Sound proofing

[AndyHiams]

I've seen a few YouTube clips from various home studios etc. Some have various strips of sound proofing in what I consider must be key locations. I take it this provides some benefits. For me I was wondering exactly how it all works and whether any one on the forum could help. Our garage is going to be converted soon so that is in the back of my head. Does it help prevent the neighbours complaining or is it purely to help with sound quality?

[Guest Symatic]

Well to avoid annoying your neighbours you need to keep sound IN the place youre playing it (your garage), and to do that you need to make sure the walls and ceiling and everything are as solid as possible. Bass doesnt get through heavy sturdy things so easily so think stone, sand, heavy stuff.
Then when youre inside and listening to music in a room, you need to stop the room itself reflecting the noises the speakers are making. Think of it like a pond and you chuck a stone in, the ripples will hit the edges and bounce back and go all over the place....
Thats where the foam on the wall comes in, you need to catch the sound waves as they hit the wall and try and stop them coming back again.
Corners generally end up with lots of bass being built up there, and big flat surfaces reflect higher frequencies.
Try clapping really loud in different parts of the room and youll hear different echos which will give you an idea of where all the reflections are coming from.
The other thing to think about if you have the oppertunity to do up a whole room is to have a non-regular shaped room. Square rooms are bad for sounds cos the reflections just bounce up and down between the opposing surfaces so if possible build one wall or a few walls at slight angles to stop sounds bouncing round like that.

[AndyHiams]

That's great did a little research on YouTube which helped distinguish the difference between sound proofing and improving acoustics. Not sure there is scope for changing the shape of the room too much. Fairly lucky to get the green light on the garage being converted for a man cave / games room, don't want to push my luck too much :-)

[Guest Symatic]

one of the most effective and practical things you could do is have a big bookcase or record storage at one end of the room, opposite the speakers. theyre big and sturdy and irregular, it's not full on acoustic treatment, but it could help you get two birds stoned t once. another sound deadening item of furniture i can think of is a big sofa

[Acts_One]

Since you're getting your garage fixed up and I'm assuming you'll be putting in walls look into soundproof insulation. Roxul makes sound proof specific insulation. But this isn't going to work if you don't plan on putting up walls. But if you do then look into this brand of insulation.

 

I have even heard of making panels with this specific insulation between it. So determine how big a panel you want, make a frame out of 2x4 and then cut a piece of insulation to fit in between it and then cover the thing with cloth. This will absorb a lot of sound. So if you don't plan on putting up walls, just make a shit load of panels and place them where the sound is aimed at.