Converting garage to practice space

[Jacked]

Anybody converted their garage to a practice space? What did you do for sound absorbing material, etc.

[BlueStrat]

What's your budget?

 

Do you still need to use the garage door?

[Jacked]

My budget is: below the wife's radar . Few hundred bucks, use used materials, etc...

 

Yes, the garage door must still be opened and I could take up half of a 2 car garage.

[bonscottvocals]

Buy a bunch of cheap rugs. Hang them in front of the walls or just around the band (this can be done with grommets and S hooks). Also throw them on the floor, because the cement will bounce sound like a rubber balloon. That's the cheapest way to absorb sound and prevent feedback.

[Terry Allan Hall]

 

Originally posted by bonscottvocals Buy a bunch of cheap rugs. Hang them in front of the walls or just around the band (this can be done with grommets and S hooks). Also throw them on the floor, because the cement will bounce sound like a rubber balloon. That's the cheapest way to absorb sound and prevent feedback.

 

 

Ask around if you, or anyone you know, knows someone who lays carpet...used carpet is generally just thrown away, so recycle it!

 

And, as bonscottvocals points out, you can hang them w/ S-hooks (about 2" from the walls) for rehearsels, then take 'em down and roll 'em up when not needed...take you a few minutes if you've got a helper or two.

 

Total investment could be as much as $25, depending how much gas is involved in picking up the carpet.

[Lee Flier]

Carpet really does nothing to absorb low end (which is the worst offender in terms of sound traveling) and it just makes the room sound like muddy crap.

 

Are you looking to actually "soundproof" the room so as not to disturb neighbors, or simply to soak up the volume so you're not blasting yourselves out in a small room?

[BlueStrat]

 

Originally posted by Lee Flier Carpet really does nothing to absorb low end (which is the worst offender in terms of sound traveling) and it just makes the room sound like muddy crap. Are you looking to actually "soundproof" the room so as not to disturb neighbors, or simply to soak up the volume so you're not blasting yourselves out in a small room?

 

 

This is a key point.

 

I played with a guy who actually built a "rehearsal box" in his garage, where he framed a rectangle with 2x4s he scavenged off of a demolition job, put in a solid core door, wired it, put in fiberglass insulation in the walls and ceiling, sheeted the outside and the inside with acoustic ceiling tiles he got from another demo job, carpeted the floor,and put in a bathroom fan in the ceiling he got from Lowe's. He added some foam recording baffles to the ceiling and a light and we had us a fairly soundproof rehearsal and recording facility. I think his total investment was between 2 and 3 hundred bucks, mostly for the door and the fan and some wiring. Of course, we had to play at a bit of a lower volume than we performed, but I prefer that anyway.

[Blackwatch]

My old drummer had the same kind of set up in his house only he droped the buck on that recording foam which I think is a big waste as it can be done cheaper with foam board you buy at Home Depot. (Cover it in cloth.) But as BS says....it's all how far you want to take it.....

[Jacked]

I was thinking mainly of muting the sound so the neighbors wouldn't hear, not trying to turn it into acoustic perfection.

[Lee Flier]

Well, unfortunately it's a lot tougher to keep sound from getting out than it is to make a room acoustically decent. Is the garage totally unfinished inside? Certainly installing insulation + sound stop board will help... instead of putting drywall over the insulation you can just wrap it in burlap or muslin and that will absorb sound without reflecting it back as drywall will do... owens corning makes insulation especially for sound absorption although it's a bit more expensive than the regular pink fiberglass stuff. Just depends how much you want to spend.

 

You should also put some bass trapping in the corners of the room to absorb low frequencies. Simplest/cheapest way to do it is to buy rolls of cheap insulation and stack them in the corners - don't unroll them.

 

If the ceiling is unfinished you'll need to do something there too... the acoustic tile drop ceilings aren't too expensive if you install them yourself, and work pretty well. Of course I don't know how finished the garage is or how handy you are.

 

In any case, unless you're willing to really go the extra mile with the insulation, you won't be able to really have a soundproof room. I don't know how much of the sound you need to block or how tolerant your neighbors are... nor what your garage is made of, if it's cinder block that will help... if it's just wood frame and siding it will be tough.

[Jacked]

Actually, the ceiling and walls are finished (dry-walled). The outer walls are brick.

[Beachbum]

Originally posted by Jacked Actually, the ceiling and walls are finished (dry-walled). The outer walls are brick.

 

Styrofoam / acoustic panels on the walls, or full insulation. The materials themselves are pretty cheap but it takes some work to put it up.

 

(In the long run your garage will be more energy efficient tho'. )

[Lee Flier]

 

Originally posted by Jacked Actually, the ceiling and walls are finished (dry-walled). The outer walls are brick.

 

 

Ah OK. I wonder if there's insulation in the walls?

 

You could probably build some bass traps and hang them on the walls... wouldn't be too expensive if you're a little bit handy. Just requires some specialized insulation, a frame to mount it in, and staple some muslin over it.

 

Check out http://www.realtraps.com for some great advice and plans for building bass traps. Ethan Winer, the owner, is one of the real "good guys," in that even though his company sells bass traps, he provides advice on building your own cheap, even if that means you won't be buying his product. Definitely avail yourself of that resource! But remember that unless you're willing to spend some serious bucks, it won't be really soundproof... it'll certainly help though, so long as your band doesn't rehearse too loudly.

[Badside]

You can invest 10 000$ if you want, your garage door will still be an open hole to your neighbors. It's not heavy enough and the outter leave is directly coupled to the inner leave.

 

A garage can be separated from the house easily (in my case, I use it as my music room because it's already the most soundproof room of the house: separate concrete slabs, 2X6 framing with insulation separating it from the house, insulation in the ceiling too, solid core door (for fire safety regulations) with airtight rubber surrounding (to keep CO2 out of the house), etc.

 

But... I can have a conversation with someone on the other side of the garage door.

 

So you have to be realistic about your intentions. I know I could never have a band here without my neighbors calling the police, but I can have little jam sessions with no drums while my son is asleep on the second floor (not directly over the garage of course).

[DonaldDemon]

We practice (3-piece) at my bassists garage from Spring to Fall with no problems. As stated above the garage door is the biggest problem.

 

We went very cheap on materials and used thrown out rugs on the ground from behind a carpet store (check their dumpsters!).

The only thing we bought was drywall and insulation to finish the walls off. The outside wall is cinder block and the front and back are siding/drywall. The houses are real close and we play 2-3x a week till about 10:30 at night with not one complaint is about 5 years!

 

Of course it helps when your neighbors are younger and have no kids.

 

Oh and our bass traps are tools and general garage items stuffed in the corners. True garage rock baby!

[VSpaceBoy]

As mentioned:

 

Carpet will only make the room sound muddy, it won't do ANYTHING to keep sound from leaking out. Trust me, if you were to take a SPL meter and walk around measuring the levels before and after you loaded up on carpet you would be very dissappointed.

 

The door will prob be the main fault. If you can't cover the door, then your gonna get nowhere.

 

MASS is the only thing to keep things quiet to the outside world.

 

 

My solution?

 

use electronic drums and run everything into a board, then use headphones and or low powered mains.

[squealie]

Do it in the basement (if you have one) instead.

 

That way you mainly have the ceiling and any windows/doors, to contend with for leakage.

[Janx]

if you're gonna put foam on the walls, get that bumpy foam. It's better than smooth sheets.

 

that studio stuff would be great, but it probably costs more. Just get the eggshell stuff (the foam with indentations)

 

If you've got half a garage, build a wall dividing it in half (one for car, other for your "studio"). Build a second wall to connect the divider to the solid wall, thereby blocking the garage door. Put a door somewhere in there...

 

This will give you a rectangular box to work with, and block off the garage door. This means you've got 4 walls to insulate/sound proof, rather than having to deal with the garage door.

 

How you sound proof is beyond me, but how you build a room to play in...easy.

 

Janx