Sound dampening advice.

V

Vhyle

New member
Hey all... lurker here. I don't post much but I read a good bit. Lots of very informative, intelligent people here.

Ok so last night, I bought a new drum kit - Ludwig Element 6-piece, metallic gold/orange... it's a beautiful kit, and it sounds amazing. This is the first kit I've bought in 6 years. I've been playing V-drums for the last 4 years, and frankly, they just don't replace the real thing.

Anyway, I need to effectively soundproof the room (future aspects of it being a small studio are part of this equation, also), because I live in a mobile home, and the walls are pretty thin. I already know several techniques to sound dampen a room. Here's what I wanted to do, and those who have experience in dampening mobile home walls, please chime in!

I was playing them last night about 10pm or so (a bit late, I know), and the cops were called on me, hah. And I was trying pretty hard to play at half volume. I've been told that if the cops were called on you, then you have the kit that's right for you. But anyway,

A friend has as ton of spare carpet that he's giving me. I was going to coat all the walls and the ceiling in carpet, and tack egg crate foam on top of it. I intend to cover 100% of the walls and ceiling. I also considered doing the spray foam insulation inside the walls, AND doing the carpet/foam method on top of it. But renting a machine for that is kinda costly.

Will the carpet/egg foam be enough? OR should I spring for the foam filler along with the carpet/foam? Or is there another more effective method altogether?

And also, this room has one window, which is two large single panes of glass. I was thinking of also getting foam block and cutting it to size to fit into the windowsill. Is there a better method for windows, or will this do?

Any advice is appreciated. I also eventually intend on recording in this room, if soundproofing goes over well. It's a small room with a closet, so I'll be deadening six walls and a ceiling. Thanks!
 
One thing to do to not get the cops called on you is to not play while most people around you are most likely sleeping :P

I have my drums in my basement, given that the brick in my basement does a very nice job absorbing sound, i use blanket baffles; very cost effective. I have large blankets hung up to accommodate the where my drums are. I hung the blankets about 6-8 inches away from the wall, this way the sound waves travel through the blanket and lose energy, hit the wall, bounce back off, travel through the blanket again and lose even more energy. It's nothing major, but i find that it does a very nice job reducing excess sound.


Just a simple and cheap idea :)
 
Hmm, makes sense. So if I were to use multiple layers of material, like 2 layers of carpet and then foam, and put a small air gap between the layers, that would make it more effective?
 
After a bit of research, I learn that carpets and egg foam don't do jack diddly squat for soundproofing. It looks like rock wool is the best place to start, and that's the way I will go first.

Ok, so would I remove my wall panels, and simply stuff rockwool in between each stud, and put the walls back on? I believe the studs in my walls are 2x3 (mobile home), and rockwool comes in packs that are 3" thick, if my research holds true. That will fit in my walls, but it doesn't leave me the needed air gap (according to the mass-air-mass rule!). So what would be the best thing I could do for that?

Now that I've sworn off foam and carpeting, will you guys reply to my thread now? :D
 
Also, mounting ATS fiberglass panels on the walls, after putting rockwool inside the walls... would that enhance soundproofing a bit further? But if I do this, there's still no air gap, so I'm not sure exactly how effective it would be.
 
Hello Vhyle,

In your original post, you're actually talking about two different things: "Acoustical Treatment" and "Soundproofing". "Soundproofing" is the part where you keep outside sounds from entering your room, and your drum sounds from escaping and bothering your neighbors.

I hate to tell you this... but you can forget about soundproofing a mobile home to where you can play drums at night. That is unless you built another room inside the current one.

As to the acoustical treatment, or knocking down the sound reflections within the room... I would tack some foam mattress pad material to the ceiling, staple the carpet on the walls, and hang a very heavy curtain over the window to reduce what little noise you'll be able to reduce.

BUT!

It's not going to sound as good as you expect it to. Plus, if you're going to record drums... you need a "live" room with a lot of reflection. To me, drums don't sound good recorded in a dead room, even with reverb added later.

Is there carpet on the floor? You might want to consider putting down a hard surface, like a laminate wood floor. Or even a couple sheets of plywood. If you have a "soft" ceiling and a "hard" floor, you can hang your microphones on tall stands closer to the ceiling and get a more open, natural sound from the reflections off the floor.

Cheers!
 
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Well, I don't plan on playing late at night in my house. The houses are just too close together in this neighborhood. It just won't be a good idea.

I just want to cut down on noise escaping the house, so the neighbors won't complain in the evening (like 7pm).

As far as recording in this room, I would like to eventually do that, but it's not my main concern. I have other places I can go record, if need be. My #1 priority right now is to soundproof as much as possible, so the neighbors will leave me alone. And like I said, I normally don't play at 10pm at home. It was just that one time, haha.

EDIT: Yes, the floor is carpeted. But I'll keep your suggestion in mind!

But my main concern right now is to simply soundproof, and lower the volume of the sound of the drums escaping the house.
 
Vhyle said:
Ok, so would I remove my wall panels, and simply stuff rockwool in between each stud, and put the walls back on? I believe the studs in my walls are 2x3 (mobile home), and rockwool comes in packs that are 3" thick, if my research holds true. That will fit in my walls, but it doesn't leave me the needed air gap (according to the mass-air-mass rule!). So what would be the best thing I could do for that?
Click to expand...

You'll get some...30-35dB at the most IF your walls are 5/8" sheet rock and not the plastic material they put up on the inside of a lot of mobile homes. Putting insulation material on the walls themselves after that may actually *decrease* the isolation effect by providing something that will transmit mechanical vibrations through the walls.

The point is this: it's relatively easy to get some relief up higher in the frequency spectrum, but we're talking about a drum kit that's likely producing stuff below 50Hz. There's no stopping frequencies that low until you're putting up multiple layers of stud wall, insulated with double 5/8" sheet rock with a layer of Green Glue between them on each side.

Buy a set of hot rods and find out when you can play without annoying your neighbors. :)

Frank
 
Hah! Well at any rate, it looks like I'll be annoying the neighbors, no matter what I do. I don't plan on leaving anytime soon - we just moved in March of last year.

So I'll just do the best I can, and just play. The neighbors can get over it. I'm familiar with the city noise ordinance laws, so as long as I follow them, there shouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for all the info - I've learned a ton in the last 24 hours, just from this forum alone.
 
Something else that's often overlooked in soundproofing a space are the cracks and holes that exist in walls. I saw a great improvement in sound reduction in my old home studio when I caulked around my windows, door frame, and electrical outlets. (I used the "50 year" sealer which stays pliable and doesn't harden.) I also pried off the wood molding and sealed the small gap between the wall/ceiling and wall/floor then replaced the molding.

I had two exterior windows in this space, and covered each with a sheet of heat-shrink window sealer plastic. I originally did this for energy reasons, but it actually reduced high frequency noises by trapping the pocket of air between the plastic and the window glass (which I had already caulked). Then I hung three layers of heavy fabric over each window.

Physics lesson behind this action: sound travels through solid surfaces better than through the air.

The whole project did just what I wanted it to do... cut down on traffic noises and the neighbor's air conditioning unit. Both noises were fairly high frequency, but I was never able to keep out the rumble of the occasional delivery truck or car-which-needs-a-new-muffler. =)
 
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