rehearsal room

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sixthstepper

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Hello!

This isnt really a studio question exactly, but it has to do with soundproofing.

Here is my senario: I am about to buy a house (no more wasted rent for me!), and the particular house I may buy has a shop that I would like to use as a rehearsal room. Unfortunalely, the neighbor's house is about 6 feet from this shop, and I dont expect them to like hearing our particular blend of obnoxious music... ever! So, to whatever extent possible I need to sound-proof this shop so a little noise as possible makes it out.

Specifics:

-It is a free standing garage/shop, about the size of a 2 car garage.
-It has a garage door (for 1 car), and some work benches.
-To the best of my knowledge, it has a bare concrete floor/foundation, with cinderblock walls (although the outside is covered with wood) and the roof is wooden.

Money is a bit of an issue, but over time, I could build thing up gradually.

What are my options?

Thanks again!

-sixthstepper
 
Hey man

Im kinda in a similar situation...

We are trying, somewhat to just first hand try and see how much sound we can stop, to build some walls and create a semi sound proof room.

We have constructed a few 7 foot by 5 foot walls using 2x4's as a frame, packing insulation in them, covering them with 3/4" particle board, and caulking the entire thing as to make it air tight. These individual walls must weight 250 pounds each and are not easily transported or moved. Take that into consideration before you build anything.

The one thing about building walls like this is, they dont take a whole hell of a lot of skill to make, they are pretty basic, being square and all.

However, in order to begin stopping any sort of sound, youre gonna need more than one layer of wall. This I have found out first hand. 2 layers of wall might begin to do something, the more mass the better, the more dense the better (I think).


As for the money issue....

I am the most broke ass dude on this whole board. I almost guarantee it...

Construction sites my good man. Free pickins after about 7:30 when they all leave. Youll need 2 people to carry the large particle board pieces.

This is just kinda a problem similar to yours. I just offer it because of its similarities.
 
Ha!

Construction sites...

The more mass the merrier eh? What about putting that egg-crate bed foam everywhere, or on these walls I should buld. I heard somewhere that that stuff can disperse sounds.

I dunno, sounded kinda silly to me, but what ever works, right?

:D

-sixthstepper
 
That egg foam stuff wont work to STOP any sound from reaching your neighbors place. Sound will pretty much go right thru that stuff. What it will do is help to kill some echo/standing waves and make the room sound a little more 'dead'. I have some foam pads lining the walls, they seem to help. When I stand in the corners and talk it seems pretty dead.
 
Heres a question then (and keep in mind, I have little knowledge about actually building a shop like that, or how it was really built).

If it is indeed made of Cinderblock (the outside is stuccoed, and I cant remember what the inside was like, but I remember seeing a LOT of cinderblock), then there are hollow chambers within the blocks themselves. I don't know if you are suppost to fill that when building or if it was, but theoretically, if they werent, would filling those chambers with sand or cement help stop sound from traveling though the walls?

It makes sence to me, but I figured I'd ask. Perhaps if you fill the chambers, the wall becomes too heavy and may fall, I dont know...

-sixthstepper
 
Yes on both accounts.

Sand and concrete are good sound stoppers.
They are both very heavy, which is part of the reason they stop sound, their density.

Filling an existing wall such as yours with sand or concrete sounds like a pretty big endevour (sp?). Filling existing wall cavities with concrete or sand would make it pretty heavy and suscpetable to damage, IE cracking and breaking under its own weight. Maybe fill those hollow gaps with some sort of insulation? Then make a couple new walls with your concrete or wood and sand. If you make another wall, seperating the exising wall from the new wall by a couple inches with air, and caulking it to make it airtight is another way to help stop sound. This method is often used.

Theres lots of ways to do what youre trying to accomplish. Experimenting around with it, although expensive in some cases and trying can be the best insight.
 
I think your main concern will be the garage door. Your are probably going to have to remove that and build a wall. Currently that will be your biggest hole.
 
Awww...

But then I cant gey my Bug in the shop to tinker!

I was dreaming of ways to get around that. A moveing wall, LOTS of dynamat on the door, killing the neighbors. But none seem all that pratcial.

Thanks for your help!

If anything else comes to mind, dont be shy!

-sixthstepper
 
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