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Post subject: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Thu Dec 12, 2019 7:05 am
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 3:32 am
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Location: Livermore, California
Hi guys,

I'm relocating for work and my new apartment will have a relatively small spare room that I intend to convert into a home studio. However, one wall is basically nothing but window and the floors are hardwood - lots of hard, reflective surfaces. I haven't had a chance to go test out the acoustics but I'm assuming it will need some help to tone down on reflections/reverberation/whatnot.

I am an amateur by any standard when it comes to recording, but hope to get some decent mics and record instrumental guitar and acoustic folk with a vocalist. My ideal scenario would be to have a setup where I can record the raw tracks at home, get them mastered by someone who knows what they're doing, and have a decent end result.

Does anyone have any resources or advice on treating a room on a budget? I'll only be in this place for 2 years so I don't intend to sink thousands into room treatment. Any help would be appreciated!

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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:13 am
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Joined: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:31 am
Posts: 14045
Location: Province de Québec, Canada
Do you want just good sound or you need to play loud without disturbing neighborhood ?

In both case , Google: Home studio, how to built


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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:54 pm
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Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:36 am
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Location: Chorley, Lancs, UK
Hi Chaty, welcome to the forum.

Off the top of my head I'm thinking a big rug on the floor, curtains on that window and rugs or curtains on the other walls should get you started.

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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 9:58 am
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Putting your amps on stands can help isolate the sound. Less vibration going through the floor and less chance of standing bass waves. As sjlen mentioned, cloth is the cheap solution. Acoustic foam is expensive.

See if you know anyone that has old blankets they can donate. Hang them like wallpaper. Remove everything with hard surfaces from the room unless it absolutely must be there.


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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:04 am
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If OP live in appartement with neighborhood , they will heard music very loud unless all guitars are acoustic.


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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:29 am
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I do a lot of recording using a digital amp, output via USB into a laptop and while wearing headphones. All they'd hear at my place is a light "flicka flicka" most of the time. That's one way to get around the noise pollution problem.


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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 8:28 am
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
Apartments aren't all the same. Some of them, you can hear your neighbors having a normal conversation. Others are fairly soundproof.

My last second-floor apartment had 3" concrete poured on top of the floor, with double-layer drywall between adjoining walls (both sides, so 4 layers).

Still couldn't crank an amp, but I could do 100dB at any reasonable time of day. People walking by could hear me through the closed single-pane windows. But when I asked my adjoining neighbors if I was too loud they said no, they could barely hear me.

Kid downstairs was learning clarinet. His squawks and squeals were as loud as I was, but not enough to bother anyone.


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Post subject: Re: Inexpensive room treatment options?
Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:42 pm
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Well, there are many methods of soundproofing. Legendary egg cartons fastened to the wall may stop echo and deaden sound a little, but that’s about it. The egg box trend was so popular that I even saw that cheap method tried in professional voice over sound booths. You could perpetuate this egg carton sound proofing myth by building a similar booth in a large closet. Those cardboard egg cartons would work about the same there too. Eureka! Never tried the styrofoam ones. :?:

If you want real results this might be the answer:



. . . or you could just wear headphones so you don’t hear complaints from the neighbours. :lol:
But seriously, you could add all sorts of soundproofing. Bookcases against walls can help, and it’s not uncommon to see bass traps or freestanding panels that can be positioned to reduce sounds or improve them accordingly. We used to build them with wooden frames and Fibreglass insulation (see YouTube for options on DIY); but, those often work best in a controlled environment.

Sound leakage is like water leakage. It will find a way out or in if it’s possible. Doors and ducting can be problematic. I actually lived in a new apartment that supposedly had concrete between floors for soundproofing. We soon found that soundproofing was little to none and discovered that the concrete had not levelled out causing a noise leakage in spots. Location, location, location seems to be the best answer whether belonging to the sender or the receiver.

That said, what often gets thought to be sound proofing is sometimes more related to sound characteristics such as dead or live and whatnot tweaks. Frequencies can crank out the decibels at various levels for example. Crank up a muffled pillow speaker. Muffled is muffled, but volume can compensate for it, unless of course the need is not there. Aw fuggedabout it. It’s not rocket science, but it can be.

Sound proofing is achievable for sure, but there is no one solution, just good, better, best IMHO.

The gang here pretty much covered it nicely, and today’s recording options with headphones would have been welcomed back when I had the apartment (and drums that got no love at home).
YMMV

Consider this. The average moderate radio volume is about 1 watt plus or minus. That means you’ll have a lot more available with the guitar and vocals to test that sound proofing. :wink:
Best, Chaty
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