FaintingGoat Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I'm building a rehearsal room inside my garage. Essentially it's a room within a room. It will be framed, insulated, sheetrocked inside and out, and carpeted. I know I can't make it truly soundproof (we play loud) but want to dampen the sound as much as possible. I bought some soundfoam (Auralex). Can anyone tell me if I need to cover all of the walls with it? Is the soundfoam effective if I just cover, say, 50% of the walls? Or is there a significant difference between partial and complete coverage? Thanks in advance for your advice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
c53x12 Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Two layers of sheetrock with an insulating material like foam in between then is kind of the norm for home theatres and the like. Don't forget about windows and doors, which are huge sound leaks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
a.miller Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Another, affordable option is using blankets. This seems to dampen sound considerably. A lot of camping stores and sometimes walmart will sell 2" foam pads for camping, which are fairly affordable at ~$10 for 5' x 2' and those make great sound-dampening items. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rufer Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Blankets and foam DO NOT make your noise any less loud to the outside world. It will control the reflections within the room and will make the room sound better inside. This MAY allow everyone in the band to turn down a bit and hear each other more clearly but it will not make it any less loud out of the room. The room within a room with double or triple sheetrocking the walls and ceiling and floating a floor will do the most for your soundproofing. Also, when framing the inside room make sure there is no hard coupling of the inside framing with the outside framing. Soundproofing requires a LOT of MASS. It is labor intensive and expensive. There is no way around this. If you have a few days peruse the 'Studio Construction' board at: http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php There is SO much great information it is mind-boggling. But also very daunting. It's very easy to waste money on a project like this using techniques that do nothing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FaintingGoat Posted May 21, 2007 Author Share Posted May 21, 2007 Blankets and foam DO NOT make your noise any less loud to the outside world. It will control the reflections within the room and will make the room sound better inside. This MAY allow everyone in the band to turn down a bit and hear each other more clearly but it will not make it any less loud out of the room. The room within a room with double or triple sheetrocking the walls and ceiling and floating a floor will do the most for your soundproofing. Also, when framing the inside room make sure there is no hard coupling of the inside framing with the outside framing. Soundproofing requires a LOT of MASS. It is labor intensive and expensive. There is no way around this. If you have a few days peruse the 'Studio Construction' board at: http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php There is SO much great information it is mind-boggling. But also very daunting. It's very easy to waste money on a project like this using techniques that do nothing. Solid advice, thank you. And thanks to everyone else who suggested ideas. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jff Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 I can't offer much assistance, but from what I've read the "room within a room" method is the way to go. Sounds like you're on the right track. Please keep us posted on your progress. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
FaintingGoat Posted May 23, 2007 Author Share Posted May 23, 2007 I can't offer much assistance, but from what I've read the "room within a room" method is the way to go. Sounds like you're on the right track. Please keep us posted on your progress. That's a really cool idea. I'll document the process and post photos every so often for anyone who's interested. It's good for me too, because I can get more suggestions from everyone here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Rufer Posted May 23, 2007 Share Posted May 23, 2007 That's a really cool idea. I'll document the process and post photos every so often for anyone who's interested. It's good for me too, because I can get more suggestions from everyone here. I'm not sure if you've been to that johnlsayers message board I linked to above but you should really do so. There are tons of other builds doing exactly what you describe here with photos and comments from engineers and folks with experience. You would probably get a good idea of the right and wrong way to do this there than getting suggestions from a bunch of Wilco fans. Not that we're not interested--I'm sure we'd still all love to see pics of the progress--but this probably shouldn't be the only place you get feedback. It's very easy to put A LOT of money into a project like this and get nothing out of it by just making a couple of small mistakes or cutting a couple of corners. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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