Soundproofing question - in a bind with my new band

  • Thread starter Thread starter FattMusiek
  • Start date Start date
FattMusiek

FattMusiek

New member
I've recently started some new band projects but the question of "where will we jam?" is an obstacle. I record my own music in the afternoon a few times a week and that's no problem, but my bandmates have conflicting work schedules. Neither of them are really available to play at this time of day. The only time slot that works for them is over the weekend and since my drumset is in the basement of a townhouse it poses a problem because the neighbors on both sides will be home. I have a utility room big enough for us to jam with cement flooring and walls and I was wondering if it would be possible to soundproof it in a way that my neighbors could not hear the noise. Currently if the drums are set up in there you can hear the drums if you were walking on the sidewalk in front of my house and the neighbors on both sides can probably hear.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
If it's a townhouse, I assume you can't do any real construction. Unfortunately, that's what it will take to do any real soundproofing - sorry.
 
I am or at least was in the same situation as yourself. I live in a townhouse, and decided to build a practice/recording area in my basment. This was no easy task as the adjoining walls are common walls. My first step was to read and understand anything I could from this forum regarding soundproofing/isolation. I double framed the walls, and filled them with Roxul safe n sound. Filled the spaces between the joists on the ceiling too. Put up resilent channels and two layers of drywall. Put acoustic caulking along all gaps. Seal as best as you can around electrical outlets. There have been several posts about that, so you should have a read. I put in 3 solid core doors - one to the laundry room, one to the storage area, and one at the top of the stairs. Make sure the doors area well sealed and no gap exists at the bottom. My hopes were to make the room as "tight" as possible to avoid any sound leakage. The first time I had a band over (it was my son's) who plays alt. music (too loud I might add) I was apprehensive that all the work I did wouldn't make that much of a difference, but I was quite wrong. Some sound transmission does exist between the adjoining houses, but, according to my neighbors, it only sounds like someone is listening to a radio. I have also added floor to ceiling bass traps in the corners, which helped a lot, but I still have to do more room treatment. I did not isolate the floor, and I believe most of the transmission is comming from there. I too am having some problems with the loudness of the drums, but I am going to raise the kit off the floor, and build some gobos to help this out. It took a long time and some $$ to get the basement more or less finished, but if you read some of the excellent information on this forum and follow the recommendations, you won't be disappointed.
 
Beatles said:
I am or at least was in the same situation as yourself. I live in a townhouse, and decided to build a practice/recording area in my basment. This was no easy task as the adjoining walls are common walls. My first step was to read and understand anything I could from this forum regarding soundproofing/isolation. I double framed the walls, and filled them with Roxul safe n sound. Filled the spaces between the joists on the ceiling too. Put up resilent channels and two layers of drywall. Put acoustic caulking along all gaps. Seal as best as you can around electrical outlets. There have been several posts about that, so you should have a read. I put in 3 solid core doors - one to the laundry room, one to the storage area, and one at the top of the stairs. Make sure the doors area well sealed and no gap exists at the bottom. My hopes were to make the room as "tight" as possible to avoid any sound leakage. The first time I had a band over (it was my son's) who plays alt. music (too loud I might add) I was apprehensive that all the work I did wouldn't make that much of a difference, but I was quite wrong. Some sound transmission does exist between the adjoining houses, but, according to my neighbors, it only sounds like someone is listening to a radio. I have also added floor to ceiling bass traps in the corners, which helped a lot, but I still have to do more room treatment. I did not isolate the floor, and I believe most of the transmission is comming from there. I too am having some problems with the loudness of the drums, but I am going to raise the kit off the floor, and build some gobos to help this out. It took a long time and some $$ to get the basement more or less finished, but if you read some of the excellent information on this forum and follow the recommendations, you won't be disappointed.
Click to expand...

About how much have you invested in all this?
 
I'd say my cost would have been around 4K. The room is approx 14 x 20. I am forunate enough to be able to do all my own work, so I did all the framing, wiring, drywall etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top