GM Steve,
In that case, the advice from K0SN is in the right direction. But that
part of soundproofing can be quite difficult, especially for low
frequency sounds. Sound can leak through holes or gaps in the sort of
sound proofing that he describes.
Sound is air vibrating, and it goes through walls by making them
vibrate. That's where mass comes in, making it more difficult for them
to vibrate. Low frequency sounds are the most difficult to block. Higher
frequencies are easier. We can beef up walls, but sound leaks through
doors, even when closed.
I designed sound systems for major projects -- theaters, churches,
stadiums, jazz clubs -- and was working closely with heavy duty acoustic
consultants whose job it was to both make the room ultra quiet and to
make it sound good for listening to music. Over the years, I learned a
lot by paying attention.
Inside rooms, sound bounces off all the surfaces, conserving its energy
and making it louder. Sound sources (speakers, for example) couple to
surfaces they're mounted on, making them vibrate, and the sound they
make bounces off of surfaces. We can reduce the overall level of sound
in rooms by making as much of that surface area "soft," and
concentrating on surfaces near the sound source and that the source is
pointed at. Surfaces that speakers are sitting on will be vibrated by
the sources, and we can reduce that by placing thick soft "stuff"
between the speaker and the surface. All of this reduces the overall
sound level in the room, so there's less to leak out through walls,
windows, and doors. In one project I worked on, the Staple Center, lots
of large, thick fiberglass bats mounted to both sides of plywood are
suspended from the ceiling for this purpose.
Doors need to be heavy, and the seals need to be very good. Studios and
entertainment spaces have heavy double doors, with space between them.
Vibration through walls is minimized by building "rooms within rooms,"
where the studio sits on carefully calibrated springs, and the room has
no connection with walls of adjacent spaces.
Sound also leaks through HVAC ducts.
So -- I would start with "fuzz" -- thick layers of sound absorption on
walls you're facing, use headphones rather than speakers, beef up the
walls as K0SN has suggested, look at doors and windows. The cheapest
effective "fuzz" for walls is thick fiberglass facing the wall. I used
that in the house I owned in Chicago -- there was a fabric store that
would build a frame to which they would mount their decorative fabric. I
put thick fiberglass on it and hung it from a wall. On another wall, I
hung a decorative shaggy rug with fiberglass behind it. In my shack here
in W6, I've sat my power amps on soft "stuff" and put "fuzz" on the
walls behind them to minimize fan noise.
73, Jim K9YC
On 11/4/2021 10:46 AM, k7lxc@aol.com wrote:
> Define "soundproof." Do you mean to prevent outside sound from coming
in, or do you want to prevent it from reflecting sound that hits it from
inside the room?
Hiya, Jim -
I don't care what happens in the shack. I want to keep my noise out
of the adjacent room and keep their noise out of the shack. I want to be
able to operate a phone contest and not disturb the neighbors. I want
to be able to operate in relative privacy - it's a shared wall.
And it should be cheap. I don't need a sophisticated expensive
solution. So far another layer or 2 of wallboard may be the way to go
according to my feedback so far. Thoughts?
Cheers and tnx!
Steve K7LXC
PS - I bought a bunch of "acoustic" tiles which appear to be a bunch of
holes bonded together. I put 3 layers on each ear and figured there was
about 1 dB attenuation. Pretty useless.
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