Sound proofing a room!

Jam10

I am thinking about sound proofing a room in my basement so I can wail and jam with people any time of the day or night without disturbing anyone. Does anybody have a sound proof room, has anybody done a sound proof room or have any suggestions on how to completely sound proof a room. Approx. how much would it cost to completely sound proof a 15 x 15 foot room? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

samquigley

To do it properly it's stupidly expensive, even if you can build it yourself. You've gotta basically build a room within a room and it essentially has to be airtight, so there are ventillation considerations, etc. Just do what everyone else does and get as many old mattresses, blankets, bits of foam and whatever else and go nuts.

lucylespian

Carpet is best. The low frequencies are REALLY hard to shield. Just think how far the noise from a doof-doof car travels. GUitars aren't too bad, cos they are mid/high frequency, but bass and drums are really hard to stop.

xtremehardy388

Or use the styrafoam or mattress padding. It's REALLY cheap to find and it works GREAT

dangerboy

if you want carpet, go to lowe's or home depot flooring section and ask to see their remnants rack. there's always some big roll of carpet that was 6 inches too small or the wrong color or the person just didn't like it once they got it that you can now steal for cents per square foot...

ianvomsaal

As "biffhardon" said, "it's expensive to do properly", but you can cut some corners.
I helped a buddy build a small studio, so we utilized a cheaper way to get relatively the same effect.
All you really need to do is float the room - You need a pocket of air between the walls (hence float
the room), so for practicality you can initially get away with using 2X4's and plywood.
If you can get those little rubber brackets for 2x4's that go between the wood and 2x4 (which in essence cushions
the 2x4 so no wood is actually touching anything - this really helps with vibration - I'd recommend it).
I'd also tell you to put some kind of insulation in the empty spaces between the original wall and new one (for sound dampening).
Cheers . . .

- Ian

Jam10

Thanks for all the advice guys!

Hitch-Hiker

Egg Cartons!!!!!Cover your walls with empty egg cartons. Seriously. It's great for home jobs.

seanw1010

that eggcrate mattress foam stuff. it works great, and comes in huge rolls for very little $.