Sound transmission through the ground?

[floid]

My last studio location was in an old industrial building...
I could hear the radio, machinery, people talking, and the wind from outside and several buildings away (!)-- through the pipes.

GJ

I once had a studio in an industrial space that must have had everything on one breaker: my equipment would pick up the sound of things like skilsaws etc, thru the power line, even though the actual soundsource was inaudible and in a different building.

[Burnt Ernie]

It's the frozen ground,and your sewer line,running to street,coming back up.
Check again,after you shove some stuff into your floor drain,laundry tubs,
put sleeping bags on your dryer,Get the low end off the ground.
When it warms up,the dirt thaws,etc Probably wont be so bad,except her windows will be open.
Tap a cupful of thawed solid dirt. Tap the side.Listen
Tap a cup of solid ice.Tap the side. Listen.
One rings,one doesnt.
None of anything any of us has said matters if you havent soundproofed your room. You know. Doubled,staggered,decoupled,taped,mudded Sheetrock and insulation/decoupled walls/etc.

[jhbrandt]

Austin,

The issues that you have ARE: Long sound waves traveling through the air.

These waves pass through the windows and also the 'box' of the house and travel across to the next house and resonate the walls IN the next house. The sound waves may NOT be perceptible between the houses. (Acoustics IS counter-intuitive)

So, I am 95% sure that THIS is your issue. regular basement window glass is a very poor isolator & at low frequencies, it might as well be open.

Be careful about which glass block you plan to use. These are ALSO very poor sound isolators. Mass and seal is what you want/need. Like Dirty Harry always said, "you gotta ask yourself...." Do you really NEED windows in your practice room?

I would recommend that you go around the basement and pull the insulation away from the 'box' (the wood that runs around the perimeter and boxes the floor joists) and look closely. Make sure that all holes and cracks are well sealed with a non-hardening caulk like Big Stretch. Then on to blocking up the windows with at least the same mass as the 'box'. I would use CMU block.

Cheers,
John