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I just moved into a house where the one car garage was converted to a room. Does anybody have some tips to reduce the noise( already had a neighbor complain)I have "sound offs" but dont like them to much.I really dont want to do any construction either ie building walls.
Thanks
carpet foam and heavy styrofoam 2 inch thick in the windows if they exist.
Without doing construction, that Sonic foam mounted on the walls, will significantly reduce the sound level, but it won't reduce all of the sound going to your neighbors.
If you have the bucks, the Roland V-drums are great for managing the sound levels. They aren't like "real drums" but I think they're a lot nicer than playing with foam on the heads.
Good luck!
Try Sabian Quiet Tone accessories on you kit if you want? (they're sound offs)
these ones are actually quite good and promote Virgil-Like power on the kit because you have to slam them so hard to hear the drum!
If your neighbors are picky, there is virtually nothing you can do short of major construction IMO.
My brother and I spent about 3k on a garage in the house we rented in the Bay Area. We had elderly neighbors who would complain, leave letters on our doors etc. etc. no matter how much work we did. We got the external levels down below the sound of a passing car but that kick still carried. (albeit softly)
Looking back, I should've spent that money renting a studio if I had to so I could play whenever I want. (Which is what I do now)
As soon as I buy a house, I'm having a room built professionally so I don't have to deal with it anymore. [img]cool.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 19, 2003 11:21 AM: Message edited by: Derek DeFields ]</font>
Once I had a neighbor who liked to call the law on me. One day a musician cop appeared and said I could play till eleven o'clock at night before he could legitimately shut me down. This doesn't erase the ire of the neighbors but a man's home is his castle and you have rights too. Don't be bamboozled.
There was an incident one morning where my guitarist and I saw a real estate agent leading some octogenarians into the house next door for a showing. We flung the windows and doors wide and Aerosmithed them right out of the 'hood. That house stayed unrented for years. [img]cool.gif[/img]
That, my friend 5 [& wood], is STOOPENDOUSLY hilairious...&, "octogenarians"...HA! [Guess i wont be chucklin as much if i make it that far] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
If you get a musician cop, you're lucky.
but, if you get a "regular" officer, you're likely to get a stern warning that will result in fines (or worse) if you play again at ANY time.
Another idea is call your local police department and ask them about it. They are after all the ones who will be showing up at your house.
Bottom line in CA anyway is, you do not have the right to "disturb the peace" at any time. (at least not without a permit) Be very careful when/if involving the law is all I'm saying.
Agreed, DDF. Check with the local cop shop first and see what your rights are. Texas is not California and my experience was definitely in the south and not the west coast. Up until recently you could drink beer in your car and carry a hogleg in Texas, not anymore. When I was in California in the mid-70s the cops cared less if you sparked a blunt up in front of them but they would get real ugly about drinking and driving.
For the record I advocate the freedom of music NOT drugs or drinking and driving. I'm tolerant of people's bad habits but those habits need to be left at the house when one gets behind the wheel.
Good wisdom fr u both.
Hey, 5, did u say a "holeg?!"
...Oohhh...I'm sorry...i looked again & see that it was a HOGleg.... [img]wink.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 19, 2003 02:36 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
In Tejas you can drive around with all the hoes you can afford. [img]wink.gif[/img]
Foam, egg crate, carpet, etc.... That stuff will only help with the high end, but the low frequency (bass drum) will cut right through. The only way to stop low frequency noise is with mass (i.e. heavy products, like multiple layers of sheet rock, or concrete) Also, you must seal up your windows as well. I did a bunch of research on this, and if you look on the web, there are some handbooks out there that tell you how to construct "Rooms within a room", which is really what's required. After looking down the barrel of about $2K in materials, I decided to rent a storage unit for $70/month that's close to where I work, so I can play at lunch, or after work. Much better...
Or, if you're building a house, you could have the m pour you a concrete basement with 4 solid walls, then just seal off the top and door.
I built a 10x16ft soundproof room in my basement. I went to professionals who told me exactly what to buy and how to do it. They could have done it for me for 10k$ but I did it myself for 3k$. It works wonders. The living room and kid's room are just over me and I can play my acoustic kit anytime. The peace of mind I get is worth the $$ and effort. If you want advice, I can tell you what I did.
T
Back when I lived in a house I used quilts(God bless my grandmother) on the walls and the door to the practice/bed room. Double ply on each wall though.(extremely dead) Had a couple Marshall stacks cranked up pretty loud and only had one minor incident with a neighbor. The only reason that happened was because the door to the room was opened.
Clint
You guys are right about the "low-end" coming through even after soundproofing. One suggestion would be to build a small riser for the kit so less of the low frequencies are transferred to the ground.
I thought I saw somewhere that a company was selling really heavy-duty foam beams that you could rest a kit or bass amp on so that less of the lows were being delivered through the ground.
(Or maybe I dreamt about it.... weird.)
Tombo 7/8:
It would be great if you put everything you did down in a document, and then posted it on the board......
Thanks!
Thanks for all the suggestions, I plan on putting carpet padding on the walls and maybe acoustic foam from Auralex (Auralex.com) I do have the foam beams that you spoke about but the room is small and I would need a 6x6 piece of plywood...... might just have to do that. Here is the hyperlink to that website, hope I did it right.web page
That company sells the foam beams and I got mine thru Sam Ash.
For now I took my soundoffs and cut hole out of middle so I am hitting the drumhead not the rubber pad and used alot of paper towels to dampen the top and bottom heads. Had my girlfriends daughter play and I went outside. It did cut the noise down alot. My neighbor is pretty cool though, the reason she asked me to "turn down" is because her kid was sick.
Obviously drums are supposed to project so think of ways to suppress that projection. Set the drums up where they face a wall that faces into the house instead of positioning them toward a wall facing the street, a window or the neighbors' houses. Placing something directly in front of the bass drum would help: an armchair; a mattress tilted on its side against something to prop it up; stacks of pillows, cushions, newspapers or magazines; a clothes basket full of ironing; anything to help absorb that low end thump. You'd still have the feel of the bass drum while significantly retarding the sound, at least while you're practicing (not rehearsing with a group.)
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have been known to do this.. Too funny! [img]biggrin.gif[/img]Quote:
Originally posted by Five Eight:
There was an incident one morning where my guitarist and I saw a real estate agent leading some octogenarians into the house next door for a showing. We flung the windows and doors wide and Aerosmithed them right out of the 'hood. That house stayed unrented for years. [img]cool.gif[/img]
What if, while the house is being built, you put tons of sound proofing or even that pink insulation stuff between the sheetrock of a specified room? I've always wondered about that.
i got a pretty good method i used for soundproofing. nail 2"x12" wood rails on the wall(one on the top,then middle then bottom near the floor),then nail acoustic tiles to them.this creates a pocket of air between material and the wall.then u can use the auralex foam to tac on to the ceiling tile.(ceiling tile like the ones on offices,like 2 ft by 4 ft ones)..i used this in a spare room and it works really good,about 90%.plus its fairly inexpensive).hope this helps
that sounds like a good idea mcraeh, what are acoustic tiles and where do i get them.
Have been kicking around the idea of soundproofing a room in my basement, but not ready to fork over 3 grand yet. Was reasearching the topic and found some good info at this page.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">they sell them at lowes or home depot.Quote:
Originally posted by DDrums:
that sounds like a good idea mcraeh, what are acoustic tiles and where do i get them.
T-Bo, you can use R30 instead of R15 thick insulation but you are still not going to cut enough sound down. It's still only 1 piece of sheet rock,insulation then the outside wall.. The optimum is building a room inside a room but it can cost upward of 15,000.
So, the use of furniture blankets, foam, styro inside the windows will cute more sound leaking outside than actually filling the inside of the walls with heavier insulation. When I built my house we used thicker in the walls it helped a bit but not much.
My neighbours don't care since most of the time I do my recording or practicing during the day when they are all at work, plus I was here first!
But I left my room really live, I covered 1 window to prevent leakage of outside noises getting in the mics, but that's all .
Good posts.
...& yeah, that's right, Randy...the topic SHOULD be "How to keep those @#$%& pesky neighbor[hood] noises from coming into/violating your home drum studio [& recordgs]!!" [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 22, 2003 02:23 PM: Message edited by: FuseU1 ]</font>
Folks, a word of wisdom from a sadder but wiser first time home buyer:
Crooked Builder: "Sure, young man, we can soundproof your bonus room by adding extra insulation, for an extra $500...."
Young, Foolish First Time Home Buyer (Me):
Cool, dude! I can bash away any time.
Little did I know the builder threw maybe a couple extra strips of Owens-Corning into the walls, but that did absolutely nothing, because the windows were like sieves, and let 95% of the sound out of the room. Like I said, and like others said, to have REAL sound proofing, you need a room within a room, with free hanging sheetrock, and sealed windows.
Or, just grease your neigbors a bit every month or so....
My soundproof room cost me around 2,000$. I built two walls, not touching one another.
So from the outside in, the walls have:
Drywall, 2X3 metal studs, Pink soundproof insulation in between studs, 8x 4 x 3/4" paper base SonoPanel, space (approx 3"), metal studs, Pink soundproof insulation in between studs, horizontal resiliant channels, drywall.
So from the outside in, the Ceilling has:
Drywall, 8'x 4' x 3/4" paper base Sonopanel, Drywall, ceiling metal channels, Pink soundproof insulation stuffed within the 2 x 6 joists.
The only thing I'd change if I could do it over would be NOT TO USE THE PINK INSULATION SOUNDPROOF material. There is another one of a dark green color (more expensive) that would have done a much better job. But overall, I am satisfied. My little one can have his afternoon nap while I practice in the basement.
Here are some links that may help...
http://www.soundproofing.org/infopages/Music_room.htm
http://soundproofing.org/images/walls.gif
http://www.homehelpnet.com/HowTo/Sou...soundproof.asp