Electronic Music 411 - cheap/easy soundproofing for apt?

05/11/08 + Juice

me and my special lady friend are looking to move into a 2 bedroom apt in august with the 2nd smaller bedroom supposed to be set aside for my studio...

i'd love to be able to have my drumset/amps/monitors and what not at full volume if possible, and i'm wondering how easy it is to soundproof(or at least dim/muffle the sound)in a single room on a budget... i don't care at all how it looks... just don't want to get kicked out/told i can't play my drums(is this even possible?)

for the last year i've lived in a 360sqft apt with my girlfriend and hardly made any music and i'm downright sick of it...

help!

is there any hope for me?

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05/12/08 + bb01

styrofoam cups and egg cartons will act more as diffusers than anything else
the good news is, its always easier to keep sound from leaking out, than to keep sound from creeping in
( a carpet on your floor will dampen your feet, not the steps from your neighbour)

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05/12/08 + nagrom

I spent 2 weeks stapling this shit: link to the walls of some guy's full-size home theater (the ceiling too). Not fun, cheap, or easy.

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05/12/08 + flies

my understanding is that the baffle-type foam/sundries will block the high-frequencies but what you really need for sound-proofing is mass. I suspect that just putting large pieces of plywood or masonite (or whatever's cheap and heavy) against the walls would do a great job.

You do need blankets/etc to prevent the room from being too 'roomy', tho.

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edited: May 12 2008 + nightowl

the drums sound will be your biggest problem i think--how can u soundproof a floor & contain the vibrations

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05/12/08 + besenkopf

Modern Drummer magazine has run several articles on soundproofing, and I believe they sell a book on the topic. Room-within-a-room is the only way to drastically cut down on drumset volume, though-- and that means you have to float the floor and the ceiling. If you had an electronic drumset and were on the ground floor, you could probably do something about the bass drum pad vibrations, though.

05/13/08 + tommytom

egg cartons?

could be a myth though

05/13/08 + tommytom

just checked it there it works but not very well, you could get really crazy and stupid and layer the wall with bubble wrap then ply wood over that then styrofoam over that and then the egg cartons,test it out then hang your head shame.Thats what id do im brillant at fucking things up

05/13/08 + tommytom

or just get electronic drums

05/13/08 + mlbot

bb01 said: "styrofoam cups and egg cartons will act more as diffusers than anything else"

this is untrue.

Eggs cartons and styofoam will act primarily as a massive fire-hazard if you hang it on your wall.

Don't forget, you have to live in this apartment. Don't turn it into a death trap that'll choke you to death on burning plastic fumes 5 seconds after a fire starts.

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05/13/08 + dpmtl

Place i live in was a self build project,a big Victorian house.The fllats are huge with high walls and we put three inch thick suspended ceilings in with insulation and dry wall lining on the extrenal walls but the sound still travels,much more than i expected.I can quite easily hear music from my neighbours.I eventually had to move my gear into another room and it's better now as i'm further away from them so i don't have to be as concerned about disturbing them.You may have to use headphones a lot.Do plenty of volume checks to see how much the sound travels and set your listening levels based on that.Bass and drums are the worst and travel the furthest so electronic drums may be an idea,i don't think you'd get away with a real set,the smaller the space the less distance it has to travel.If you have neighbors in close proxinity their going to hear it.See if you can come to some sort of compromise with them.

Finally get some decent headphones that you can monitor with and are comfortable to wear.

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06/24/08 + Ochre

definitely try to decouple the kit from the floor to reduce vibrations, and also add mass to the walls (eg. barrier mat plus stud/insulation and drywall). Perhaps use mastic to decouple this 'second wall' from the adjoining floor, ceiling and first wall too.

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06/24/08 + RogerRoger

This is a major factor in why I have just started moving into a 2000 square foot home with high ceilings. It's still smack dab in the middle of the 'burbs though, so I'll report back later on if it was worth it.

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06/24/08 + Squeal

drumset + apartment = yikes.

People below you? People above you?

This room shares a wall with neighbors?

Windows in this room?

Also, the door into your apartment will likely leak so much sound that your girlfriend will STFUing you.

I second the storage rental idea. Especially if it's drums you want to play. Drums are LOUD! Can't stop that BASS!

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06/24/08 + Squeal

Yeah but who wants to play music in a storage unit. Damn.

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07/01/08 + kwality

Get thee to John L Sayers Forum! - link

Just whatever you do, don't say 'sound proof', they get pretty cranky with that! To tell you what they'll probably tell you there; get as much 703 rockwool as you can and try and decouple your room away from the apt. I can't imagine getting a drumkit in an apt to ever be silent, but you should be able to deal with some of the noise/annoying freqs.

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