Suggestions for making an apartment soundproof?

[Mike7300]

Hi,

I am moving into an apartment and would like to make one of the bedrooms as sound proof as possible so i can play music without disturbing my neighbors.

Keep in mind, i can't put anything up that would do permanent damage to walls (hanging hooks or nails is fine though), if i can put up some sort of sound proof material.

Any ideas?

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Mike7300

Hi,

I am moving into an apartment and would like to make one of the bedrooms as sound proof as possible so i can play music without disturbing my neighbors.

Keep in mind, i can't put anything up that would do permanent damage to walls (hanging hooks or nails is fine though), if i can put up some sort of sound proof material.

Any ideas?

How loud are you talking about just acoustic I assume
Unfortunately there is not much you can do as far as sound proofing without major remodel. You might be able to make or buy portable panels sometimes call gobo's and create a circle around yourself and maybe hang some from the ceiling (albeit it will leave screw holes for the hangars that would have to be re-plastered and painted) while these gobos are more absorbers than sound isolation, they would do some sound attenuation especially if you do not attach them directly to the walls but have an air space between the back of the panel and the wall ( like on stands )

[Doug Young]

I don't think theres a lot you can do non-destructively. People often confuse acoustic treatment (for better sounding recordings) with "sound proofing" (preventing sound from transmitting in or out). The 1st one's pretty simple, all in all. Actual sound proofing generally means isolating areas, double walls, floating floors and so on. For my son's rock band, we built a room in a room in the garage. Blown insulation in the outer and inner walls. It worked great, and they had the garage lined with Marshalls, and out on the sidewalk you could barely hear it. But that was seriously destructive and not something you can do in an apartment. And even that didn't help with the rooms inside our house, which were still too tightly coupled to do anything about the sound. Rehearsal time meant going out for lunch or something :-)

My only suggestion would be to work with the neighbors to discover their schedules, and perhaps find what rooms of your place interfere the least. You don't want to be playing in the room right below their bedroom during hours they're sleeping for example. If you're lucky maybe you'll have opposite schedules, or can figure out that if you play in a specific room, they don't hear you because they're usually in the other end of their apartment. I guess that could backfire by alerting them to your desire to make noise (oops, I mean music :-), but they might be impressed by your willingness to try to be a good neighbor.

When I got my first apartment, we actually had a full band rehearse at my place, drums and everything, because as a musician, I was home during the day while the neighbors were at work. That was great, no one ever complained because they never heard it. Then a retired lady moved in upstairs, and she'd call the landlord if I was playing acoustic guitar on the couch. Sigh. Solution? I moved.... Houses are much more musician-friendly.

[Mr Fixit eh]

What kind of music? What walls/ ceilings/ walls touch other apartments? What are the walls/ ceiling/ floors made of?Are there air ducts? How loud do you plan to play? How heavy is the base - drums?

Sound deadening is difficult. The best sound isolation is to build an insulated walled room within a room, but it's not easy or cost effective. Sound deadening requires mass - like extra layers of drywall or thick, heavy rubber pads. Cracks need to be sealed.

Can you just play more quietly?

steve

[Psalad]

The only thing you can really do is add sealed mass.

The only way to do that non-permanently is something like a whisper room.

http://www.whisperroom.com

You could build your own as well, as they are expensive, just remember you need to make them airtight.

Gobos won't help.

Moving to a room further away from where the other people are would also help a lot.

[Ty Ford]

I agree with Doug Young 100%.

Been there, tried pretty much everything and learned that sound can get through in places you never thought possible.

The isolated room within a room including ceiling and floor is about the only way to do it and landlords won't let you do it.

Find someplace else to practice or risk pissing off your neighbors.

For perspective, turn the tables on yourself. Imagine a neighbor with a very loud baby that cries all the time. You might smile and say, "Oh that's OK, poor thing." But in your heart you'd be thinking something else.

Regards,

Ty Ford