i need to keep my bands loudness inside my garage

L

lbcstudios

New member
my neighbors have been known to call the cops for noise.. we have a drummer, 2 guitars, bass, keybaord, vox, we practice in my garage. i keep the dooor closed of course, and put blankets on the bottom of the garage in an attempt to keep the sound from escaping .. and maybe it soaks some up... BUT.. i walked down the street while they were playin with out me.. and i could hear the snare 3 houses down... BAD THING... is their any cheap way to keep sound in? or soak it up.. i dont really care if it sounds nice in the garage... cause when we jam its chaos.. but a cop knocking on the door upstairs and my mom gettin all upset could take away a place to practice... SO... anyone out there have a way of doing somethin for real cheap.. that doesnt involve much building?
 
lbcstudios said:
anyone out there have a way of doing somethin for real cheap.. that doesnt involve much building?
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There is no cheap way... period. To contain sound requires specific construction techniques, and as you can imagine, there's no such thing as "cheap" when it comes to construction.

To soundproof an area requires much the same effort as to make that area watertight, so you can well imagine what's involved....
 
my friends and i had the same problem, we moved inside to the basement, you can still here it outside but only a house down and its not very loud, a person watching tv in their house wouldnt be able to hear it
 
hellcat said:
my friends and i had the same problem, we moved inside to the basement, you can still here it outside but only a house down and its not very loud, a person watching tv in their house wouldnt be able to hear it
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People on the upper floors IN the house sure would! (ie, parents)
 
Making sure that all cracks and crevices that lead to the outside are sealed airtight is the first step. Foam weatherstripping around any doors is a good idea. Also, if there is a window in your garage, block it off with at least 3/4" MDF or plywood, making sure to use the weatherstripping as a gasket. Second, go to a used carpet place and get yourself a piece of carpet big enough to hang in front of the garage door (the one that the cars drive in to). This will help a little with the sound that escapes from the cracks along the side of the garage door. Next, buy some used carpet that you can roll out over the floor, and install some bass traps (you can find plans elsewhere on this site) in the corners.

The idea is, you want to seal any openings that would let sound leak out of the garage, and you want the inside of the garage to sound good so that you don't have to turn everything up to "11" to hear yourselves.

How do I know this? I did all of these things, and you couldn't hear anything past the sidewalk in front of my house.

Is your garage of double wall construction? If not, putting two layers of 3/4" sheetrock (gyp board) is essential.

You may end up spending a couple of hundred dollars doing all of this, but your neighbors (and the cops) will thank you for it!

If there is a window, you may want to put in a modest window A/C unit in there. It doesn't have to be a unit so powerful that you can make snowcones, just one that will keep everyone comfortable (around 8000 BtuH for a 20 x 20 garage). Make sure to cut out a hole in the plywood or MDF board that is sealing the window.

Hope this helps. Aloha!
 
is their any cheap way to keep sound in?
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The cheapest way I know is free. Turn it down. :D Other than that, Bear is right. Soundproofing is not only fairly expensive, but soundproofing construction techniques require knowledge of the principles and use of the materials. Trying to second guess it or flying by the seat of your pants will ultimately waste your time and money. Your best bet if finances are tight, is to find another place to practice or record. You might even consider rental of a rehearsal space, as it will be cheaper in the short run if you can find one.

But if you are intent on reducing the sound transmission of your space, the only way people here can help you with the "how to" is to provide them with information yourself. Once they know what your dealing with, they can suggest methods and materials to do the job, however, it is beyond the scope of a forum such as this to tell you every little thing that needs to be done. Therefore, I suggest you do a search here first, on soundproofing and STC. There are TONS of threads in the archives and there are other sources of information available all over the net. A simple search on soundproofing will probably net you 10 sites that will cover the basics. Here is one of the best. Go to the construction forum and READ the "stickys". You might consider my suggestions afterwards.

http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

But for what its worth, there are 2 things that contribute to soundtransmission loss. Mass and decoupling. Learning how to use those 2 principles correctly will keep you busy for a while.


fitZ:)
 
i would keep playin in the basement, but the band goes crazy when we jam, and i dont want any studio equip gettin messed up ,since its a small room. my parents dont mind the noise. ill check that site. thx
 
lbcstudios said:
i would keep playin in the basement, but the band goes crazy when we jam, and i dont want any studio equip gettin messed up ,since its a small room. my parents dont mind the noise. ill check that site. thx
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hahah.... what the heck kind of people do you have in a band?? :p
 
Tell them that they have to pay for whatever they fuck up.

If it's a matter with the cops... tell them to chill the fuck out. As fun as it may be.. it's not worth breaking shit over.
 
i have a band with ppl my age ( 16 ) .. normal ppl... we play music similiar to at the drive in.. and we go crazy... we had one practice in the garage.. i put some blankets in the cracks of the garage door.. and we make sure to stop jammin by 8 o clock... so far so good, maybe i wont need any thing to stop the noise.
 
I dunno, I went crazy the other day - actually had butterscotch flavored metamucil instead of my usual avocado/coconut...
 
Actually, I take that back. I went totally nuts with heavy acoustics use. ;) So I guess I was wrong. Even old farts go crazy too. Steve, better watch that butterscotch metamucil though. They say it leads to the heavy stuff like Preperation H.:eek: :D

fitZ:)
 
wow.. maybe im am into a whole different type of music than you guys? lol. come see one of our shows if you live in the pittsburgh area.
 
Learn how to play your music first. Not implying the band can't play(practice). Practice makes perfect so they say.

Once you've got it down then hold "dance rehersals" with card board cut outs of equipment. And trash the place!

No harm no foul ! No drama in the LBC! Hang loose

Casenpoint
 
Mosh pit !!

I like to rip my shirt off, kick over a cymbal stand or 2, smack the vocalist in the mouth with a 57 and body slam my guitar (SuperFly Snuka Style) from the top of a Marshall stack when I play!!

Doesn't everyone?
 
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