ok here is the situation. I am looking to turn one of 2 areas at my house into a practice room. I have a 12x14 foot bedroom and a 2 car garage that I can convert/use as a practice area.

I'm sure it would be easier to soundproof the bedroom but the small size really concerns me. Mainly because of the drummer.

So the garage area would offer more room and be closer to a small bar type sound. (I would guess) But how would I soundproof it? My problem is that I have built a number of storage cabinets and shelves and other storage doohickys for all my hobby junk. (fishing poles and tackle, scuba diving gear, spearfishing, hunting, and many other hobbies) so I have junk all over the place hanging on the walls and in cabinets. I can't really see a way to sound proof all those areas. And I have no where else to store this stuff since I use all of it on a regular basis and need easy access to it.

I have always been to other peoples practice areas which have had various degrees soundproofing (or none at all) So I have never had to deal with this. Plus I really like my neighbors and they have always been very accepting of my occassional outbursts of sound
But now that this would be on more of a regular basis I really don't want to do a half arse job on the soundproofing. I know they have been nice thus far so I don't want to push them to a point of aggrivation where they have to say something to me about it.

I have seen the egg crate bedding material used mainly and was planning on using that stuff. Unless there is a better option out there.

What are my options?

Any udeas guys and gals?

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

That garage doesn't sound like an ideal spot, unless you want to remove all your hobby shelves.

In any case, there are two different things people call "soundproofing". One is to keep as much sound as possible from escaping the room, and the other is deadening the sound inside that room.

It sounds like you want to keep the sound from getting to your neighbors. Eggshells won't do a whole lot really. The only way to soundproof it the way you want, is to insulate the walls (it they're not already), preferably with think soundproofing foam. Finish those with drywall. You can hang areas of old, thick carpeting over the windows to help, and some other large areas of hard surfaces.

Ideally, you want to build a room within a room to truly soundproof it. Think of it this way - if air can get out of that room any way at all, so will the sound. Make sure the bottoms of doors are covered for that reason as well. Depending on how loud your drummer "has" to play, how far away your neighbors are, how late you plan on playing and how much the room is naturally quiet, this may be what you need it to do.

If that's not enough, no amount of eggshells or little things like that are realy going to help. Not with a full, amplified rock band with drums.

The walls are mostly open framing. Very little drywall up other then where I added it to create the cabinets and such. So I can add a good amount of foam and drywall.

My main concern is keeping the sound from bothering my neighbors. My main concern is that the Garage door is an all metal door. Which will vibtate like crazy (already found that out the hard way) It alsmot works like a damn amplifier! Come to think of it I can add some sound deadening material to it. Like the stuff used for car audio applications (I used to use that stuff when I was young and dumb and would put 1000 watts worth of amps in my car! (thats part of the reason I can not hear as good in my right ear)

as far as the drummer, he is the loudest drummer I've ever seen. He's like Keith Moon on crack! 100 miles an hour 24/7. Full power all the time. He doesn't have the ability to bring it down a notch.

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.

I was in a band that built a practice studio in a garage. We framed it out and made a free standing room that touched no other walls inside the garage. We insulated the hell out of it. When we were done, if you closed the garage door, it sounded like someone was playing a ghetto blaster insrtead of a crazy-loud rock band. We never gave a thought to turning down for any reason. Never got a single complaint. It was also very convenient for dropping off equipment quickly after a gig.

That sounds like what I'm going to end up doing. I was hoping to have something set up that was a little less permanant. Some way I could still use the garage. The wife wont agree to it if I tell her that her Lexus will have to be outside next to my truck from now on. lol I already had a huge battle to be able to "modify" the garage as it stands now. I stopped parking my truck in there just to allow for for the extra room for my gear from all my hobby's.

_________________
2009 Fender Strat MIM
2002 Squire 20th Aniv. Strat
30 year old Les Paul copy which is currently in the process of being rebuilt.