, is a good place for this too. Four crates stacked does offer just enough of a barrier to "fine tune" the room and helps control feedback.
Heavy carpet curtains about three feet wide, caddy cornered in the back corners, from ceiling to floor, helps the bass sound thumpier and removes a lot of boom. Hall runners are great for this.
In my room, we initially covered every wall completely and ended up with the guitar and bass not being able to hear each other. We could both hear the drums, but not each other. So, we took down crates until it livened up. It ended up in a checkerboard on the back wall and ceiling. We painted the egg crates black for the back wall giving it a real checkerboard look. We painted the crates for the ceiling four different fluorescent colors and ran the colors diagonally on the ceiling. Behind the band, on the wall covering the garage door, we painted a big rainbow on a sky blue background and hung black sheets draping to the side to look like stage curtains on the rainbow wall. It was very colorful and became a minor legend in the South Houston area.
A nice shag rug on the floor and a drum riser 12" high gave us the best amateur practice/jamming/recording room on the Gulf Coast. KHOU FM radio station even brought their mobile recording/broadcast truck out and did a "Seeds of Rock 'n Roll" show taping from our studio. That was a gas, whatta' party ! !
We were called "Granite Press". (A big heavy metal machine that stamps out hard rock.) We were all original and stayed together until 1986, and had a lot of fun in that room. Then the guitar player got married, moved to Livingston and couldn't jam anymore. Then the drummer met Jesus (I could have introduced them anytime) and he became a minister and sold his drums. He made a better drummer than he did a minister.
Good riddance to bad roadies ! ! I'm still kickin', or trying to anyway.
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User-submitted comments |
jenniferhelen May 07, 2010 08:07 am |
Very nice article. Nice point about the carpet “Heavy carpet curtains about three feet wide, caddy cornered in the back corners, from ceiling to floor, helps the bass sound thumpier and removes a lot of boom” You have mentioned: “Repeat the procedure using more pallets and drywall to build three more walls 8-10" inside the existing walls”. I think that will remove a lot room space. I am planning to use Quietrock instead of drywall. I’ve heard that they are really good and one layer will make a big difference. I found some useful information on their site: http://www.quietrock.com/educational-resources/ |
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ethanpop42 May 14, 2011 12:52 pm |
Starting the same thing here in Duluth MN. This sounds excellent! I've come to realize that MASS and Density are the best sound proofers along with any studio's best friend "ISOLATION" I am going to incorporate a few of these ideas and a few others and will let you know the outcome. We have big drums and big guitars so I am anxious to hear how this works. My whole neighborhood is awesome and no one has complained but I like to be as considerate as poss. what with 16 kids total in a stone throws distance. My wife supports it totally and is willing to give up the garage for this (it only means I have to buy her a starter for her car) no prob. So thank you and I will share my ideas and progress as it goes! HAPPY JAMMIN! I am glad you're still rockin out! |
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