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DIY Soundproofing a door?


davie

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Hey guys, I posted in the recording section, but I might as well as here as well. Any of you tried soundproofing a door? I record in my bedroom and don't want to disturb other people around me. Any makeshift/DIY ideas for reducing the sounds through a door?

 

Any personal experiences and thoughts?

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Depends on the type of door. If its a hollow door theres not a whole lot you can do besides get a solid wood door.

I have a hollow one at the back of the studio and I used long screws and screwed 4" styrofoam to it. It helps stop

making the door panels act like speaker baffels. The other solid wood door I put acpusitc ceiling tiled on it. Both make the door heavy so you need

good hinges so it doesnt sag.

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We built 2'x4' panels that are simple 1x4 frames filled with mineral wool batts and wrapped with cheap muslin. I have several on those placed around the home "bedroom" studio.

I made a couple of smaller panels to hang on the hollow core door plus I put foam weather stripping around the door and added a vinyl door sweep. It's not sound "proof" but it certainly helped a lot. Like WRGKMC said it at least stops it from acting like a speaker baffle.

If I ever move I can just take the screws out, fill the holes and repaint.

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The only things that are going to stop sound are mass and air space. In various combinations.

 

So, a drywall wall has both. It has mass in its two layers of gypsum board. But a single layer wouldn't do squat. Nor would two layers stuck together to form one thick one. It's the air between that kicks it up to an effective level. Of course you don't need the air if you have a LOT of mass. Like a concrete wall. You probably don't have that.

 

The sound at some freqs bounce right off that first layer of drywall. Good. Isolation. At some frequencies. But other freqs go right through. Lower ones. The waveform is larger. It actually moves the drywall and some freqs get attenuated there. Some don't. So it now travels through a locked airspace. Then it has to hit another piece of drywall. This system described above needs to be near airtight to work.

 

Sure, some sound still gets through, like a kick drum maybe. But you're pretty good.

 

So why not a hollow door then? Isn't that like the wall you just described? No it isn't. The walls of the door "system" are too thin. So go all mass here. Solid door. Cheap and easy.

 

but remember what I said about it needing to be airtight for that system to work? Right. So... any little cracks between door and jam are just going to render that solid door ineffective. You've got to make the system airtight. Hence the outdoor threshold. Or shove some towels. That'll help. But a solid wood threshold, and cheap foam weather stripping? Airtight.

 

Mass and airspace. Airtight.

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Sound proofing the door of a bedroom wont do much. The inside walls of the room are likely uninsulated and sound will pass

through the walls as easily as any door. Putting some hookd on the door and hanging a buttload of Blankets towels etc will

help cit down on a hollow door from acting like a speaker baffel. If you need something better replacing the door with a solid one

and reinsulating all the walls is whats really needed.

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Its a hollow door. I could swap out the door for a solid wood one, but I gotta find one that's the right size first. So far I put some weatherstripping on the sides of the door and I think it does make some difference. since my room is quieter than the other rooms in the house. I was examining the noise reduction by playing music through my speakers, closing the door and then listening from the outside. I noticed that majority of the hallway noise is coming from underneath the door. So I was thinking about stuffing some foam underneath the door (like this http://www.homedepot.ca/product/air-conditioner-foam-seal/941525). I think it might lessen the external sound a bit. I don't necessarily need absolute isolation, but reducing my tracking/listening volumes to a murmur might be fine.

 

I might do the blanket baffle thing over the door during recording, etc. I was also browsing youtube and saw a demo video of that Audimute stuff, which might be similar to thick cotton blankets. Watch the video between 1:00 to 1:20 minute mark. The noise reduction after pulling down the blanket, then closing the door seems like a decent amount. Here's the video

 

Tell me what you guys think.

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