Soundproofing/Acoustic Treatment for Apartment Studio

atyourlasthourrr

atyourlasthourrr

Inspired
Greetings,

I recently moved in to a new apartment which is a 3rd floor corner unit and am looking for tips on soundproofing my space to at least be able to comfortably track vocals and acoustic guitar without disturbing my neighbors.

Since I'm under a lease, I'm looking for a temporary solution that will not require any sort of structural modification. I've done a little bit of research already and have considered putting foam on the walls but to be completely honest, I have zero experience with this stuff so I don't even know where to begin..

Thanks in advance for the information.
 
Just a pondering here but sound proofing and sound treatment are two different things. What will prevent the neighbors from hearing you may not produce the best recording results. You want balance. But if you need deadening something like insulated drapes may be more effective, cheaper and more portable than sound foam installations.

In my studio I converted a closet that is in mid building. It is sheetrock walls, carpeted floor, acoustic ceiling tiles with corner traps and just a few sound foams. Works excellent for vocals and acoustic guitar. So much of your sound is what you're singing into anyway. We're using a Rode K2 into an LA 610 preamp and this rig will pick up a knat farting at 50 yards so by the time it's mixed out the room we recorded in is pretty irrelevant.
 
I also had a second thought. If you live near a big city there are many businesses that have leased furniture and/or gone out of business. There is a fairly consistent supply of acoustic office partitions available. These things are ridiculously pricey new but you might score a few used on the cheap and build yourself a moveable setup that will encase you and cut down volume. And there is this concept.
 
mwd said:
Just a pondering here but sound proofing and sound treatment are two different things. What will prevent the neighbors from hearing you may not produce the best recording results. You want balance. But if you need deadening something like insulated drapes may be more effective, cheaper and more portable than sound foam installations.

In my studio I converted a closet that is in mid building. It is sheetrock walls, carpeted floor, acoustic ceiling tiles with corner traps and just a few sound foams. Works excellent for vocals and acoustic guitar. So much of your sound is what you're singing into anyway. We're using a Rode K2 into an LA 610 preamp and this rig will pick up a knat farting at 50 yards so by the time it's mixed out the room we recorded in is pretty irrelevant.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think I'm looking more for soundproofing solutions. I have all my stuff setup in my living room area, FYI. I really would have a hard time convincing my wife to let me occupy her precious closet space to use as a recording booth haha.
 
To soundproof, you need to start adding semi or full room within a room practices. It's just the nature of how you dissipate sound.
My studio live room has two additional offset false plasterboard (dry wall) walls filled with rockwool as well as one false layer on the ceiling leading to to the loft. This works great for everything but very low frequencies.
My little control room and 20' by 20' live room are on the side of my house. The house is detached so no immediate neighbours within 50-100 feet of the live room. I can run my vintage 50w non master Marshall's on 8 without any problems. Even my wife and children don't hear it in the house. The only thing that makes it outside are the ultra low waves when you palm mute. Again, this never makes it to the neighbours houses.
I think you need a sealed gap as long as the wave you need to dissipate (this will then supposedly half the volume of that frequency). Quite easy to do on high mid frequencies as these waves are small but once you get to the low end, many of these waves are well over a foot long so to just half the volume of those, you need a gap as long as that wave. The rock wool has an average range of -30db per layer for higher mid frequencies.
This is a very simplistic explanation :)
 
vinnyburns said:
To soundproof, you need to start adding semi or full room within a room practices. It's just the nature of how you dissipate sound.
My studio live room has two additional offset false plasterboard (dry wall) walls filled with rockwool as well as one false layer on the ceiling leading to to the loft. This works great for everything but very low frequencies.
My little control room and 20' by 20' live room are on the side of my house. The house is detached so no immediate neighbours within 50-100 feet of the live room. I can run my vintage 50w non master Marshall's on 8 without any problems. Even my wife and children don't hear it in the house. The only thing that makes it outside are the ultra low waves when you palm mute. Again, this never makes it to the neighbours houses.
I think you need a sealed gap as long as the wave you need to dissipate (this will then supposedly half the volume of that frequency). Quite easy to do on high mid frequencies as these waves are small but once you get to the low end, many of these waves are well over a foot long so to just half the volume of those, you need a gap as long as that wave. The rock wool has an average range of -30db per layer for higher mid frequencies.
This is a very simplistic explanation :)
Click to expand...

Sounds like you got it all figured out mate! Unfortunately, this is just unpractical for me.. I don't own this estate unfortunately, so I would not be able to make such modifications to my living space.
 
atyourlasthourrr said:
Sounds like you got it all figured out mate! Unfortunately, this is just unpractical for me.. I don't own this estate unfortunately, so I would not be able to make such modifications to my living space.
Click to expand...
Yes, was just trying to tell you that unless you do similar to the above, you won't dissipate the sound. People waste money on acoustic tiles and other things that do not kill the sound. They are only designed to control and enhance the acoustics of the room.
The only other option I can think of is an isolation booth for you and the singer. They are pricey but don't take up much space.

https://www.studiospares.com/Studio...ono-12-X-12-X-22-Metre-Vocal-Booth_411670.htm

You can maybe turn a cupboard/closet into a similar thing.
Vocals in a closet are not that bad with a duvet propped over the singer to stop reflections off the roof and behind. Even better with something like an SE Reflection filter.
You can track the guitars quietly with the Axefx straight into the DAW. I am doing our latest album that way. If you want to mic up, there is also the iso cab route. Your floor is going to be the real problem being on the third floor. Whatever you put your DAW speakers on, they are going to transfer through to the floor at high volume. I use little Yamaha MSP 5's in my small control room. I really like the sound of them. Not too great to judge the bottom end on though.....
Anyway, hope you get it sorted out.
 
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