dampening down the drums - ???

[Aquanaut]

hi, i'm 16 and have a studio in a room in my basement, and i've got everything i need, and it sounds good, but my mom always gets upset when i play drums cuz they're loud. is there anyway to make some kind of barrier to stop sound from going upstairs without building an iso-booth? cuz i'd like to be able to experiment more with mic positions and such, but i hardly ever have time.

thanks>>>michael

 

[John Sayers]

Try this first

Firstly make sure you seal all doors leading to upstairs. You can get foam or rubber seals from your local hardware. Get back after you've tried that .

Cheers
John

 

[kristian]

dampening drums usually kills tone. and that wll make the recording sound bad. gasket up the doors and caulk your ceiling, corners of the room, etc where there are cracks with silicon putty or gypsum tape and paint. actually with that last point im not sure which would yeild a bettter seal.

 

[John Sayers]

Michael - it's hard to stop the sound a drumkit produces - especially if it's played with passion Fill your room with as much absorbing materials as you can find, doonas, mattresses, old carpet - anything that will suck up the noise you make, then see how much you have reduced the sound and then you will know if you have to go further.

cheers
John

 

[Aquanaut]

sorry i didn't mean dampen down the drums, i meant stop sound from leaving the room. does anyone make those foam tiles in big sheets, like on a big stand? so its a big tile with sides and a small base or feet? because then i could move those around and situate them anyway i wanted, and keep them stacked when i'm not using them. maybe?

thanks>>>michael

 

[Perceval]

I play drums and just built a small home studio in my basement, so I can appreciate the need to control the noise levels. Check out http://www.auralex.com or search zzounds.com for auralex products (e.g. MAXWALL) - Problem is, its expensive and it isn't really sound proofing. For real sound proofing you need to do some serious construction, which I am guessing you cannot afford. Something I considered at one point was taking carpeting and inserting metal gromets across one edge so they could be hungup on the walls using screws. The carpeting can offer some dampening and it be taken down and rolled up when its not needed.

If you do have the money for construction then keep in mind that air is the best sound proofing material, hence, double walled construction. The outerwall is insulated while there the inner wall has air in inside.

Oh, if you decide to go the foam route, make sure you look at the flamability of the product before you buy, as some foam products are highly flamable or release noxious fumes when burned. Also, some foam gets brittle after a realively short time. Good luck.