Help on soundproofing..

[jesper2g]

Tulong po. Pano po mag-sound proof ng rehearsal studio? Kaya na ba ng foam at egg trays? Tnx

[Tarkuz Toccata]

Many musicians believe that soundproofing comes from foam, or egg-carton-looking materials hung around studios. Unfortunately, this cannot be further from the truth. Any foam you see in a studio is not there for soundproofing, but rather acoustical treatment.

Acoustical treatment is the process in which you attempt to deaden the acoustics of a room via sound absorbing foam, bass traps, and all kind soft, porous materials. Anything labeled as Acoustic Foam is for this purpose, not soundproofing. This is mostly the treatment of resonance in certain frequencies and minimizing echoes. Each studio will have it’s own feel to it and that will all depend on the Sound Engineer’s preference for acoustical treatment.

Soundproofing is the process in which you attempt to reduce the intensity of sound transmitted outside of a practice area. This is mostly accomplished in the walls and insulation of the studio itself. The thing to consider here is the STC rating of a given material. An STC rating describes how many decibels are lost in the transmission through a given material. For example, if you had a wall with an STC of 40dB and you were playing your drums at 70dB inside the room, outside of the wall you would measure a 30dB noise level. Average walls have an STC of around 40-60, with brick and concrete walls on the higher end of the spectrum. However, keep in mind - a soundproof room is only as soundproof as it’s weakest point.

Egg Cartons

I’m sure you’ve heard it, put egg cartons all over your room and you’ll soundproof the room! Sounds like an excellent idea, and hey - omlets are starting to sound better by the minute. Unfortunately this is this most popular myths of soundproofing. The soundproofing properties of egg cartons are effectively negligible. That’s right folks, you’re better off putting a chair in the corner than lining your room with egg cartons. Now what egg cartons do is provide acoustical treatment. Specifically, they lower the resonance of mid to high range frequencies - such as cymbals. This can lead to a false sense of soundproofing since the room will echo considerably less after installing egg cartons.

The reason this works it that the goal of acoustical treatment is to trap small pockets of air inside a flexible container. This ‘traps’ the frequencies and prevents them from reflecting back into the room. This is also why acoustical treatment materials can sometimes be called ’sound traps’ or by their specific purpose such as ‘bass traps’.

[jesper2g]

Wow big thanks. But I need more idea how to minimize the noise inside coz our neighbors myt get pissed off. A guy from a studio in cubao told me that an acoustic tile or cork w/c can be bought in divisoria will do. Is that true?

[Poundcake]

uy sakto, plan ko rin to but di ko forte ang acoustics kaya di ko gamay magdesign.. nabwisit din kapitbahay namin nung huling jam dito sa bahay namin e kaya kelangan na magpasoundproof ng isang room hehe. sino kaya dito makakatulong sa amin?

[Chito]

Soundproofing is an issue for most of us who can't afford or not willing to shell out the money rehearsing in studios. I just had to deal with the same thing with my neighbours regarding sound levels so I have been doing research and have asked quite a number of people about it.

The bad news is, not unless you build a "room with in a room", something like a floating box contained within another box - which I'm sure you can imagine, is very expensive to construct, it is very difficult to "soundproof" a room 100%. The biggest issue is not the high-frequency sounds but the lower frequencies. My neighbour's kid calls it  the "thump thump thump". Meaning the sound coming from the bass guitar and the drummer. That is the hardest to contain. No matter what you do unless you are willing to spend a hell of a lot of money, your neighbours will still hear you. Forget about the foam, rug on the wall, egg crates etc... you will only be wasting your money.

So my suggestion is look for another rehearsal space (when I was in Manila, we used to play in an office on Saturday nights when there are no people in the building). You can also try getting your volumes down to the minimum (altho hard to do with the drummer). Another thing is to talk to your neighbour and see if you can make arrangements with them.

Another way which I really don't recommend is to tell them the next time they complain you are going to beat the hell out of them. Normally that doesn't work but who knows.

[jesper2g]

May napag praktisan kami dati sa makati. Naka acoustic tiles ung walls at ceiling. Parang white na may maliliit na butas. May idea kayo how much is that?