Treating and soundproofing a bedroom

[Joenuh]

Hi gearslutz,

I'm a guitarplayer for about a year now. And I've been creating some music but I always played through logic as a ampsim but I want to join/begin a band also so I need a real amp(and I also like this more). So I will be recording my real guitar amp in my room and I was wondering about the acoustics. Because I think these are not very good and there is also leaking alot of sound to the rest of the house/neighbours. I would like to know what I can do to my room(bass trapping, broadband absorbers?). Could you guys help me with the placing of the traps and absorbers and stuff like that. Maybe some changes to where everything stays.

Thanks in advance!

Joenuh

PS: I attached a drawing of my room. And I will be building the panels myself.

[Strand-old-man]

Hello.
Isolating sound is an expensive thing to do. Lot of work too. Some acoustic treatment is always needed, but it will not isolate much. That´s why I recommend sticking with the modelling stuff for recording guitars.
Also isolating eats a lot of space, so I would not worry about that right now.
So concentrate on the listening position, to get proper acoustics there, so You can hear what You have recorded.

And You could go to some other place [rehearsal place, school, (I assume You´re quite young), friend´s garage...] to crank the amp. In that case, dont forget earplugs.

[Joenuh]

Yeah i figured out it was going to be expensive. But it does not have to be completely soundproof. My problem is bass, it goes through the whole house. If i'm listening in my room at a bit of a high volume I can hear it in my garage. And my neighbours are even closer to my room so they can hear it even more.

So I thought bass traps will help keeping the bass in my room. Because when i'm listening on my bed I hear way more bass then when i'm at my desk. So i thought maybe get my desk at the place of the bed and then put some basstraps where I can. Will that help keeping the bass in my room?

Joenuh

[Strand-old-man]

No, I´m sorry but it doesn´t work that way. Bass trapping is good for the "inner" acoustics, but has a minimal effect on the outgoing sound. Some yes, but really not enough to actually isolate.
If You play with Your system just one low frequency sine wave (say 100Hz) and move around the room, You will find the levels louder and quieter in different spots.

Moving the desk at the "south"-wall is a good idea. You can then center it left/right to have symmetry.
Rock on!

[joedoc]

As an alternative, you can build a simple iso space for your guitar amp -

- Get the amp up off the floor to decouple it as much as possible. A chair with a thick foam pad, and the speaker cab on top would be a good start.

- Next, place sound absorbing material all around the amp. Obviously some very thick acoustic panels would be optimal, but you could try using some spare mattresses, a bunch of packing blankets, or even unopened packages of Rockwool type insulation stacked on all sides. Thicker is better, as it's the bass frequencies that you'll need to absorb to keep it "quiet" - they're high energy and will broadcast through the house!

- Mic the amp, and then place more insulation (blankets, mattress, panel, etc) in front of the amp to close up your "box".

To tell the truth, just getting the cab up off the floor will reduce transmission a fair amount - that physical contact to the floor really carries the sound outside the room.

Experiment a bit, and if you find something working quite well, you could make a weekend project out of building a frame and attaching the absorbing material to that, which - if you're careful to close it up tight - will improve it even more.

Even if you can't crank it to the hilt, the sound of a real amp can add a lot to a track. Even if you do go for amp sims, a couple of overdubs with a real amp brings a different sonic texture to the mix.

You could even record direct, and when you have your take all comped and edited, just play it back through the amp via hardware out and in. Just 5 min of cranked amp is a lot friendlier to the neighbors than two hours of tracking!

IMHO/YMMV

joe