Cheap way to quiet down basement?

[qwertyMan]

I've been a bit worried lately. I always wear ear protection when practicing (earplugs and vic firth iso headphones), but I still notice that my basement is much louder than every other place I practice. Is there any way to get my basement significantly quieter by placing lots of cheap sound absorbers around the room?

[manoeuver]

sure.

 

rugs on the floor

carpet squares on walls

 

what you really want to do is stop the sound waves from bouncing around and around and around. absorbent items in the room help too, like:

 

comfy chairs

angel food cakes

spongebob

a pile of corpses!

[qwertyMan]

I feel like I left out some important info:

 

- It's an all cement basement.

-The drums are pretty closely surrounded on three sides by thick cement walls.

-The drums are on a homemade drum riser.

 

Anyone else? I seem to remember that slap happy had a bunch of canvas bags on the his walls, and had a similar basement situation.

[manoeuver]

ok, it's the cement that's killing you.

 

is it a wood rafter ceiling? find some thick curtains and staple them up there.

 

shaggy carpet on the floor.

 

if it's a small space you're up against it; sound needs space to disperse.

[qwertyMan]

Well, it's not too small... the drums are sort of in a smaller enclosure, but the enclosure that they're in opens up to a larger room. I'm not positive what the ceiling is made out of, but there are pipes running around, and the such.

[D Carroll]

lay down cheap carpet, or get an iso. shield.

[allturdmind]

get some of that egg crate foam padding that you put under your sheets on your bed......lots of surface area and cheap as hell!

[2xBass]

 

a pile of corpses!

 

 

So that is the step I'm forgetting

[edgecrusher2199]

I used egg crate foam when I played in my basement. Also, you might want to look into some foam board. My band picked up 3 10ftx3ftx2in foam boards from Home Depot. A little pricey at a 30 bucks a piece, but it cut down the sound and echoes tremendously. If your basement is unfinished you could really go all out and look into some acoustic sheet rock...

[qwertyMan]

Will the egg foam really cut down volume?

 

Also, after looking more at my basement, the walls are actually (stupid me) mostly stone and brick, and the floor is cement.

[slap happy drums]

So again here's the burlap bunker

 

[cearleywine]

It helps to make bass traps in the corners of the room. Rolled up carpet or foam, anything to soak it up. I play in a basement, that mattress foam really helps on the walls. I also put a lot of carpet down.

[1001gear]

 

Will the egg foam really cut down volume? Also, after looking more at my basement, the walls are actually (stupid me) mostly stone and brick, and the floor is cement.

 

 

Ahh, then you need to research some minerology or geology for some specific densities or atomic weights and closely reference those values to the dampening materials. Take into account pile type or if not carpet, again, specific density and porosity and all reactive acoustic properties. This is of special concern because the wrong value carpet for instance can actually double the acoustic response of a mineral based environment.

[slap happy drums]

Or just fill some burlap w/ corpses

[boxofrocks]

That blue styrofoam backer board is great stuff but kind of pricey. But it is great insulation, so you will lower heat/cool costs as well. I put that stuff on the outside of my house before putting on the siding.

[Kevin K Is A OK]

My band has a house that has a big cement basement and when we first got in there it was loud as hell and the neighbor's house whose connected obviously wasn't thrilled. We built an enclosure with a frame of 2x4s and put up 4 layers of drywall with that pink asbestos insulation stuff between them plus this blue stuff that comes on a roll and got a big carpet.

 

Now the neighbors can barely hear us and we haven't even bought the studio foam yet.

 

It wasn't that expensive, just a bit of work, but it's worth it. Let pissing off of the neighbors and stuff sounds much better inside. Can't wait to get all that foam plus maybe another carpet.

[drumtechdad]

Thick carpet on the floor. Hang comforters on the walls. Done.

 

No corpses necessary, though as an interior design statement you can't go wrong with them.

[manoeuver]

again, what you're doing is diffusing sound.

 

think of it this way: if you hit your snare drum, and the sound bounces directly off a bare wall right back into your ear, you've (approximately) doubled the amount of sound you put into your ear.

 

add a couple more walls, and you're talking serious damage potential.

think about what happens when you clap your hands in a narrow hallway with bare walls-- (go try it) it goes brrrrrrowwwwww....

 

now, any wall will absorb some sound. your job is to make your walls absorb more sound. and the sound it doesn't absorb, you'll want it to reflect at odd angles, away from the center of the room and away from other reflective surfaces.

[qwertyMan]

Thanks for the help guys. Looks like either the egg foam stuff or some of those burlap bags. What is the price difference between them?

[D Carroll]

just pick up some cadavers.

[manoeuver]

 

just pick up some cadavers.

 

 

cadavers are typically hard to get a hold of really: easier to make your own.

[qwertyMan]

Alright, got a little update:

 

Found some unused ugly squares of carpet in a different part of the basement (big basement, lots of little rooms...). We've also got some unused wooden boards, and I might be able to make bafflers by stapling the carpet to the boards with a staple gun.

[manoeuver]

definy see what you can do with the stuff you got...