egg cartons?

[Foo-bu]

hey. i've often wondered how to soundproof my drum room and make it better for a studio sound. i've been told plenty of times that by using egg cartons this can be achieved. im sure if this was the case, it wouldnt be nearly as good as getting real accoustic treatment stuff but is there truth to this? if so, how would you set it up? staple a bunch of egg cartons to a piece of wood and put it up on the wall?? also, what frequencies does it help to control?

 

[sheppard]

mass is the only thing that will provide sound-proofing.
egg crates may offer some acoustical treatment,but my guess is
that it would only effect the higher freqs.

 

[Hawking]

Drums are perhaps the hardest to soudproof for. The eggcarton trick will help a little do dim the cymbals, but you'll usually get better results using heavy drapes instead. Also, there's a few theories regarding soundproofing a recording space. Are you trying to keep sound in, keep sound out, or fix a problem with poor acoustics (I'm guessing you're in the last catagory). They all require different strategies.

The key here is do determine what's wrong with the sound you have now. Sheppard is right about mass, but you're really not trying to soundproof it. I think you're trying to compensate for poor room acoustics. It could be as simple as a couple of egg cartons. Then again, you could have to get pretty extreme depending on how bad it is now and how good you want it to be. Try to narrow down the frequencies that you're having a problem with before you do anything. You'll save yourself a lot of hassles and money.

 

[knightfly]

OK, it's time to nip the myths in the bud here -

First, egg cartons are a near total waste of time. I tried that 15 years ago, and the only thing it accomplished was to kill some mic feedback at 6kHz, coming from the drummer's vocal mic when we were practicing. Since then, I found an actual lab test of egg cartons, and it turns out they do some absorption at around 6-7 kHz, then dip down, then do a little more up around 10 kHz. Very un-even absorption, and absolutely NO sound PROOFing qualities.

Drapes aren't much better for absorption, mostly just highs. Really heavy drapes have some minor amount of absorption in upper mids, but that's about it.

"Are you trying to keep sound in, keep sound out, or fix a problem with poor acoustics (I'm guessing you're in the last catagory). They all require different strategies. " - Not quite right. Sound PROOFing is a two-way street. If it stops sound one way, it will stop sound the opposite way.

You're right about sound PROOF being different than sound CONDITIONING - the two have almost nothing to do with each other.

Sound PROOF = keeping sound from passing through to areas it's not wanted.

Sound CONDITIONING = also know as acoustic treatment, makes the sound that stays in the room, sound BETTER. This is done by absorbing, diffusing, or trapping unwanted frequencies. You want to try to accomplish this evenly across the audio bandwidth, so that the room response doesn't accent some frequencies and subdue others. Even absorption usually requires a combination of materials that have more absorption at different frequencies, so that the overall result is fairly even absorption thru the audio range.

If you really need to sound PROOF your drum room, you'll need to add as much mass to the walls, floor, ceiling ands doors/windows as you can. Sheet rock is the least expensive, densest material for this - particle board or MDF is also good. Drums are really hard to control, so if possible it's better to remove the paneling on one side of the wall and put Resilient Channel on the studs, then put two layers of sheet rock on the Resilient Channel and caulk all joints heavily.

Doors are another hard one - interior doors are almost worthless for sound control. Solid core doors are better, but none of them work unless the door seals all the way around tightly.

I hope that gives you a little bit of an idea of what is involved - it's not an easy thing to do, especially in existing construction... Steve

 

[Foo-bu]

i guess i would be trying to sound condition because i would like them to sound good when i record. but at the same time i would like to sound proof them so my parents can stop complaining about the sound

 

[knightfly]

Before I can help you much more, I would need to know a LOT more about your situation.

Where is the drum room - upstairs or down, and how many rooms away from the offended parents -

Exactly what is the construction of walls/floor/ceiling now?

What are the dimensions of the drum room -

Is the door to the drum room solid core, or hollow? If it's hollow, it will feel light when you try to swing it quickly; if in doubt, compare it to an exterior door.

How many corners do you have to turn to get from the drum room door to where your parents usually are?

What is your available budget?

Will your parents let you make structural changes? How big a changes?

Anything else you can think of that might be pertinent information -

Sound PROOFing is never easy, and can be much harder depending on your answers to the above questions, so I wouldn't get too hopeful just yet... Steve

 

[Foo-bu]

i know they wont let me make any changes and i really have next to no funds to make changes. its not so much the parents im concerned with anyways. i just though that'd be nice for them. i'd just like to decrease some of the volume in the drum room. the kit i currently have is really loud and i'd just like to dampen it a bit. all the walls have extra insulation in them to help a bit more and it has a hollow door. i dont think it really matters much though. im just trying to think of really cheap ways to dampen some of the sounds. i think i might just put up some carpet on the wall and see if it'll help at all

 

[knightfly]

Unfortunately, carpet only absorbs high frequencies - if you put more of that on the walls, you'll end up with a really "tubby" sounding room, with no noticeable improvement outside the room - only now, the cymbals will lose some of their "shimmer".

With little or no budget and no permission to change anything, you're really limited for options. If you could possibly find a local commercial insulation installer, you might be able to get some rigid fiberglas insulation, 2" or thicker preferably, to lean against the walls - that would help some. Beyond that, there's not a lot that's left open to you... Steve