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Building a completely soundproof room?


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It's a lot of work and you will need a hefty budget. Like building a waterproof room, where you can do an amazing job on 99% of the room, if there's a tiny hole somewhere, the sound will leak from there. So you have to really think thoroughly of all the necessary holes (electrical outlets, audio cable paths, lights, light switches, HVAC, etc. and treat all of those very carefully.

 

As for the framing, floor, walls and ceiling, the best soundproofing you can get is a room within a room, meaning the framing of the inner walls is completely independent from the framing of the outer walls and the room rests on a floating floor. You'll need a double door (one door on the inner wall and another on the outer wall) and the door must be treated. A window separating a control room means two thick panes that are not parallel. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/practical-studio-design-part5

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Hi, I had the same dream, and can share your excitement. Both David and Fuzzfilth gave you some excellent advice.

 

I read a book on the subject, which answers a lot of your questions specifically. You might see if your local Library has it or if you can find a used copy:

 

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/home-recording-studio-rod-gervais/1100355128

 

Good luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I want to build a completely soundproof room, for vocals/drums/guitar amps. I need completely dead space so that no at home can hear, and I can't hear anyone in there.

 

 

oooh im getting excited.

I have spent a vast amount of time this year researching precisely this subject, thanks mainly to having encouraged my girlfriend to take up playing drums some time ago without really thinking through that we would, one day, want to move in together. That day has arrived and I have since had plenty of time to regret not convincing her that Animal is absolutely not the coolest Muppet.

 

After literally hundreds of hours talking to studios, fellow musicians, soundproofing equipment manufacturers, glazing companies and looking at endless books and online resources, I came to the following conclusions:

 

1. Achieving a 'completely soundproof room' is massively difficult and equally massively expensive.

2. Achieving reasonable noise reduction is doable, but you will be very unlikely to achieve complete elimination of all escaping sound unless you employ specialist contractors at a price equivalent to the GDP of a small country. And make sure they offer a lifetime guarantee of their work!

3. This is a particular issue with drums, because (a) you have to attenuate both acoustic and impact noise and (b) the acoustic noise from a drum kit covers a vast amount of the frequency spectrum.

 

Therefore I ended up with the following choices:

 

A. Even by throwing a fair amount of money at the problem, accept that only noise reduction is realistically achievable. True soundproofing is not.

B. It would be cheaper to buy a barn in a remote part of the countryside for her to bash away in than to truly soundproof a room in my house.

C. Try to convince her that playing any other instrument than drums is highly desirable.

D. Look for a new girlfriend.

 

Currently Choice A and Choice B are being actively considered.

Choice C ain't gonna happen. Pandora's Box has been well and truly opened.

I'm rather fond of her, so I'm opting not to pursue Choice D.

 

Good luck.

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... and I surmise that she has likewise grown rather fond of you? 8-) Find a nice, far-away place where both of you can bang your drums, and celebrate what the two of you have maybe found together!

I can't imagine why, but yes, I guess she has. :oops:

 

Ironically, perhaps, as a musician and songwriter I hate noise. Probably something to do with the legacy of all those years in my foolish youth gigging at a volume which would stop a charging rhino at half a mile, without any earplugs (me, not the rhino).

 

I monitor at very low volume and am fond of saying that I have two favourite sounds, peace and quiet. So while there is indeed much to celebrate in what we have found together, her blunt refusal to even look at an electronic kit has meant there needs to be a degree of compromise (and expense) on my part! :wink:

 

Incidentally, I'm rather sad the OP never returned. I guess it's a case of the advice being not what they wanted to hear. I felt that way when I started off with the ambition of creating a 'soundproof' room, but then was forced to accept that you can't argue with physics. :)

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They say that you can hear traffic sounds on early Beatles records if you know what to listen for and if you listen hard enough ... but: $$ they $$ sold $$ bezillions $$ of $$ copies $$ anyway $$ !! :D

I'd have been more concerned about the poor drivers hearing Ringo's singing :P

 

But it's a fair point. There are also many products in ths dear old industry of ours which have audio fidelity as a huge selling point. But in the real world, in a real listening environment, in the car, a nightclub, on a builder's transistor radio... can you really hear the difference? :?

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