hello , i have read about soundproofing a lot online and even read books on acoustics that had tips on soundproofing.
a lot of people confuse soundproofing with acoustic treatment (those little acoustic foams that stick in walls to control acoustics)
what are the best ways to soundproof a room so that exterior noise (lets say 60 db) does not get in?
anyone have any tips for me , please?
thank you for your time .

 

Solid wood door, and a lot of super dense 4x8 sheets of insulation cut to various sizes, and placed. Frame them if you want to, and use a very porous burlap material to cover the insulation.

Owens Corning makes a really good one. I use it, but cannot remember the name of it. It's black. I have about 3 sheets of 4x8 cut to various sizes and secured to my walls and door... "sounds" great In fact, some may consider my room to be a little "too dead", but I like it.

As soon as my door is closed, you can hear the fart of flea from across the room..... (not that I have fleas lol)



Any HVAC vents may need some additional attention if need be. In my case, I covered up my return vent with an insulation panel.... My door usually stays open and there's another return vent in close proximity to it, so I don't have any real air-flow issues.



There are other things you could do to help deaden the sound as well, such as those rubber strips that are attached to the bottom of a door. (i don't know what they're called, but they work well if you have a large gap there) You can get creative in other weird zones...

 

Thank you so much for this , i will try it out.

 

The best way to get really good sound proofing, if you have the money, is to build a separate room inside the room.

If you just want clean vocals you can always build a sound booth. Dawbox has some good do-it-yourself plans. You can put a guitar cab or record acoustic guitar in a 4x4 foot booth, though you may want a slightly larger one for the latter. You will probably need to build an 8x8 booth if you want to record drums; that may be a good size for a dedicated mixing room as well. You can probably build a minimal 4x4 booth for around $700.

Putting up acoustic treatment alone wont do much other than tame down high frequency reflections and not really help keep outside noise out.

 

Google "room within a room" and "acoustically floating floor".

 

Last edited: Aug 29, 2018

Yes, I forgot to mention that... If you'd like to take it that far, you can use neoprene pads as the foundation for a new floor. It's not too hard to do if you're somewhat handy, and/or if you have the time... Also, you could hire someone to do it for you.

Here are some options for pads...
https://www.grainger.com/category/v...trol/material-handling/ecatalog/N-9txZ1z0qjcv

Specifically, I used these - https://www.grainger.com/product/MASON-Vibration-Iso-Pad-2LVR4

What I did was lay down several of these pads across the subfloor every 12x12", and glued 4x8 sheets of MDF on top of them, then applied laminate flooring. I'm sure it has really helped with the sound of my room, but in all honesty; I believe you can still do quite a lot with the options I mentioned in my above post. If you do go this route, the only battle you'll encounter is ensuring that your new floor is level.... You can use composite shims and additional neoprene pads if need be... "No More Nails Glue" was used quite a lot for this project.... but you can also use some other type of construction adhesive.

It's been about 8 years, nothing has fallen apart, everything's still level and there's still a nice, gentle springy bounce in the floor - much like a dance studio.

 

Last edited: Aug 29, 2018

you are not going to like what you find. proper soundproofing requires a lot of money. for the ideal room you need to have a room inside another room with no points of contact between the room and the outside world, and thats just the beginning.

i cant actually offer any worthy advice though, im mostly posting to read the replies of the more knowledgeable, but i do know that it will be very expensive.

there are pre designed booths available if they are not too small for your needs. but you will still be looking at a couple of grand to get you started