Comments on: How can I soundproof a room reusing and recycling stuff?

By: Joana C

Joana C — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:19:10 +0000

I agree with mark, “All these suggestions treat the acoustic properties of the inside of the room. True “soundproofing” requires much more intentional structural effort.”

I have read that Quietrock and quietglue work the best for high STC – and ultimately you are saving material and floorspace vs resilient channel.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:49:26 +0000

All these suggestions treat the acoustic properties of the inside of the room. True “soundproofing” requires much more intentional structural effort. One primary tip is this – if air can get through then sound can get through too.
(I’ve built 3 recording studios in California). Good luck.

By: Lizzy

Lizzy — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:50:35 +0000

I don’t have any experience of soundproofing, but if eggboxes are good just hard to cover a large area with – how about those trays that apples and oranges are laid out in in supermarkets? They give them out in the cardboard box areas usually.

By: Audrey

Audrey — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 02:22:18 +0000

A friend of mine came up with an awesome solution. He went around town and picked up all of the white styrofoam packaging he could find. Its the kind of stuff you’d find boxed in with a microwave oven or TV, any shape, any size, but the big flat pieces with wonky bits worked the best. Then he positioned it on his walls like an artistic mosaic, covering as much as the wall space as he could. It looks awesome, sort of like the inside of an Apollo spaceship, and it absorbs a whole lot of sound.

The hint about getting the kit off the floor is a good one, too. Carpeting helps, as well.

Good Luck!

By: Kara

Kara — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:03:57 +0000

I was always stuck with using felt-headed or brush style sticks, or muffling the drums themselves! Old mousepads on the drum heads works just as well as the commercial rubber drum mufflers. If you can get the egg-crate type foam mattress pads (I see them at the thrift store sometimes), those would help soundproof the room with a fairly low fire risk.

This article shows many different types of sticks, including the brushes in one of the side pictures about halfway down. New sticks might be cheaper and more effective than makeshift soundproofing! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percussion_mallet

By: alison bailey smith

alison bailey smith — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 21:32:32 +0000

The egg box thing and the bobbly foam is about breaking up the sound waves, so anything soft and asborbent with a rough or undulating texture would work surely, but what about fire proofing?

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:55:55 +0000

You probably want to lift the kit off the floor, particularly if the room is not on the ground floor. Can you get some off-cuts of thick underlay/carpet to go underneath the kit? Can you also get some old palettes to make a raised platform?
As for the room itself I always thought if I needed to soundproof a room cheaply the first thing to try would be to unbox all our books and stack them against the walls.

By: Andy Walker

Andy Walker — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:34:20 +0000

Hiya Louisa!

If you have loads of Ferrero Rocher boxes randomly lying about you could use those?

By: louisa

louisa — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:45:15 +0000

I read a few articles on soundproofing before posting this but forgot to check the ever-reliable ‘pedia — thanks for the link, Caroline :)

By: caroline

caroline — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:21 +0000

I know why it’s like that. It’s vibrations. Vibrations at certain pressures on certain materials resonate. Kind of like a tuning fork. Or that bit of the car that only buzzes when you’re on the motorway.

When in comes to foam – there is lots in my local scrapstore – maybe you could try yours. I found this interesting article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundproofing

the most interesting bit to me being that you can turn sound energy into heat. Maybe your son could cut down your heating bill at the same time!

Heavy curtains sounds the most promising reusable one. (though neoprene is interesting – you’d have to cut up a lot of wetsuits!)