EVOL! Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Anyone know much about sound dampening & sound proofing? I am thinking about moving my music room from the second story of my house to the basement. Main reason is that the basement's temperature is generally the same all year round and it will offer me less worry about making too much noise and disturbing the neighbors. I'll also be able to play my drums with something other than brushes. My basement is not completely below ground. When you stand the ground is about at neck level. Anyway, here are the sound dampening concerns that I need to address if I do this. - a 1ft x 1.5ft port window that faces my neighbor's house. - standard indoor door for this room that goes to the rest of the basement and maybe the thin wall this door is mounted on. - sound padding/proofing between the basement ceiling and the living room. The basement has a drop ceiling of cardboard like tiles below the wood floor above. When the tv is on in the living room you can hear it in this basement room. I want my wife to be able to hang out in the living room and not be disturbed by me jamming out. I poked around online and found a lot of materials from large strips of dampening material to acoustic ceiling tiles. Through my rehearsal space landlord I can get Auralex at cost so that may be an option for some areas. What I don't want to do is drop more than a couple hundred bucks or my wife will nix the idea. I have already budgeted $70 for carpet remnants. Mainly looking for easy home improvements I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Its not cheap, but line the walls with cork....then use egg crates on top of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_randy Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I've looked into it before and lots of people told me to use old rugs.They didn't work well at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Sound proofing is expensive, sound dampening is the best option. Personally I bought $100 worth of acoustic foam to go on the walls, then I bought foam tape to go on the door frame and the other thing I did was I stapled an old Persian rug I had on a 2x4 stud and then hung that on the window. The fabric absorbs a lot of the sounds and the gap created by the stud is mounted on also helps. Your biggest challenge is the ceiling if the tiles aren't doing the job. I jamm on a frinds basement and he put good rating acoustic tiles, we can crank it up a bit but the drums still can be heard upstairs even with the studio rings on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I've looked into it before and lots of people told me to use old rugs.They didn't work well at all. If you staple those rungs on a 2x4 and hang them on the wall it works better because of the 2" gap but it is not sound proof. The sound gets dampened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowdiddley Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Evol check around and see if you can find bags or rockwool. Its an industrial insulation. This link http://forum.recordingreview.com/f18/guitar-fort-1262/ shows how effective it can be cutting down noise so I would assume you could use it to block the sound as well. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverside Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Be VERY careful that you use materials that are rated as non-flammable or at the very least flame-resistant. Some of the cheap stuff is downright dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanvillRob Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Not me....we don't have basements in Calif. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbarker393 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I used carpet padding on the walls of my studio at home. it didn't sound proof the room, but it did dampen the sound in the room quite a bit. had to experiment a bit to make sure I didn't go overkill and make the room dead, but it seems to work quite well. not sure the best way to totally soundproof it without spending a nice chunk of change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackie Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Some of the best sound proofing is having an air space between walls that is air tight, this will involve framing new walls and ceiling with minimal contact with the existing walls. This would be more than a few hundred dollars though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thundergod Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Egg crates don't do a thing. Don't waste time and money on them. Do you have a plane of the place? (is plane the correct word for "plano"?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffster Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Egg crates don't do a thing. Don't waste time and money on them. Do you have a plane of the place? (is plane the correct word for "plano"?) Blue print is the term ThunderG. At least the measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackie Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Egg crates don't do a thing. Don't waste time and money on them. Do you have a plane of the place? (is plane the correct word for "plano"?) You mean like blue prints ?........would be plan or plans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yoda Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Insulation is cheap, and you can put it in the walls and ceiling rafters. It creates the "air space" Blackie speaks of. Picture related. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Yup, rolled fiberglass stuffed up between the floor joists and stapled in are the best and cheapest choice for sound deadening the living room. But, you got to take the current 'cardboard' ceiling tiles down first. A scrap of rigid Styrofoam 'blue board', at least an inch thick to cover the basement window should isolate the neighbors. You might be able to find a scrap at a construction site that is big enough. I use these to insulate the windows during the winter. I glue magnetic, refrigerator magnet advertising pieces cut to about an inch width to hold them to steel window frame. If you insulate the ceiling and window you will probably keep your marriage in good shape. So, I'd do this first, then add carpet, old blankets and comforters as they become available on garage sales and such. The plus side to carpet and blankets is that they are fairly flame retardant, as opposed to having exposed foam insulation on the walls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowdiddley Posted July 3, 2010 Share Posted July 3, 2010 evol I ran across this site and remembered your post. Hope it helps. http://johnlsayers.com/Recmanual/Titles/Acoustics1.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcmurray Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 The secret to sound proofing is to increase the mass of the walls. With most of the basement below ground, I'd concentrate on covering the ceiling and upper walls with the heaviest material you can find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike~ Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepblue Posted July 4, 2010 Share Posted July 4, 2010 Egg crates done properly do make a difference.....I have heard it with my own ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 Just curious. Do they still make egg crates? I remember my folks and neighbors crating up eggs in boxes with the waffle like separators used on to deaden the walls of Charlie Farquharson's KORN studio on Hee Haw, but I haven't seen them since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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