I am interested in what you guys use for soundproofing your practice spaces, what works and what does not. I would be happy to hear your stories.

I am using my garage, (practicing Drums) and will be rehearsing with a band once a week and I want to do some sound proofing, I dont need to be totally sound proof, but I would like to quiet it down a bit, my neighbors are pretty cool, and I am not playing all hours of the night, but I think I should show some consideration to my neighbors as they are old, and probably dont have the same appreciation of surf music as I do.

At the moment, I have a virtually empty Garage, with thick insulated, walls the walls have a layer of drywall, and a layer of plywood on top, I have 1 single pane window and a big metal garage door, so you could probably imagine how loud the drums are outside!!

Hi

My drummer friend has just completed a sound proofed practice room. It's a brick garage with dry wall and double thick plaster board. He removed the big metal garage door and bricked it up, also built a secondary wall inside which makes a neat little storage area as you walk in. He double glazed the window and laid some good thick carpet.

From what i've read sound gets through door cracks very easy and i'd guess the roof might need special attention if your nextdoor neighbors have upstairs bedrooms. My friends conversion is a complete success you can hardly hear anything from outside.

Just one thing he didn't forsee.. beer drinking pals can be odorous at times so a fan was installed! If sound leaks through the fan then theres a box baffle that's easy to make up.

Building a wall within the walls is a great way to stop sound. The walls shouldn't touch the exterior walls. You lose about 4" along the perimeter but it really cuts down on the noise. The wavy carpet ceiling trick works well too.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

We practice in my garage, and come to think of it I think we should try to sound proof it. When we play you can hear all the noise really loud inside the house. I can't believe my folks put up with all the noise. I know my brothers get annoyed by it though. I think I can say that we are the only band here that practices with the Garage door open which is pretty stupid actually. I bet the neighbors get pretty annoyed, but no complaints so far. We should really try to sound proof it though.

The Deadbeats

Why don't you guys share our rehearsal space with us, $35 a person/month.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Actually the suggestion that Danny made is the best solution. I've built a few recording studios. the window will be your biggest problem, and the garage door your second. Concrete block with hollow cells works, but the lowest frequencies are the real problem, limit the bass gain, and blanket the kic.

www.cutbacksurfband.com

My first thought was to of course plug up all of the gaps, and carpet the entire garage walls and ceiling, I was thinking of building a kind of folding wall on hinges, to take care of the garage door, that way if I had to ever open up the garage door I could. This would be made from pallets, in which I have access to as many as I need. Then I would carpet this folding wall. For the window, some sort of wood/foam/carpet plug?

I have seen alot of info on the subject of soundproofing on the web, and Danny's suggestion of building the room within a room is the ultimate, way to go, which if I wasn't renting my house this is what I would do for sure, but in the mean time, I just want to keep the neighbors at ease.

DannySnyder

tonetti
My first thought was to of course plug up all of the gaps, and carpet the entire garage walls and ceiling, I was thinking of building a kind of folding wall on hinges, to take care of the garage door, that way if I had to ever open up the garage door I could. This would be made from pallets, in which I have access to as many as I need. Then I would carpet this folding wall. For the window, some sort of wood/foam/carpet plug?

I have seen alot of info on the subject of soundproofing on the web, and Danny's suggestion of building the room within a room is the ultimate, way to go, which if I wasn't renting my house this is what I would do for sure, but in the mean time, I just want to keep the neighbors at ease.

Maybe it's because I'm a carpenter, but building a small room in a room seems an easy project. Just nailing together some 2x4's and drywalling it. You can always make the walls bolt together so they're easily removed.

I'm not a carpenter, but I do have the tools to do something like this, I'm just not sure if I want to throw a bunch of money at a project of this scale in a house I am just renting. I do like the idea of bolting the walls together so they can be removed. I didnt think of this. Thanks Danny.

I'd just like to remind anyone considering using foam that some of it will burn very rapidly. Make sure that what you are using wont set your house on fire under certain circumstances.

Everyone used to use egg-cartons in the '70s. They are not much use - certainly not for keeping the sound from going out. Sound-proofing is a pretty complex science and something like egg-cartons will only have a mild dampening effect on a very narrow range of frequencies. If you are trying not to annoy the neighbours then it's the bass frequencies that will be the problem and they are the hardest to stop as they will travel through the floor via vibration. When a room is properly soundproofed they will saw through the joists and 'float' the floor on rubber vibration-absorbing mountings.

However, if you are talking about making the space more dead to improve the sound for you - then you can't go wrong with carpets, heavy curtains and soft furnishings. I keep a big old sofa in my studio room for just this reason - and have heavy velvet curtains on my doors etc.

I am lucky in that my house is a big old 1900 brick-built place with double-glazing. Although the next door house is only about 15ft away I can make as much noise as I like and it doesn't seem to bother them.

http://www.myspace.com/thepashuns

Youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and treachery.