Soundproofing on a budget

Hey friends,
I could do with some advice. I live in apt that is not ideal for music making, like there's no way I could have a drum kit (the neighbors would complain)and there is traffic noise too. I was thinking of converting my closet to a sound booth and I was wondering what should I use to reduce outside noise getting in...and my noise emitting out?
I've been tempted to move to a better situation for music but it ain't that easy! I've looked online at panels, blankets and portable sound booths etc the sound booths just seem to be a closet shaped thing to me with a fancy blanket draped around it...surely I could do it cheaper?
Cheers Tylluan<3:D<3

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hey Ms Tu I know exactly what you are saying about noise and for me it's farm boys with their tractors and farm machinery and then the cows listen to the radio for hours...and no, I'm not kidding :) and I've looked online too :)

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The direction of the microphone is probably your best defense against stray noises.
Cardoid being the best microphone pattern for eliminating noise.
A baffle behind it even better.

[img]https://i.stack.imgur.com/7tEHO.jpg[/img]

Cardoids are also used in drum kit setups so they dont pick up the other drums as easily. Only the majority of what they are aimed at.

I use this setup for acoustic guitar sometimes. Cardoid with the baffle.

[img]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTWg82cNlzMp4a6Nvlf5LojpZnRCj5oIXyWC0QI14F0GSuOF2qwaYt4eFmfHejRaZ37URM&usqp=CAU[/img]

You can just search for "Acoustic foam" or "Acoustic insolation". Its sold by the roll or individual precut lengths to isolate the closet to keep the neighbors hearing anything.

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Acoustic foam as sold on Amazon Canada:

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=acoustic+foam&crid=2QI5NPXXBNT0E&sprefix=acoustic+foam%2Caps%2C92&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

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Hey LW thanks so much for that :)

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Hi Tu, I made a room within my living room just so it could be fairly soundproof. It's a big job and needs lots of research to do it right. I've made a 6' x 5' x 7' high "vocal booth" worth £10,000 if I had to buy it, for £2000 by doing it myself, but I'm a joiner. It is isolated from floor, ceiling and walls because sound travels through solids like those. It uses heavy materials cos that's what is needed for reducing bass boom to neighbours. It's airtight too - any gaps make all the other good work meaningless.

Now, I'm using it for listening to music, watching films etc, as well as recording vocals, so there's plenty of bass, but if you just want to use for recording vocals the bass doesn't matter as much, so you can keep the traffic noise out by making it airtight and using insulation as described above. However, if you're going to play drums you'll need to make something like I've got. There's something called Green Glue that goes between 2 layers of plasterboard or heavy material like mdf and I've found that works better than I expected in absorbing those bass noises. It's fairly expensive though.

What size is your closet, exactly? Is it on a concrete floor or upstairs with a room below it. If upstairs it will be very difficult to isolate it completely from neighbours. The sound will travel through the floor and neighbouring walls, it's very hard to stop it. So it all depends on various things. If you can give more details I'll give you a better idea of what is possible and what is not.

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I used some soundproofing in an apartment a few years ago. Noise cancelling curtains and the acoustic foam little wing mentioned.

Alot of loud bird chirping was reduced to a very quiet murmur.

The exact curtains I used: RYB HOME Noise Cancelling Curtains - 3 Layers Blackout Curtains. They worked so well, I bought a set for the living area as well.

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Tu, and everyone, very often when you see ads for "soundproof panels" they are not soundproof at all except to make higher pitch sounds quieter, like MikeB has done. That's fine if that's all you need but many "soundproof" things do little to nothing to reduce bass end noises, eg, traffic rumble from outside to in, or bass guitar from inside to out. To reduce bass noise you need WEIGHT. The heavier the better, so that means concrete floors, heavy plasterboard walls and ceilings, and then lots of rockwool or fibreglass insulation inside that to absorb echoes and higher pitch sounds that bounce around (which is what acoustic panels do).

Sound volume also reduces as it goes around corners. If you have a door to your closet directly opposite an outside window, the sound will penetrate more loudly than if your door was on the opposite side not facing the window. You'll have heard of bass baffles and it's a similar principle if you can make the sound have to turn some corners like this -> /\_/\_> sort of thing. Lots of clothes, blankets and soft materials have that effect on higher pitch sounds too. Hope that helps.

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Hi Tu & everyone :)

Sound proofing is hard and expensive, and Peter (BB6) got it right in both of his posts.

Sound *dampening* (to make a mic sound better) is usually done behind the singers, and not the mike - that's where they are insensitive due to their cardioid polar patterns anyway, as Joe (LittleWing) pointed out correctly.

Here's someone working for Neumann, the German microphone makers, and he explains how to use a closet behind a singer to get a better sound (starts at around the 8:39 minute/second mark):

[youtube]vbOoOzEmubA[/youtube]

Tu: we need more infos as BB6 wrote already - getting a small rented flat soundproof is a hard to impossible thing to do as I also know very well - can't use my upright all of the time, I try to reduce it to times when not that many neighbours might be present...

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I made a portable vocal booth. I just mount a speaker on each side and insert the microphone in that opening near the mouth...
You save alot on echo and reverb.

[img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7d/10/2b/7d102bae2768543b3c6e658de2323a78.jpg[/img]

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Hilarious and steam-punky like always, Joe - great! :D

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Wow! Im blown away by the brilliant suggestions! There are so many smart people here!
So my main issue is preventing my voice when I sing rock...from traveling upwards to my neighbours. I think the fancy thing in front of the mic would solve the problem of background noise its just the issue with my noise I need to work out now..
No instruments just me.

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Tell your neighbours to have some respect Tu :)

[youtube]RTXszRHc0qs[/youtube]

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Don't tell them! Don't start a war! Ask them gently if there's a good time for you to sing, as you don't want to bother them. Insulating a ceiling is expensive to do right, so you're going to have to compromise somehow. Some room above your head is good for the sound of your vocals, so you've an awkward problem to solve.

If you wanted a false ceiling in your closet, you'd need 6 inches of air space at the top, 3 or 6 inches of loft insulation below that, then some 3" x 2" spars with plasterboard nailed onto them to hold it up. It would have to be well sealed around all the edges with acoustic sealant. The insulation would sit inside the spars, so you're going to take about 9 to 13 inches off your ceiling height. That would help but wouldn't stop all your vocals from carrying through to your neighbours. You'd need some help doing it, so can you afford it and is it worth it.

If you can arrange something with your neighbours, that might be the best way.

Of you could just try making a framework and drape lots of blankets, mattresses etc on top or around it all. Tricky...

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lots of great ideas from people. kind of funny, but when my brother, my cousin, and i were recording, we did a DIY by tilting up a couch on it's side (L shape), placing the mic in the corner of that L and propping the cushions around as well LOL. hey, it worked fairly well and we didn't want to spend any money on extra stuff. of course, was temporary and for a small project :)

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I knew a guy who used to sing inside the closet, close the door from the inside, and kept the noise inside...

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