Soundproofing advice needed for small area

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PetSoundsPSU

New member
Hi everyone, this is my first time posting. I need some advice. This fall I will be living alone in a 1 room apartment with people in other apartments all around me. Now I love to make recordings and play out live but I am concerned that I will be too loud when I record and practice, particularly when I sing. My plan was to make a very small little space underneath my bed loft (about 7 feet long, 3-4 feet wide, and 6 feet high) as a place to practice and record my singing. I was wondering what type of materials I would need and what would be the best approach to soundproofing this area so that no other rooms would here me singing my loudest. Is this possible to do? I have been throwing around the idea of constructing a small wall of panels to fit the sides of the space and then putting either blankets or that uneven mattress foam/cushion over the panels. Would I need to cover all 4 sides, so that it would be enclosed or just 3 or say 3 and most of the fourth. Please advise me on what any of you would do. Thanks so much!!!!
-Mark
 
got your email PetSounds ... I don't know if I'll be of any help ... but here goes...
This seems like very much NOT an ideal situation for recording/practicing. What else are you playing (besides vocals) and how loud do you usually get? If it's guitar/keyboard etc ... go into the board direct and wear headphones. Since this is a one-room apartment, I doubt you have a walk-in closet to sing in (although, that is a great suggestion).
You could build the panels you mention out of plywood or something ... but you'll probably need more mass, make it airtight and isolate it somehow from the surrounding building to get a good enough level of soundproofing.
Seems like a lot of trouble and expense to go through what seems to be a temporary solution. If you don't sing or play all that loud, you could probably get away with less, but I'm not sure of how easy that is for you to control. You could build some gobos to surround the mic ... but that would be more helpful to keep some room noise away from the mic rather than *your* noise away from your neighbors.
I guess my advice is ... either practice somewhere else ... or get to know your neighbors well and buy them all a 6-pack of beer before you're ready to make a lot of noise. It would probably cheaper ... and would definitely be easier.
Sorry if that's not what you were looking for.

I've kinda been in your situation before. I once built a door and wall out of plywood, 2x4s, insulation and carpet to close up a basement stairwell. Only to find that the sound leakage through the floorboards circumvented that whole structure. It looked cool ... but you could still hear everything from upstairs. That put about $500 in the "lessons learned" jar. It probably would have been cheaper for me to rent a practice space somewhere. The only good thing about that situation was that I didn't piss off my neighbors ... only my wife ... so I had to spend even more $ on flowers and candy that year. :)
 
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