Was looking to soundproof my bedroom. I'm not doing anything crazy like live music production, it's really just to prevent the sounds of my mechanical keyboard and chatting to friends on a mic late at night (one of the walls has next to no insulation in it - you can hear if someone is snoring in the adjacent room haha).
To my understanding, acoustic foam is more for improving audio quality in recording, but does relatively little to stop sound. Was wondering if acoustic foam would still absorb enough noise for it to be worth it?
It would dampen it a good bit, but it is a large investment for just wanting to dampen keystrokes. I have bought canvas pictures from hobby stores and then modified them just a bit and filled them with foam. Also, your door is where most sound escapes, you may consider a non-hollow door like those that are most common in interiors of homes. Also, consider a shim or sill at the bottom of the door. You can still go for decorative acoustic panels, but for them to do any good on a 15x15 room, you would need about $150 or more. FYI sound "Proofing" a room is something that requires effort taken before construction of the room begins, or, the room but be renovated to accommodate.
Funny you should bring up door, as mine is solid. It was actually originally a front door for a house (had an eyeglass and everything) before being re-purposed for my room haha. So the door is all good for sound dampening, it's more the wall I'm concerned about.
It's really just a single section of the wall, it wouldn't be the entire room. The canvas idea sounds cool!
Yeah, I've been reading a bit into it, looks like for total sound proofing it requires a lot of mass to physically stop the sound waves from passing through haha.
when I was a kid starting off in a metal band. We used blankets to line the walls. but that is likely more ghetto than you want to go. So , yeah, id get some memory foam backed artwork and decorate that room.
Yesterday I insulated my furnace room to reduce the noise. I asked at Lowes and I bought this. Expanded Polystyrene Foam Board Insulation (Common: 0.75-in x 4-ft x 8-ft; Actual: 0.687-in x 3.875-ft x 7.875-ft) $12. Foam core w/ foil on one side and paper on the other. . http://www.lowes.com/pd_15355-46086-389697_1z11pq2__?productId=3365568&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1#img . I glued panels to the inside of the door. I took the scrap and made a double thickness box around the furnace. I left air holes and fit the pieces like a puzzle. I taped the boards to each other, not the furnace.
There are many sound dampening techniques that require little to no money. However, they may not be the most aesthetically pleasing. I used to have rugs on my walls (Soviet-Russian style). They looked god awful, but with proper speaker placement, I noticed that the acoustics in my room were superb. You do not necessarily have to go with rugs. Like ProSonicLive said, blankets are another surefire way to dampen some sound. However, speaking on mechanical keyboards, I'm not exactly sure how much effectiveness these methods will have on that front. Have you looked into O-Ring dampeners for mechanical switches? They are a godsend.
Soundproofing is to stop noise getting in or out of a room - usually expensive building work. Sound treatments like acoustic wall panels are more for killing room echoes for recordings.
Keyboard noise and speech wouldn't be as hard to deal with as deep bass from music, but If you live in a quiet neighbourhood even small amounts of noise will stand out late at night
An uninsulated wall don't sound like good start - sealing air gaps around power sockets and light switches may help.
The insulated foam board is good for sound treatment, and should reduce some of the sound getting out of the room. I have used it before wrapped in fabric (inside an old sleeping bag is good too) and just leaned against a wall
A large bookcase full of books against the uninsulated wall may work as a sound barrier. Don't have the books lined up neatly, have them in a random pattern to diffuse the sound waves.
Don't recommend cranking up mic levels so can talk in whisper on skype. one cough or a background noise at normal volume could deafen folks on other end!
Cheers for all the replies guys, greatly appreciated!
I was wandering around my local hardware store yesterday - lo and behold they had some acoustic foam on special haha. It only set me back $50 (I'm from down under so our dollar isn't quite as strong as USD :D) for about 1.8m2 which is actually perfect for the wall I plan to cover.
You guys have brought up some great ideas, I might actually have some insulation lying around from a previous project in the shed. The wall on my side is plastered, but the opposite side is simply a panel pinned to the load-bearing beams (fairly old house I'm in). Shouldn't be very difficult to install if I choose to do that.
Yeah mindxsweeper, I've actually already got some for my k70! they're really good compared to without! Also the rugs sound hilarious haha
hanging carpets or bed sheets in front of the walls (ca. 5-10 cm from the wall) will absorb a lot of noise. It is not soundproofing but try it out before you spend money. It might solve your KB issue.
Even simple free things can help like re-arranging your room, placing furniture (wardrobes are best) against those walls and using draught excluders can help.
Although if there is enough sound escaping through the door you may try weather sealant.
Seeing as I already have some acoustic foam, I might chuck that up first and see how I go. If that's still a problem, get some bookshelves like Vendetta suggested (come to think of it I have ALOT of books haha). I planned to get some bookshelves/cabinets this holiday season anyway.
The dynamat would be extremely effective, however they are originally designed for cars (my car actually has some in it!). It's pretty expensive, but will definitely keep it in mind!
Like I said before, not really after total sound-proofing, just sound-reduction.
Ah cool, didn't realise they did that now! A little pricey though haha
Yeah deejeta I already have some :)
Here's a quick update on what I've done so far, pretty simple stuff with the hot glue gun. Plan to do the bottom half and also line the border of that wall that has all the pictures on it. It's done quite a bit to stop voices and keystrokes coming through. Will try another sound test when it's night time :)
