Question on noise reduction for studio?

Dirty Mosquito

Hey guys got a question. I have a very small, one bedroom apartment and am looking for tips on noise reduction for my home studio. My common walls of my apartment, including floors and ceilings are concrete, however don't block sound too much. I have been doing some research online and am trying to find the best solution to keep the police from coming to my place. My bedroom is 10'x13'6". I am not really worried about one of the walls since it borders my living room, I am mostly concerned with the common wall, floor and ceiling. I have thought of hanging quilts and or blankets, buying studio foam, sound barrier padding etc. I am just looking for the most reasonably priced solution. I am not too concerned with my guitar amp, because I probably will mostly be recording my guitar closed mic'd, however when I do have it open mic'd I don't plan on needing it too loud anyway. I am more concerned about angry vocals getting the police called. Any tips or advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

leethal

Good question. My answer might not be for you but this is what i've been doing:

I know a couple of chefs and i got them to put egg cartons aside for me. I now have about 400 (something like that haven't counted them but almost enough for my spare room) I've put a sheet on each wall. I attach the egg cartons to the sheets (A work in progress.) When I'm done (probably about 2 weeks) i will hang old blankets, sheets etc over the egg cartons and across the ceiling; leaving a small gap from the wall to insulate the sound. For the door i just used that car door sealer stuff.(u know that black spongy tape?) I can't tell you how effective it is going to be. I haven't finished yet. However I'm confident it will work and i have spent no money apart from glue!

If you don't like the idea of collecting egg cartons im told that blankets by themselves do work. Hang them on the wall, leave a small gap, then hang some more. The sound is supposed to be trapped in that small area. You won't 'soundproof' your room but it will dull the sound.

leethal

By the way my room is roughly the same size.

Dirty Mosquito

leethal wrote:

By the way my room is roughly the same size.

Cool, thanks for the tip. Yeah, I've heard that egg cartons work, but it would take me like 3 years to get that many crates...lol. I thought of buying some quilts and hanging them up, didn't think of hanging more with a gap. I'll have to try that. What about putting up that sound barrier stuff that is supposed to be 6 d. better at noise reduction than a solid sheet of lead and then hanging quilts over that?

Pacomc79

could you do the vocals in a closet where the clothes will naturally block out many of the reverberating sound waves? That would be free if it worked.

Dirty Mosquito

Pacomc79 wrote:

could you do the vocals in a closet where the clothes will naturally block out many of the reverberating sound waves? That would be free if it worked.

good call, however my closet is pretty packed. I've also thought of my bathroom but I have a lot of pipe and water noise in there from other suites.

Pearl Jam and toast

leethal wrote:

Good question. My answer might not be for you but this is what i've been doing:

I know a couple of chefs and i got them to put egg cartons aside for me. I now have about 400 (something like that haven't counted them but almost enough for my spare room) I've put a sheet on each wall. I attach the egg cartons to the sheets (A work in progress.) When I'm done (probably about 2 weeks) i will hang old blankets, sheets etc over the egg cartons and across the ceiling; leaving a small gap from the wall to insulate the sound. For the door i just used that car door sealer stuff.(u know that black spongy tape?) I can't tell you how effective it is going to be. I haven't finished yet. However I'm confident it will work and i have spent no money apart from glue!

If you don't like the idea of collecting egg cartons im told that blankets by themselves do work. Hang them on the wall, leave a small gap, then hang some more. The sound is supposed to be trapped in that small area. You won't 'soundproof' your room but it will dull the sound.

THAT is clever!

Micing in a closet is a time-tested method but I'm not sure how vocals would sound recorded like that.

Hanging blankets is good too..

Dirty Mosquito

I love the egg carton idea and think it would work great. I just wish I had a way to collect like 200+ of those.

harrisonmerwin

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

I love the egg carton idea and think it would work great. I just wish I had a way to collect like 200+ of those.

there is an easy way of getting the cartons. Go to any fast food joint (or call) and ask for the manager. See if they can specifically order a box, two, three (however much you think it will take) for you, if you pay them for the costs. Im talking drink trays here, they ship fairly compact, im sure you could get a couple hundred for under 50 bucks if you go to the right place. That is one way around it.

Dirty Mosquito

harrisonmerwin wrote:

there is an easy way of getting the cartons. Go to any fast food joint (or call) and ask for the manager. See if they can specifically order a box, two, three (however much you think it will take) for you, if you pay them for the costs. Im talking drink trays here, they ship fairly compact, im sure you could get a couple hundred for under 50 bucks if you go to the right place. That is one way around it.

Good idea, thanks for the tip.

seanw1010

why dont you buy a roll of that soft eggcrate foam stuff? http://www.foambymail.com/Eggcrate.html
its pretty cheap too

Dirty Mosquito

seanw1010 wrote:

why dont you buy a roll of that soft eggcrate foam stuff? http://www.foambymail.com/Eggcrate.html
its pretty cheap too

Cool, thanks. I found a site on line that does sell the 4 cup, cup holders, but for like 300 of them it's $245. So I think I might just get some acoustic foam with removable glue so I don't damage the walls. It should work just as good if not better and then I can put the quilts ontop of that for further barrier. I am sure it won't be perfect, but it should knock a few decibels off my voice.

Thanks everyone.

Dirty Mosquito

If I use foam and padding for my common wall should I have my vocals facing the wall or away from the wall for best sound defusion or does it not make a difference?

sennin

Get a large refrigerator box....line it with foam...standing it up in the room....cut a door in it....put a battery powered lantern on the floor...grab your mic and step inside...Close the door. Now you have your own vocal booth! Cover the outside with some cool wood grain wall paper and you're set!

seanw1010

Dirty Mosquito wrote:

Cool, thanks. I found a site on line that does sell the 4 cup, cup holders, but for like 300 of them it's $245. So I think I might just get some acoustic foam with removable glue so I don't damage the walls. It should work just as good if not better and then I can put the quilts ontop of that for further barrier. I am sure it won't be perfect, but it should knock a few decibels off my voice.

Thanks everyone.

it works very well too. my uncle uses it

Dirty Mosquito

Sorry I created another thread about this topic, I forgot I had this out there.

I just bought 140 11.5" x 11.5" egg carton trays and need to know a couple of things.

1. Does it make any difference which direction, front or back, which angle, etc etc, I put them up? Are there any benefits to mixing them in different patterns?

2. Which direction would you recommend recording vocals, with me facing the crates or away from the crates? Or does it not make a huge difference?

Any input would really help. Thanks so much guys, you are the best!!
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samquigley

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble but the egg carton idea is more of a solution to the problem of standing waves, acting like a diffuser. They'll do little, if anything, in terms of soundproofing. Acoustic foam or blankets, mattresses, etc. will be infinitely more effective.

Dirty Mosquito

biffhardon wrote:

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble but the egg carton idea is more of a solution to the problem of standing waves, acting like a diffuser. They'll do little, if anything, in terms of soundproofing. Acoustic foam or blankets, mattresses, etc. will be infinitely more effective.

I also plan on using blankets as well. I think the combination of both should improve the sound in my small bedroom, it's worth a try. I got the crates dirt cheap.

Dirty Mosquito

WOW!!! I put up my egg crates on my common wall and I can't believe the difference in my room. Before re-arranging my bedroom and doing this, my room had way too much reverb and you could hear everything outside the room. It's not perfect, but with the crates you can barely hear my vocals at loudest volume outside my apartment door. Maybe to the sound of a medium volume TV being on. Then I tested my guitar amp. I turned on my 72 twin reverb and cranked it as loud as I would need to play it and outside my door it was like a loud TV, down the hall it was extremely faint.

Thanks so much for everyones tips and advise, I love my new mini studio.