Getting noise complaints, Need some ideas!

[coandca]

Hello fellow tape opers....so I recently moved to a house and we have our jam/recording space setup in the garage. not the greatest place for it but it will have to work. the problem is the garage door is very janky and sound just cuts thru it causing us to receive multiple noise complaints. I understand that sound proofing is hard to accomplish properly and can be very expensive, but I think there can be solution to cut the noise down so we don't bother the neighbors. I used to intern at a studio and watched them build a huge isobooth that was extremely dead and cut out lots of sound, so i was thinking of just building a temporary wall that can be broken down when needed, placing it in front of the garage door. My idea is to have some sheets of plywood on the outside and then some crazy insulation on the inside then another sheet of plywood. I also thought that maybe making two smaller walls and attaching them to the ends of the makeshift wall in front of the garage door diagonally, so it kinda cuts the corners of the garage door side. Are these credible ideas? Can anyone shine some light on the situation other than just saying...TURN IT DOWN (which we need to do as well hehe). I appreciate all the help I can get....tape op people always help me out in a good fashion. Thanks!

[Z-Plane]

1. There is no cheap fix!

2. You need to be damned sure that sound is not escaping from other points before you blame everything on the door.

3. Mass-air-mass, forget plywood as it has very little mass. I would suggest a double wall using half inch sheetrock on the outside with mineral wool (no less than 45kg/m3 density) on the inside. Then leave a gap and repeat in reverse - mineral wool facing out and sheetrock for your new internal wall. This is going to need a timber frame for each wall (decoupled from each other) and probably lots of mastik for the edges. Rod Gervais gives this method an STC rating of 57dB in his book, and you can expect to lose about eight inches of real estate.

4. "broken down when needed" - that means a lot of compromise and I doubt you can have both maximum isolation and the option to break it down unless you create a modular system, which will need some serious woodwork skills to be worth it. You might cover 90% of the door area with heavy isolation but that doesn't mean there's only 10% of your sound getting through, most of it is probably getting through because you have left direct air gaps. Can you really build a temporary wall with no gaps round the edges? It needs to be almost hermetically sealed and a single wall of sheetrock-mineral-sheetrock will only buy you 36dB, better but possibly still not enough for the neighbours. Also, sheetrock is totally unsuitable for moving, so even if you somehow made a removable modular system you would need to cover each panel in ply to stop damage from movement.

5. There is no cheap fix!

[Gregg Juke]

We did a garage studio/rehearsal space like that once. If you're serious, you'll have to spend some cake. It doesn't have to be outrageous, but you'll need lumber and plywood, insulation, and you'll have to build a room within a room and a floating floor (well, not a real floating floor, but a platform that's above the concrete garage floor).

We framed a room inside the garage, lifted the floor, and didn't even use drywall. What we did use was insulation, muslin, and chicken wire, and we covered the chicken wire "wall holders" with hospital foam (thick bedding foam used in hospitals).

The room was basically anechoic on the inside, and on the outside, only the lowest bass frequencies escaped, and not enough to bother the neighbors at all (not like a bass-bumping car driving by or anything; just a little bass guitar sound that you could faintly hear on the street if you were outside, but no guitar, drums, or vox). It was/is not a "temporary/portable" situation though. You'll have to commit.

GJ

[coandca]

Thanks for the words of wisdom. Sounds like some serious work needs to be done. I really would love to make this work, but the place is a rental property and I will be leaving in August. Just lost my job and don't have much "cake" to go around, but it does leave a lot of free time for me to fiddle with things. We will see what happens, please feel free to post any more ideas. Thanks!

[Gregg Juke]

If you have a regular band, ask them for some financial and/or labor contributions. Also, if it is a go with your landlord, ask him or her for a break on the rent due to improvements.

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

Thanks for the words of wisdom. Sounds like some serious work needs to be done. I really would love to make this work, but the place is a rental property and I will be leaving in August. Just lost my job and don't have much "cake" to go around, but it does leave a lot of free time for me to fiddle with things. We will see what happens, please feel free to post any more ideas. Thanks!

Make some isolation walls that you can take with you to your next home.

Also :

Turn it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Practice should not be done at concert levels, but softer, so everyone can hear each other, and not annoy the neighbors.

And, it costs NOTHING.

[Snarl 12/8]

Also :

Turn it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And you kids stay off my lawn!!!!!!

[norton]

Go here:
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/sp- ... ing-walls/

Then go here:
http://www.greengluecompany.com/soundAbsorption.php

Their technical library is filled with test data that's exhaustive to the extreme.
The sound wall world is filled with b.s. and half truths. The tech library at green glue is accurate. Whether you use their product or not is up to you... but the methodology is valid.

Specifically for you....
You're going to need to beef up your garage door, your walls and your ceilings. If you've got bare stud walls.... at least consider hanging resilient channel. Creating flexibility in your wall is a key component to stopping the transmission of sound.

You don't need rock wool or any fancy insulation in the stud cavities. You'll be fine with regular old fluffy fiberglass. It's cheaper and does the same amount of work.

[norton]

Go here:
http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/sp- ... ing-walls/

Then go here:
http://www.greengluecompany.com/soundAbsorption.php

Their technical library is filled with test data that's exhaustive to the extreme.
The sound wall world is filled with b.s. and half truths. The tech library at green glue is accurate. Whether you use their product or not is up to you... but the methodology is valid.

Specifically for you....
You're going to need to beef up your garage door, your walls and your ceilings. If you've got bare stud walls.... at least consider hanging resilient channel. Creating flexibility in your wall is a key component to stopping the transmission of sound.

You don't need rock wool or any fancy insulation in the stud cavities. You'll be fine with regular old fluffy fiberglass. It's cheaper and does the same amount of work.

[kslight]

Maybe not the answer you are looking for...but see what you can do to minimize the volume before dumping lots of money and labor into trying to "fix" the garage? Electric drum kit, playing guitar through a POD with headphones...? I know you're probably thinking that's a lot of money in gear that may not wet your whistle. But if you are thrifty (seriously Craiglist this shit) its probably substantially less money than what you have to put into to get substandard soundproofing in the garage. Best part is...you'll be able to resell the gear if you move on to a more suitable space!

[norton]

Wise words kslight !

[coandca]

thanks for all the tips ya'll. at this point, I am thinkin' of trying to "naturaly" cut volume as much as possible via using brushes on the drum kit, using smaller amps and less volume. it's better for the mix and the ears anyways. I may try and dabble a lil' with the "sound proofing" but I am now realizing I am far too broke, lazy and have a lack of hardware/carpentry skills to do a half way decent job. thanks for the all the help.

[Gregg Juke]

One other idea-- Again, costs some money, but maybe less than re-doing the garage. Along the lines of the "play quieter" variety of tips, you may want to look into the JamHub, especially if you're going to play with Blasticks/brushes or have quieter drums/perc. which allows for lower volume amp settings:

http://www.jamhub.com/ .


We have a JamHub "Bedroom" model in the studio, in addition to a regular cue set-up. This gives us an additional 5 headphone outs if necessary, but it's great for practicing without a PA and monitor wedges. You do need to have a concientious drummer, because it doesn't put out that much in terms of volume, but it's a decent little unit, especially for quiet/semi-acoustic/unplugged type stuff.

GJ

[Brian]

Before you listen to anyone say "it can't be done cheaply" try getting some cheapo "visquene", (plastic sheeting) and lay it in the walls and above the ceiling, takes about 5 minutes., don't stretch it, but, seal up the edges around any holes that go through to outside. Not only will this stop drastic swings in humidity, but, it will also help hold in heat/ac, and it will stop a good bit of transmission to the outside, including bass. You can use vinyl roll roofing too. It works better. If it's not a recording studio and you don't need deadness (deadness does not = stopping "through transmission" which is the problem YOU described)
Visquene = $14 for a TON of it.
VINYL Roll Roof = $ a lot more money but not like a remodel or building a studio.
Plastic wrapped insulation also stops a little bass through transmission if the "orafices" of the building are sealed. I have the same thing in my garage.