Need help soundproofing

[Osmur]

I'm fairly young, still go to school and still live with my parents. So does my older brother (older by a year and a half). We both play in a band. He plays guitar in his band, and I play bass in my band. Anyways, we have a music room in my basement which is about ... hmm, 25 feet by 10 feet (around that), and we need to soundproof it. So far, we have a soundproof door which helps but it's still extremly loud.

 

What we don't want is to build a room inside of a room. My parents don't really care much for the cost, they will pay quite a lot to have it soundproofed. We want to stop the low end of bass and pretty much everything else. So, I was wondering what could we do to soundproof this room?

 

Thanks.

[slapthefunkyfour]

I used to work for Guitar Center as the Pro Audio Manager. I had the same problems as our PA room shared a wall with the next door tenants. They complained often about how loud the noise would get during demonstrations.

 

I had to do alot of research on this subject because I was not able to build a room inside a room. I have learned that putting more foam up does not stop the sound from travelling to another room. No matter how many layers of foam is put up.

 

In order to get a room soundproofed, youi do have to build a room inside a room. I know you don't want to do that, but just so you know whatever you do it will not stop the sound transmission, but it will help.

 

The next best thing is to buy some of these

 

 

Screw them into the wall like this.

 

 

Next, put up a layer of sheetrock.

Then buy some Sheetblok.

 

put it over the wall like this.

 

 

Then put up another layer of sheetrock.

 

Then, If you would like, buy one of these roominator kits. These help the room to sound alot better after you have soundproofed it. This, by itself, will NOT do any sort of soundproofing, but it helps the room sound better and not have that annoying echo.

 

 

Definitely check out www.auralex.com a little bit of time and research spent there can be of invaluable value.

 

They have a personalized room designer service

http://www.auralex.com/aoc/aoc_data.aspx

or you can call them and they can design something for you.

 

I hope this helps.

[Osmur]

Thanks so much, I'll look into it.

[Crescent Seven]

Slap's method is indeed the best you can do without buildng a room in your room.

 

Soundwaves are damn near impossible to stop. I was vexed by your same problem for years until I realized I was chasing the {censored}ing dragon...

C7

[Reverend179]

Also, see if anyone around your area can 'shoot' your room with an RTA or the ETF software and show you where your harmonically coupled nodes are. They can then go a long way to fixing those; they make things hard to hear sometimes, asides from making certain frequencies under 500hz TWICE as loud as they should be.

[Craig Vecchione]

If your parents are truly willing to spend what it takes to 'soundproof' the house from that room, look into hiring a professional company to do the work. Sound control is a lot more involved than slapping up some overpriced building materials. You also must pay overpriced engineers who know how and where to slap them up. Sounds aloof and silly, but it's solid truth.

 

 

You should also consider not playing so loud. Hearing loss is real and sucks ass.

[scarecrowbob]

 

Originally posted by Craigv [...] You should also consider not playing so loud. Hearing loss is real and sucks ass.

 

 

 

IMHO, this is generally the best solution.

[takeout]

 

Originally posted by Craigv If your parents are truly willing to spend what it takes to 'soundproof' the house from that room, look into hiring a professional company to do the work. Sound control is a lot more involved than slapping up some overpriced building materials. You also must pay overpriced engineers who know how and where to slap them up. Sounds aloof and silly, but it's solid truth. You should also consider not playing so loud. Hearing loss is real and sucks ass.

Yeah, I'm about due for my annual "Craigv is right" post, aren't I?

 

Anyway: "what he said". The only thing that blocks sound is mass. Mass is heavy and expensive. It also needs to be done right. Done incorrectly, you just have a big heavy mess.

[picker13]

 

Originally posted by Craigv You should also consider not playing so loud. Hearing loss is real and sucks ass.

 

 

Arrrrrr, there be much wisdom in this horn piper's words.

 

[/Pirate Mode}First off, those Resilient channels are expensive and somewhat difficult to use, epecially for those not familiar with mounting materials to them. I imagine that most of the "soundproofing" is so your parents can deal with the in-house practices. That means mounting materials dense enough to stop or inhibit the long waves of low frequency sounds from penetrating the ceiling into the living space. Being that you're in a basement, lateral transmission to neighbors is probably not a concern. If there's any ductwork between the basement and the rest of the house, you're fighting a losing battle anyway. To do it right will be in the multi-thousand dollar range.

 

It's much less expensive and easier to turn down. You can also dampen the kick drum. Adjust your bass EQ so that there's much less lows and rely on the mid's to carry you for practice. Consider decoupling the bass from the floor. One last thing: see if you can schedule practices when your parents are out of the house. Let them go see a movie or do some shopping or whatever for a couple of hours. [Pirate Mode] Arrrrrrr.

[Craig Vecchione]

Aye, give a good ear to pickers' words; he be speakin' the truth. Many's the mate who ran afoul in these waters. Yarrrrrgh!!!!!