# Sound proofing



## Akira (Apr 8, 2006)

I'm looking for a way to soundproofing my room. I was really set on black eggcreate foam, but have NO idea where to buy it? :s About how much would it cost? and WHERE?! I live in Toronto so it shouldn't be hard, someone on ebay was selling 10x13.5" peices for a dollar each, but I want a local thing. Can anyone help me out?


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## poisonmonkey (Sep 20, 2004)

Well this might be something if you are in a complete pinch:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/04/how-to-theater-or-studio-acoustic-treatments/


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

Start here, then go shopping/renovating.


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## vacuvox (Sep 5, 2003)

good link, Gordguide. 

Akira, there are three basic sound properties to control when treating a room.

reflections
transmission (this is what I would associate with the term "sound proof")
resonance

Egg cartons (and solutions presented in poisonmonkey's link - sorry) only address "reflections" - and only in a very limited way. 

Egg cartons and figerglass panels will not in any measurable way help prevent sound from being transmitted (through walls, floors, ceilings, ventillation, doors and windows) to adjacent spaces or the outdoors (or visa versa). 

Resonance is a function of room shape and dimensions - small, square rooms are going to resonate and exagerate specific (especially low requency) pitches.

When "sound proofing" a room you have to consider treating doors and windows and ventillation - as well as the walls - or there is no point. Think "insulation". There is lots of info out there - Gordguide's link is a good start. Read up - or you very definitely will waste your money and time.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

What do you mean by soundproofing? 
Do you mean you want to crank up the subwoofers and play Doom, or 2LiveCrew, without waking the parents?

You're not going to get there from here.

THe issue is low frequency transmission through walls and floors. Egg cartons and foam and fibreglas do nothing-zilch-nada for anything below about 400 Hz. All they do is absorb a bit of high frequencies and stop them reflecting within the room. There are two things you can do for low frequency transmission

decouple
+
add mass

Decoupling means making sure that point A and point B have no solid connection between them. THe bass shakes the wall and the floor. The joists and studs happily transmit the bass frequencies to the ceiling, wall and floor of adjoining rooms. In a recording studio, they actually 'float' a second floor on rubber or a resilient suspension, and build a room within a room - with no solid connections between the two sets of walls and ceilings -- like a vacuum bottle, there is only dead air between the two walls.

Adding mass means you add enough dead weight to walls ceilings and floors to absorb rather than transmit the sound. This means concrete, or high density drywall or rockboard several inches thick - not practical in a residence.

Combining the two, you could use resbar (a metal resilient mounting strip) to hang a new wall and ceiling of drywall around the inside of your room, separated from the real walls by about 1". You can lay down a pad of some description on the floor, then a new layer of MDF on that, stopping just short of the wall, and then put a thick carpet pad then a carpet on that. You also have to do something with the door -- a typical interior door is hollowcore and does not make a seal, esp. n the bottom. You need a solid door, with a good seal all around. Studios use 2 doors with dead air between them.

Since there is no real way to decouple the floor from the rest of the house, you have to decouple your sound sources. The traditional way is to build a stand of concrete blocks to put under your speakers, then 'float' the speakers by putting them on high density foam blocks. Move them away from the walls, so they don't acoustically couple with the walls.


The other, simpler answer is - headphones.


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## Akira (Apr 8, 2006)

Thanks, I don't mind noise getting out of the room, but I'm building a small theatre in my basement that I'd like to stay as sealed as possible without gtting way too far into it, sound proofing foam and carpet should be fine.


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