9.3' X 10.2' Drum Room?

[Mr. Meoff]

Hello everyone this is my first post, newbie!!

Summary: I was about to hit record, had already been warming up, and the neighbor came bangin’ on my door, "Stop that garbage!" Needless to say I am a drummer, but how rude. At the moment I had my drums in the living room. I am in a stand-alone house, 50's brick/masonry home, bout 1000sq ft, corner house, off a semi busy street. The house has shiz for windows. The drawing is the 2nd/spare bedroom. There is bout 200ft of back yard before I hit the neighbor who complained.

I want to deaden the room enough to be neighbor friendly and sound as best as it can for recording. It would be nice to play at those creative moments, no matter what time!

NOTE: I am renting, so I don’t want to do anything permanent, more modular.

Room:
9.3'X10.2' Ceiling: 7.9'
2 outer walls brick outside, insulated dry wall inside
2 interior walls insulated dry wall
1 door
1 closet
1 a/c vent above door
8'X8' drum riser, 4.5" high, with office carpet tiles on top, rubber material bottom.
The room is carpeted too...

The spare bedroom door is actually solid!, not studio quality, but decent. The house is built and insulated well, just the windows suck! I cranked my PA and other stereos (Airport Express rules), and couldn't hear much of anything outside.

I already have a ton of 2X2 Auralex pyramid foam. Could probably cover the entire room, but don’t want anything permanent.

I have read about:

703/Roxul
audimute sound sheets
various sound barrier materials

Any ideas? I need to make window plugs (of some kind), and maybe some bass traps to hang over windows and/or stack around the drum riser?

Anyone build plugs for thier windows? Material?

Has anyone used the Audimute Sound Sheets?
Audimute Sound Proof Material, Cheap Soundproofing - Audimute Soundproofing

…maybe hang some of these sheets, instead of making bass traps out of Roxul/703/R19. Bad idea? not ideal?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks for reading!

Best,
Meoff

[foggie]

From your description, you need to address sound leaking from this room (e.g. soundproofing) Applying foam, fiberglass etc.. isn't going to do squat.

The issue you have to deal with is structural. By that I mean making this area as "water tight" as possible, which sounds like what you are after? If this is the case, there are many methods to address this but really isn't something that can be solved quick and dirty.

Being that you are renting it would appear your options are a bit limited (maybe maybe not) as to what you can or cannot modify. If you have the time and $$$$ you CAN address the soundproofing issue. Its really comes down to what you want to do.

I am certainly no expert but did put a lot of time in both research and sweat into my previous drum room (which was done from scratch).

That being said, there is a ton of info on this very subject from this board and many others (www.johnlsayers.com, www.gearslutz.com, www.soundonsound.com).

I think before you get into any real details, perform a search on the above sites and read, read some more, read even more. After which, you should have some general ideas on what you may need to undertake. Goodluck

[Mr. Meoff]

Thanks man, I have been reading and reading, been to the suggested websites, posted this same post on gearslutz.com On gearslutz I have posted some images/drawing of the room with hopes that someone might suggest, thru experience, "build a window plug like this or use this material to fill your windows or you dont need to deaden sooo much", etc. Since I am renting, maybe some people have been successful building their own modular type sound absorption, that's really what I am interested in.

[foggie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Meoff

Thanks man, I have been reading and reading, been to the suggested websites, posted this same post on gearslutz.com On gearslutz I have posted some images/drawing of the room with hopes that someone might suggest, thru experience, "build a window plug like this or use this material to fill your windows or you dont need to deaden sooo much", etc. Since I am renting, maybe some people have been successful building their own modular type sound absorption, that's really what I am interested in.

Building a plug(s) (lots of info available) is an option and may or may not help. Its hard w/o knowing many of the structural details of your room, proximity to surrounding neighbors etc...

If you are looking at modular, the only thing that comes to mind is www.clearsonic.com. I have no experience with their "iso rooms" and I'm pretty sure a fully enclosed solution from them would be $$$$ AND whether or not it would even be the right solution for your situation is unknown.

I think you need to come up with a realistic budget, determine what you can and cannot modify structurally and also establish your "soundproofing" goal.

At that point, I think you will have a pretty good idea what your next steps will be.

[Mr. Meoff]

[loudsongs]

I admire your plight, as I have been there before, as well. . . but


Soundproofing (keeping the sound in your space and out of your neighbor's space) and Acoustical Treatment (treating the space you're recording in with absorbtive/diffusive materials to produce good recordings) are two completely different things and are only related marginally.

Fiberglass, rockwool, auralex, etc. are acoustical absorbers designed to help make your space sound better. They will not keep your sound in your space.

To keep your sound in and others' sounds out you have to have at least two of these three things:

1) a reasonably airtight space, with few leaks. If air can get out, sound will get out.

2) your walls must have a fairly large mass, or at least have a membrane with a large mass to surface area ratio. Think heavy. . . 2 or 3 layers of drywall, specialized heavy rubber acoustic membrane, thin wall filled with sand (often the cheapest)

3) a room inside a room with a sealed, dead airspace between them


A professional studio often will have all three of these in some fashion.



That being said, if you think your brick walls aren't transmitting anything to speak of, try building plugs for the windows, two to three inches thick and fill them with sand, then make sure there is no air gap around the plugs and the window sills.



Scott
Not an audio engineer.

[axeman_ukl]

the guy who complained is 200 foot away what time were you playing ?
i now feel sorry for my neigbours on both sides terraced house drum kit in attic. but then again i only play on a saturday afternoon for an hour or two.
what about silence pads right up until you record and only record at a reasonable time ?
other than that it will have to be a room within the room,the clearsonic is not totally sealed and expensive its more used to stop bleed.which is what you are trying to achive a full iso booth would proberly be overkill and very expensive .
i think you could get away with a booth to stop most of the noise from entering the spare room , something across the windows and then let the house and the 200ft take care of the rest.

drum kit > booth > sealed room > 200ft >happy neighbour (if that does not work buy him some ear plugs )

disclamer my knowledge of this sort of thing is limited so before what i said gets flamed remember limited !!!

[Mr. Meoff]

Originally Posted by axeman_ukl

the guy who complained is 200 foot away what time were you playing ?
i now feel sorry for my neigbours on both sides terraced house drum kit in attic. but then again i only play on a saturday afternoon for an hour or two.
what about silence pads right up until you record and only record at a reasonable time ?

I was playing at 11:30am on a Sat., c'mon...... It's not like I am some douche, bangin away either. I have been playing 25years, got a degree in percussion, tryin to make money as a musician/producer.... If it was 2am on a Wed., sure, but I don't bitch when her weed wacker is goin off at 8am....lol

[KineticSound]

Originally Posted by Mr. Meoff

I was playing at 11:30am on a Sat., c'mon...... It's not like I am some douche, bangin away either. I have been playing 25years, got a degree in percussion, tryin to make money as a musician/producer.... If it was 2am on a Wed., sure, but I don't bitch when her weed wacker is goin off at 8am....lol

Vito Corleone says, "It would be.... unfortunate... if something, perhaps... - detrimental - were to happen to your neighbor lady."

[Mr. Meoff]

Originally Posted by KineticSound

Vito Corleone says, "It would be.... unfortunate... if something, perhaps... - detrimental - were to happen to your neighbor lady."

Funny you should say that.... Normally, Mr. Meoff would get very vulgar and defense, bur in this case, this time, I was in control of the inner hulk. She was a real bitch! She was very rude, bangin on my door like an ex-girlfriend, and when I said, "Hello, can I help you?" She replies, "There you are! You stop with that garbage!!" I replied, "excuse me, garbage?" I was a little sensitive, c'mon been playin 25 years, got a degree in music.... "I call the police if you dont stop that garbage!!!", as she walks away. I was calm and cool, surprising... I mean really, is that how you approach someone?!?

Why I am taking care of the room best as I can. I dont want to deal with crazies... I have a dog, dont need her throwin bad shit into my yard.

[KineticSound]

5 large. She goes away.

[Mr. Meoff]

I found some great information here:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125

[foggie]

Originally Posted by Mr. Meoff

I found some great information here:

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2125

Yep - now prepare for major brain information overload implosion!

[Mr. Meoff]

Originally Posted by foggie

Yep - now prepare for major brain information overload implosion!

My brain is always on overload!!! foggie, MN eh? My roommate just moved back to MN. Believe his dad in St. Paul & mom in Minneapolis. MN is dope!