House of Drumming.com

chris perra wrote:I agree, construction is the best way to go,.. But without construction there's only a few options,.. rigid fiberglass is one of them that does reduce sound quite well,.. It's not the same level as air gaps, resilient channeling, room inside a room construction,.. But to say it would leave you almost where you started is not accurate...

Well, this is the thing. I'm not aiming for perfection (though our souls strive), but I want something that allows for reasonable playing. If it's a lost cause, then there it is.

If I can reduce the sound enough to allow me (us) to play without riling up the townspeople to light their torches . . .

Are you in a townhouse situation or a fully detached house.. How big is the room,.. any windows?. Upstairs, main floor or basement? Does 50 ft away mean from your house or from the room you are in to an attached house?

You could start with rigid fiberglass panels, try to cover 50% of your wall surface with it,.. It won't soundproof anything but will reduce the overall volume in the room, and some that gets out..

My teaching room a school I teach at is small. 9ft square. The db in the room without treatment was 105, with treatment went down to 95. outside the door, from 85 to 77.. By no means soundproof, but did reduce the db levels. and the treatment was on 2 walls,... Aprox 50% coverage.

You could also build bass traps or get corner foam to reduce bass frequency volume.. Once again not sound proof at all but less inside means less outside...

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The place isn't attached to anything. 50 feet to the one neighbor -- more to anyone else. Windows, no basement. Certainly not ideal -- on the other hand, more than I had, and better than anything else I am going to have unless I win the lottery (which I never play).

What do you think would be a dB level outside the house that wouldn't be disturbing? And what can I realistically aim for?

In my previous two houses I had soundproof rooms in the basement. The 1st (9'x16') I did all myself with advices form the soundproofing company where I bought the materials.
Wall: 2 x 3/4" high density gyprock panels (for lows) on resilient bars screwed on metal structure (no wood because it works), 3/4" acoustic panel for mids, 3" of acoustic fiberglass for highs and 2 x 3/4" high density gyprock panels again. Lead caps behind all power/light outlets.
Ceiling: Suspended acoustic tiles, 2 x 3/4" high density gyprock panels on resilient bars, 8" of acoustic fiberglass.
Door: 2 x 3" thick hard wood doors.
All joints sealed with acoustic sealant.

It took me a year on spare time. 5k$. Results were great but not perfect. A band inside was too much (living room just over).

Second one (12'x14') I had 10" concrete walls poured in a corner when they did the foundation. Nothing escaped from the walls, a bit through the ceiling.
The best in a house would be to have an attached excavated garage under the concrete slab.
Now I have a rehearsal place. I only play with my band.

MRhet wrote:What do you think would be a dB level outside the house that wouldn't be disturbing? And what can I realistically aim for?

That's not an absolute measure, hence my earlier observations. It's relative to ambient.

What's your situation? Urban? City centre? Quiet suburb? Countryside? It makes a big difference - ambient noise in a city can be 70dB or even a little more (at the low frequencies which are the most annoying). A typical business area might be 50-55dB, and a quiet neighbourhood perhaps 40-45dB. Anything materially above those levels at low frequencies will be irritating.

moose wrote: What's your situation? Urban? City centre? Quiet suburb? Countryside? It makes a big difference - ambient noise in a city can be 70dB or even a little more (at the low frequencies which are the most annoying). A typical business area might be 50-55dB, and a quiet neighbourhood perhaps 40-45dB. Anything materially above those levels at low frequencies will be irritating.

I'd classify it closer to small-town neighborhood. A bit of road traffic nearby, but overall its quiet (too quiet).



http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... leazynmzv9

If you can get your Windows Baffled,.. and the volume in your room to be a decent volume you'll probably be ok..
Most situations that require sound proofing are due to being attached to another house or wanting to not disturb others in the home..
50 foot air gap is pretty good haha..

When I bought my house, I was in a similar position (yes, a full time working musician who owns a house.) My drum room is in a basement below the living room (like yours.) Now, it is not "entirely" sound proof, but my wife can watch TV or nap in the living room while I am practicing downstairs. A band can practice, or I can teach, or practice, in the room without being heard AT ALL outside.

Professional sound proofing is a science, and I agree with all of that has been said here. It can be COSTLY, and when done (without a budget,) CORRECTLY, (watching your gaps and seams, dealing with ventilation, acoustic suspension, room inside a room, etc) does and can work VERY well.

But those budgets were not available to me. So here's what I did, I put 2 layers of R-16 insulation (compressed,) above a drop ceiling, I treated the walls with foam and fibergalss to deaden the room up a bit, I put a layer of Homosote (google it) inside against the outside windows, with 4 layers of insulation in the window cutout, with another layer of Homosote over the inside of the window cutout (through the foundation in the basement) which I sealed with foam between the Homosote and the wall. I then hung blackout curtains on 2 of the walls (to make it look nice as well as a little bit of high end absorption.)

So like I said, it's NOT sound proof, but VERY sound resistant! The neighbors can hear absolutely NOTHING, (I stood right outside my window while a band bashed downstairs, and there was such a slight leakage, that when a car went by on the street out front it drowned out the ever so slight leakage!!! In fact it was almost inaudible, so the very little that you could hear is totally INCONSEQUENTIAL! And the family can "deal" with the very low roar inside the house. All in all, probably about a grand, and all done DIY.

Hope this helps,
Mark

A friend of mine and excellent drummer 'soundproofed' his parents basement when we were still at home, did a great job, there was some (hardly any) audible low end outside and a little in the room directly above, but otherwise pretty good, so im sure it can be done, ill get him to have a look at the thread and if he does have anything to add im sure he'll chime in, but the above posts look pretty comprehensive!