What to do?

[patlang12]

In about a month I'm going to be moving into a new apartment. I want to set up a recording area for myself. The only way I can do this is by living in a loft which will not be ideal, but any other way and I would have to deal with another person living in the room with me. The room is 12x12. It has two full walls and two half walls that are about 4 feet tall. I want to seal these up someway to keep my sound in and my roommates' sound out. I might only be at this apartment for a year so I don't want to spend too much money and it has to be easy to take down and not to invasive because it is an apartment. I can't remember exactly how high the half walls are and I'm not sure about the hieght of the ceilings because I haven't seen the room in a few months. I will get the exact measurements soon, but until then do you have any suggestions of things I could do to try to keep sound in and out and possibly make it sound a little better acousticly. I know it's not an ideal situation and I'm not expecting miracles, but any suggestions would be great.

 

[patlang12]

.....anybody?

 

[bpape]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but the following things are kind of mutually exclusive:

- soundproofing
- non-invasive
- inexpensive
- easy to undo

Stopping sound takes structural isolation, sealing air gaps, and mass.

Now, if you're willing to physically wall off the half walls and pay to undo it when you leave, you can do what you want at a reasonably.

Bryan

 

[patlang12]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but the following things are kind of mutually exclusive:

- soundproofing
- non-invasive
- inexpensive
- easy to undo

Stopping sound takes structural isolation, sealing air gaps, and mass.

Now, if you're willing to physically wall off the half walls and pay to undo it when you leave, you can do what you want at a reasonably.

Bryan

I know I won't be able to do anything great I just wanted to see if anyone had suggestions of things to do that would help at least little bit because building up walls probably isn't an option for me.

 

[bpape]

Then build a plug that's like a wall and slide it into place and bracket to the wall and ceiling. Insulate and cover with drywall. When you leave, pull it apart and fill in the few screw holes. Probably about the best you'll do.

Bryan

 

[gummblefish]

What sort of recording are you looking to do?

Whilst isolation of sound coming in or out may be an impossibility, if you are recording with midi instruments or direct it may not be such a problem.
If you are recording acoustic instruments you are dealing with a whole different kettle of fish. At home i don't have much room and theres always a lot of noise so it's pretty hard to get anything recorded sometimes (thats why I'm on here when i should be working) However i usually make do by setting up Gobos that i made and good mic positioning to stop excessive leakage (coming in) however i can't do anything about sound going out, well at least not as far as the people i live with are concerned. I record mainly acoustic instruments and make do by recording around odd schedules and at night. I also use mainly dynamic mics with good rejection of any sounds coming from anywhere but the source at hand (hypercardiod)
I have never had too many problems with spill or from playing too loud.
Theres probably quite a lot you could do acoustically to the room itself to make it more tuned to whatever you are listening back to. I would rather someone else chimed in on that, theres a lot of good guys here with information on the subject.
If this room is to be used for recording only i would recommend that you make it as comfortable as possible and leave enough space around you, i always find myself climbing over myself and cables once i start recording, and i have a bigger room than you to work with at home. Luckily for me though i have access to a large room elsewhere where i do my 'serious' recordings.

 

[tc4b]

One thing I learned from recording in a terrible room is this: the closer you mic your source, the less you hear your room. Not ideal, but certainly cheap.

 

[patlang12]

What sort of recording are you looking to do?

Whilst isolation of sound coming in or out may be an impossibility, if you are recording with midi instruments or direct it may not be such a problem.
If you are recording acoustic instruments you are dealing with a whole different kettle of fish. At home i don't have much room and theres always a lot of noise so it's pretty hard to get anything recorded sometimes (thats why I'm on here when i should be working) However i usually make do by setting up Gobos that i made and good mic positioning to stop excessive leakage (coming in) however i can't do anything about sound going out, well at least not as far as the people i live with are concerned. I record mainly acoustic instruments and make do by recording around odd schedules and at night. I also use mainly dynamic mics with good rejection of any sounds coming from anywhere but the source at hand (hypercardiod)
I have never had too many problems with spill or from playing too loud.
Theres probably quite a lot you could do acoustically to the room itself to make it more tuned to whatever you are listening back to. I would rather someone else chimed in on that, theres a lot of good guys here with information on the subject.
If this room is to be used for recording only i would recommend that you make it as comfortable as possible and leave enough space around you, i always find myself climbing over myself and cables once i start recording, and i have a bigger room than you to work with at home. Luckily for me though i have access to a large room elsewhere where i do my 'serious' recordings.

I'm not so looking so much for total isolation, just trying to lessen the sound the most I can without spending tons. I am going to be recording mostly acoustic instruments, probably mostly acoustic guitar and vocals. I might try to find somewhere else for drums, but we'll see. I am going to be living in this room too so I need to leave some room for myself.

 

[bpape]

Like I said - make a series of plugs that you can shove in the openings. As long as at least one side has some mass on it (MDF, drywall, etc.), it will help some. It's not going to totally isolate you but it's as good or better as a closed door in a room with no other openings.

Bryan

 

[andyhix]

Like I said - make a series of plugs that you can shove in the openings. As long as at least one side has some mass on it (MDF, drywall, etc.), it will help some. It's not going to totally isolate you but it's as good or better as a closed door in a room with no other openings.

Bryan

Yep. I second that. And as long as you aren't wrestling in the room, you probably can hold it in place with 4 screws. Should take you about 5 minutes to remove it and spackle over the screw holes when it comes time to move out. So, buy some 2x4s, some mdf or drywall and some insulation, and if you want to get real fancy, some paint. And start "finishing" the walls. That way your roomate can play donkey kong in the living room and you can make sweet music with your guitar in your room and not piss each other off.

People still play donkey kong, right?

 

[patlang12]

Like I said - make a series of plugs that you can shove in the openings. As long as at least one side has some mass on it (MDF, drywall, etc.), it will help some. It's not going to totally isolate you but it's as good or better as a closed door in a room with no other openings.

Bryan

Sorry I somehow read over your first post. I think I might try this. I have to get the measurements of the gaps, which I may not be able to do for a few weeks, but then I am sure I will have some more questions for you guys about how exactly to build these.

 

[bpape]

Not hard to do. Just build a short wall in a couple of sections. Leave it maybe 1/4" small to leave room for weatherstripping all around to help seal it up. Tack up a firring strip across the seams to cover that opening. This will leave you with managable pieces to move around.

Plus, if you use MDF instead of drywall, you can actually screw it up after the plugs are in and unscrew to take them out instead of having to wrestle all that weight around.

Bryan

 

[patlang12]

I have decided agaisnt trying to build walls for a few reasons. One, the room is a little different than I thought and not as easy to make walls, and two, there is a good chance that the ceiling has asbestos so drilling into it would be bad. I forgot that the room has a walk in closet that I am going to try to convert into a small recording area. The demensions of the closet are about 3x7x8. I have been searching through past threads and most people are talking about building a few bass traps with 703 to help the sound. Does this seem like the right way to go? What else do I need to be considering? I will be recording mostly acoustic guitar and vocals for now, possibly an amp too.