This thread can be used for any discussion of sound proofing but initially I am seeking some advice.
I live in a 1 story duplex and am about to get a small practice amp and am looking for some advice on cheap sound proofing/dampening so I do not annoy the neighbors. The room I would need to use for practicing shares a wall with their bedroom. I will be getting some cheap moving blankets asap to drape over that wall as needed but my main issue is the one window in the room. I have read that egg cartons as sound proofing really don't work. What about high density foam in the window as I practice?
Any affordable home remedies for sound proofing will be very much appreciated.
Most of the really annoying sound is bass frequencies. They are transmitted by vibration through the floor and ceiling and will pass through walls as if they weren't there. Drapes, egg cartons, foam will all reduce the higher frequency stuff, but you can't do much about the boomf boomf boomf coming through the walls.
Honestly, even a 5W amp is too loud in that kind of situation. Get something with a headphone socket or just be content to play acoustically.
As MrVLUN says it's not going to be easy, even with a low powered amp, 1/2W is enough to annoy my neighbours, 2-4W annoys EVERYONE inthe block! Between 1/8 and 1/5W (clean-ish) work for me. So, if you go with a 5W amp you may well still require a resistive attenuator to drop at least 9dB (easily made from a pair of high power wire wound resistors). Blackstar have a cheap-ish <1W amp with a tube output stage, which can probably be tamed further with a different power tube & speaker wiring.
Forum member 7LimitJI converted a champ style amp to <1/2W, then dropped power further by using a lower power tube still, he loved the tone but found it TOO quiet even for home use, so boosted it back up to <1/2W...but then he does not live in an apartment.
There's a blog about my tiny harp amp at www.myspace.com/markburness.
Get the speakers up off the floor so you aren't sending vibrations along the floor, and make sure the legs of whatever you put it on aren't good at transferring sound. I had an upstairs neighbor who used to use one of those vibrating massage pads in a chair and the legs of the chair vibrated my whole ceiling. A big heavy table is better than a TV tray. Ultimately mass, particularly loose mass (sandbags instead of steel doors) stops sound, (that's one of the reasons basement practice spaces are so great, all that dirt around them). Get the speakers pointing away from the wall in question. Store your junk along that wall (as long as it isn't stuff that's going to make noise if it vibrates). There is a reason it's expensive to properly sound proof a room.
The other important thing, the most important thing, is to talk to your neighbors and tell them to let you know if it's bothering them. Ask them what time is best for them. And if they happen to play an instrument, ask yourself, hey, what do we need more, a practice room and an oboe or an oboe free band. If you can live with an oboe, problem solved.
The good thing is it's two guys in their 20s so playing without soundproofing should not be an issue during the day and even late evening but sometimes I keep odd hours and might get the urge to play amped at, say, 3-4 am.
HAH!!!! so true MRV..in the "'hood" where I live, every now and then we get the ....buzz, buzz.......buzz, buzz,buzz.....buzz,buzz............buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzz.....with absolutely no melodical or lyrical accompaniment whatsoever. Fortunately as it most often is permeating from a vehicle in the alley behind us, it only lasts for a couple of minutes.
But for those copule of minutes it's like, WTF???? On a side note, are cardealership showrooms now selling their inventory as "sound systems with wheels and motors attached"?
I live in a apartment and I play with a Danelectro Honeytone and a bullet mic with volume control. I put my amp volume just before feedback and usualy put the mic at full volume in the day and it's surprisingly. The only reason it's not real loud is the 2 inch speaker. I also have a solid state Traynor 20 watt 7 inch speaker, on the clean channel I can't go more than 2 or 3 on the volume and I have to put the gain at max. It does't sound real good and it's almost to loud. If Iwas to play it for an hour or two my neighbors would be really pist. But I think that with a mic with a good volume control you could get a decent sound at acceptable level.
Martin ---------- Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Isaac Asimov
Todd, I agree. Sound dampening is a better term but I used Sound Proofing for the subject line as that is a more commonly used term.
I just saw a series of videos on the subject by some acoustics engineer/professor or something like that mentioning that the window is the weakest point for sound and he had a simple cheap way to make a difference although it is not as good as the more expensive methods.
One way was weather stripping around the door,a door sweep on the bottom of both sides of the door, a section of sheet rock cut to fit into the window frame with a handle on it to make it easier to remove, and a sheet of sheet rock cut to the size of the door placed directly onto the door.He also mentioned a sandwich of sheet rock with some specific sound proofing material between them for the window instead of just a single sheet of sheet rock.
I was thinking of doing the window thing with foam on the window side thick enough to fill the space.
Seriously Ray, the adjoining wall is your problem. Drapes are going to do very little to absorb any sound. The only real way you are going to reduce the sound to be able to play at amplified volumes at 4am (!) is by doing it the way studios do. You need to build a room within a room: a second door, false walls (which will mean moving all electrical points), a floating floor and a false ceiling with acoustic foam/mineral wool packed densely in all the gaps.
That kind of work is (presumably) well beyond your budget, reduces the size of your room and would be a major job to reverse if you ever sold. If you rent - you should probably just forget it now.
Frankly IMHO you just forget it now, period.
You are going about this completely backwards. If it was me and I really had the urge to play amplified at 4am - I'd get a battery powered amp, get in my car and drive somewhere completely isolated. Something I learned from Adam's videos!
Sorry MrVLUN I missed the bit where Ray said he wanted to make noise at 4am?
Sound proofing/deadening is treating the symptom. Treat the cause, make less noise in the first place. So either play through a very low powered amp (<1W, or 3-5W amp attenuated), or through a 3-5W amp with a load resistor replacing the speaker, lined out into a music player/headphones.
It is not an impossible quest, different skills to treating the room, but probably easier & cheaper.
"The good thing is it's two guys in their 20s so playing without soundproofing should not be an issue during the day and even late evening but sometimes I keep odd hours and might get the urge to play amped at, say, 3-4 am."
I agree, keeping the noise low in the first place is the answer, hence my original suggestion of a headphone amp. Frankly though, if he was my neighbour, I'd be hammering on the wall if he was playing unamplified between 3 and 4am.
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2011 5:07 AM
Indeed, expecting to play any instrument after dark, or even the hi fi on loud is perhaps beyond the scope of "reasonable" expectation/behaviour. I've been down the "feuding neighbours" path myself, it's just a lot of unnecessary & easily avoided animosity, both sides usually think they are justified (both parties think that any noise they make is "reasonable" & unavoidable), neither wants to back down & both parties grasp every opportunity to escalate matters...there are better ways to spend time & energy, trust me.
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2011 5:22 AM
A lot of good advice here. A false wall can be an effective sound blocker if it is isolated from the original wall. Isolation is achieved by limiting the number of attachment points and by limiting the contact of those points. Silicone caulk can be used at contact points to help stop vibrations.5/8 drywall will work btter than1/2" If your ceiing and/or floor joist run perpendicular to this wall (from you room into theirs)you my be fighting a loosing battle. Acoustical ceiling tiles can help by both blocking and aborbing sound waves again limiting contact of attachment. Good luck.
The old fashioned, and really ugly way to sound proof a room is getting tons of empty egg cartons on the wall, but even that is not that great in any apartment. And the thing about the bass is the truth and bass frequencies damage the hearing more than anything elser combined.
I think if you need amplified practice, think of getting something a Behringer V-Amp or a POD and use headphones. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
If you wouldn't gig with a Pod or a V-Amp then I don't see why would practice with them either. Even if you use headphones (& I'm certainly not against the principle) you still won't be practising silently (like with a strat or a keyboard) because the harp still makes a noise acoustically.
Last Edited by on Jul 30, 2011 10:07 AM
I remember when my brother and I were young an still living at home,I used to hear him playing his strat unplugged with no amp at 2-3 am- I lived in the room next to him,sharing only one wall,but i could clearly hear single notes and chords,sometimes to the point of being able to tell what song he was playing. There is also noise from the pick on the strings-strumming chords on an unplugged electric guitar does make a lot of noise.
Last Edited by on Jul 30, 2011 11:02 AM
As much as a harp, when the player has headphones on? Sure a Strat or a Tele make some noise (indeed the late Danny Gatton's guitars have been noted for impressive acoustic volume)...but I'm sure you get my drift.
