I need to isolate my room (cheaply!)

[Azathoth]

Hi guys

I'm in a little apartment and i'm building a small recording studio in one room. The ceilling is in ciment. i don't have the mesurement of the room but let's say...this is a small room. I'm in the basement. What can i do the keep the sound in my room as much as possible?

I don't have a million bucks ;(

I was thinking maybe put some foam on the wall...i don't really have another idea. Since the ceilling is in ciment i can't really nail anything to it. I tought maybe trying to hang a big thick piece of tissue to make like a "wall of air" but i don't know if that would be very efficient?

i'm waiting for your suggestion

Azathoth

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Foam won't do a thing.... you'd have no choice but to use sound-isolation construction techniques and do some renovations -- which are both expensive and likely not permitted without special permission from your landlord.

There are no shortcuts/cheap ways, the laws of physics regarding the transmission of sound don't care about your budget!!!

 

[SonicAlbert]

The first thing would be to find out what is above every section of your apartment. Then locate the studio (if possible) under whatever room above gets the least use. Like if you work late into the night a lot, don't put your studio under the bedroom.

If by foam you mean acoustic foam, then perhaps that would cut down the sound transmission to the next floor. The thing is, you'd need a lot of foam, basically cover the walls and ceilings. It might not cut out enough sound anyway.

You also might want to talk to the landlord and set up times that you could work in your studio with speakers, then work on headphones later at night. I know from my experience as a pianist, people can get really nasty when it comes to hearing music through their walls. That's why I live in a house now. The last apartment I lived in, by the time the neighbors got done complaining I have about 2 hours in the middle of the day I could play the piano. Ridiculous.

 

[Rimshot]

I'm in the same fix as you. I own a one bedroom co-op and renting studio space is not in my budget, so I've gone the route of building a room within a room. This is usually okay with landlords and co-op boards (In fact my co-op board encouraged it, I'm a drummer). You will need to create a framework with staggered studs so that the sheetrock that you use on the inside walls isn't touching the sheetrock used on the outside walls. You'll need to construct a ceiling in the same way and also a floor (maybe) that is packed with dense material (sand?).
Your sheetrock should be of different thicknesses, thinner on the inside walls ad heavier on the outside (or two layers) in between it should be tightly packed with pink fiberglass insulation. Your door should be solid hardwood and fit real tight in the frame with gaskets to keep sound from escaping. You'll need some ventilation and if you need a window then that's a whole other problem.
All of this will cost several hundred dollars and I know that's a lot, but how much would it cost you to rent another studio per month? I made mine in such a way that it doesn't touch any of the existing architecture and it CAN be broken down and moved, not easily, but it can be.

I'm sorry to say that this is the least expensive answer to your problem. There are readily available prefabricated isolation booths that are made in many different sizes which will also work well but will cost into the thousands of dollars. I wish I could have afforded it.
There is a person that frequents this board by the name of John Sayers that is a world rekowned expert in this area. perhaps he can chime in here. My lttle knowledge such as it is comes from living with this building project the last month or so.