sound proofing

[JMick]

Firstly, happy Thanksgiving! Second, I hope this is an acceptable place for this thread.

 

I'm interested in sound proofing a room in my place. I live in a single family home, however I do not own the place so I'm unable to do any heavy duty stuff like tear down walls and add insulation. There is a wide variety of materials available for sound proofing and many of these are marketed specifically for that purpose. Those specifically-marketed items tend to be very expensive. (Acoustical foam vs. generic egg crate mattress tops; acoustical blankets vs. generic thick blanket from walmart / craigslist).

 

Does anyone have any experience with these materials? I have a new H157 coming and I desperately want to buy a tube but even 1 watt is much too loud when the master is turned up past 4 (my girlfriend works from home). If I have to, I'll settle for a good modeling amp with/without headphone as necessary but I'm sure I don't have to tell any of you that this would be suboptimal, especially considering I don't gig or routinely play anywhere outside my home.

 

So in sum I'm hoping to do a sound-proofing job (without ripping down walls) effective enough to play through a 1 watt tube amp in my home without making my girlfriend want to break my face and/or guitar while she works. To further add to my nit-pickyness, I would like to avoid attenuators if possible. Is anyone able to help me have my cake and eat it, too?

[davesultra]

I feel your pain regarding this topic, as I'm in the same boat. Can't help much, but am interested in hearing others responses. I will say you will more realistically be looking at sound deadening vs. soundproofing.

[JeffB]

I spent much money. It was never completely successful. I should have spent a lot more and done it properly.

What I did achieve was keeping the outside noises out of my mics more than my inside noises going out side or into other rooms in the house.

You can throw a lot of money at it and if its all for the sake of turning an amp up you might want to consider the options.

I worked on building sound rooms for a local tv station and also a school. They were genuinely sound proof. $$$$$$. I didnt like being in them once they were complete. Everything sounded "too much", even breathing.

[JMick]

I suspected that mediocre results could probably be expected with anything less than a professional caliber investment. Was hoping to hear something else, obviously, but I appreciate your honest appraisal, especially considering your considerable experience.

 

Out of curiosity, what materials did you use, how much did you spend, and how much undesired sound did you experience outside of the room?

[111518]

In the context of writing a grant proposal a couple of years ago, I did a significant amount of research about the cost of soundproofing a band room in a college dorm such that a band could play while not disturbing other residents' ability to sleep and study. The bottom line was that it was extraordinarily expensive, prohibitively so, even in the context of institutional budgets.

 

The physics are pretty basic: sound is energy, and it takes mass to absorb it. And, like heat or light, sound is always looking for the easy way out, so, all openings have to be treated in a way that still confronts the energy with mass when the openings are closed. Acoustic treatment of a room (with foam or egg crates) has very little to do with soundproofing.

[Millennium Maestro]

I think you may be approaching this from the wrong angle, Sound proofing is an expensive route with limited results. A good "dual purpose" amp would be a H&K Tubemeister 18 Lunch box sized(will get you pic), not only can you step it down from 18 to 5 to 1 watt but it has a built in load so it can be played silent where you can use a direct out and monitor with headphones!!!

 

This approach would allow you to run into a cheap 4 channel mixer, use a drum machine, mp3 player etc. and working in relative acoustic silence. When you can make noise, fire it up and rock your world!

 

Head, mixer and headphones are your only expenses! You can get an external cabinet for the amplified situations!

[JMick]

Thanks for your insight. It should be noted that the decibel levels achieved during any band practice would dwarf the levels I'm hoping to play at. My proposed scenario: 1-watt amplifier turned up to about 5 through a single 8" speaker (I realize even these constraints will offer some significant variance depending on the individual components), no drums, no bass, no cowbell, no mic'd vocals. And as far as semantics go, I probably misappropriated a term of industry. I should clarify that I'm not interested in reducing transmitted sound to negligible levels. I would be perfectly content to reduce intensity in the adjacent room to roughly 50 dB.

 

Very impressed with the level of experience I'm being assisted with here. Much appreciated.

[JMick]

I think you may be approaching this from the wrong angle, Sound proofing is an expensive route with limited results. A good "dual purpose" amp would be a H&K Tubemeister 18 Lunch box sized(will get you pic), not only can you step it down from 18 to 5 to 1 watt but it has a built in load so it can be played silent where you can use a direct out and monitor with headphones!!!

 

This approach would allow you to run into a cheap 4 channel mixer, use a drum machine, mp3 player etc. and working in relative acoustic silence. When you can make noise, fire it up and rock your world!

 

Head, mixer and headphones are your only expenses! You can get an external cabinet for the amplified situations!

 

 

Thanks, I'll look into that Tubemeister...

[Millennium Maestro]

[Millennium Maestro]

Just PM me your number if you want to discuss further!

[Number8]

I think you may be approaching this from the wrong angle, Sound proofing is an expensive route with limited results. A good "dual purpose" amp would be a H&K Tubemeister 18 Lunch box sized(will get you pic), not only can you step it down from 18 to 5 to 1 watt but it has a built in load so it can be played silent where you can use a direct out and monitor with headphones!!!

 

This approach would allow you to run into a cheap 4 channel mixer, use a drum machine, mp3 player etc. and working in relative acoustic silence. When you can make noise, fire it up and rock your world!

 

Head, mixer and headphones are your only expenses! You can get an external cabinet for the amplified situations!

 

That's brilliant. I should have been doing this too.

[Millennium Maestro]

That's brilliant. I should have been doing this too.

I have an early to sleep wife and I am up late a lot! Also as a band I got each member of my trio to buy in ear monitors(Help immensely) and the guitar, Bass, Vox are all direct with Multiple mics on the drums... I record 16 tracks live with very excellent results(going to get an electronic drum set) to eliminate the mic bleed through from an acoustic drumset! Dont know how but sometimes the wife sleeps through our jams.... ???

[pressure]

Move.

[Millennium Maestro]

This guy is not a quiet drummer... LOL In ear monitors required!!! LOL

[rockabilly69]

Rent a rehearsal space.

[JMick]

Move.

 

A thoughtful suggestion. Do you recommend 8 or 10 bedrooms?

 

 

 

This guy is not a quiet drummer... LOL In ear monitors required!!! LOL

 

He looks as furious as he is hungry!

[peterbright]

Headphones are the least expensive option...you can use a simple audio interface without even using an amp at all.

[Millennium Maestro]

Headphones are the least expensive option...you can use a simple audio interface without even using an amp at all.

Quite correct a USB interface or Android app with Conversion device connected to a computer.

 

In the old days I ran a POD XT direct, they even have those tiny Kidney shaped pods too... Lots of options beside sound proofing for an amp!

[NoSnowBlower]

Move.

You see his avatar? He's got nowhere else to go!

[yuominae]

I feel your pain regarding this topic, as I'm in the same boat. Can't help much, but am interested in hearing others responses. I will say you will more realistically be looking at sound deadening vs. soundproofing.

 

+1

 

After moving back in May I downgraded to 15W, then 5 and now 1 and yeah, when the gain is up past half the volume dial is down below 2... Sad state of affairs.

[peterbright]

Noise has always been a problem but it is getting worse.

[LK155]

A couple of years ago I built a music room/office in a corner of my basement. I've posted about this room before. Made the walls adjoining other parts of the basement using 2 rows of staggered 2x4's with 2x6 top and bottom plates (pix below), with 'Safe&Sound' batt insulation between both inside and outside rows of studs. The idea was to not have any direct connection between the inside and outside surfaces of the walls except at the top and bottom plates. Then a 5/8" layer of sound-deadening stuff (I forget the name of it, but can find out if it's of interest) on the interior of the music room walls and then drywall. In the ceiling I stuffed about 10" of Safe&Sound, and installed a solid wood door instead of a hollow-core. And the bottom of the door is way down, very close to being on the carpet. Exterior walls were done with sprayfoam insulation then drywall. None of the things I did are visible. Rap your knuckles on one of the walls and you just get a dull thud, which immediately dies down to nothing.

 

My goal was to reduce (not eliminate--that's pretty well impossible without spending megabucks) the noise transmission into other parts of the house.

From a practical standpoint, the construction methods and materials I used were a good solution, and the cost wasn't exorbitant at all. A few extra 2x4's, some batt insulation, the sound-deadening stuff, and a solid door.

If I remember correctly, the noise transmitted upstairs into the main part of the house was reduced by about 30db.

The downside of doing all that is I now have an office/music room that almost totally dampens sounds from the rest of the house getting in, even with the door open. The sound absorption measures I took work both ways, so I usually cannot hear anything that's going on upstairs. Maybe not a bad thing altogether, except when Marg's talking to me from upstairs and thinks I can hear her. Not.

 

Sorry for rambling on, especially since building, or rebuilding, a dedicated music room is not in your immediate future.

Headphones are not a bad temporary solution. Good luck.

 

 

 

 

[Millennium Maestro]

Lyle, knowing you I can't believe you would ever need sound proofing.

[LK155]

Let's just say it wasn't done for my benefit.

[JMick]

You see his avatar? He's got nowhere else to go!

 

Missing my own opportunity to use that line in the previous scenario will forever represent one of my great personal failures. That being said...

 

 

 

LK155, your home handyman skills are enviable. Perhaps when I'm in the market to buy a home I'll PM you for the specifics of your techniques. Until then, I guess I'll have to live with a decent modeling amp and some headphones.