Soundproofing a window...

[Vinrockindie]

I have a project studio in a basement. The room in which most of the tracking takes place has a window. Noise from passing cars and the occasional barking dog make tracking acoustic guitars/vocals a real pain in the arse during the day.

The window is obviously the culprit. It's rather large at 36" wide by 48" high.

What's a good way to address this problem? Soundproofing it...perhaps something that could be removed on days when there will be no tracking; allowing some natural light into the room.

Thanks for any suggestions you may be able to give.

[PoorGlory]

I'm trying to address the exact same scenario in my basement studio build, although my windows are a lot smaller. The noise from the outside seems to be less of a problem than I anticipate noise from the inside (drums, loud guitar) pissing off the neighbors will be. I don't know how your walls are constructed or what kind of window you have, but here's what I'm planning on doing:

There are four windows in my space (2 exposed to the "loud" room, and 2 behind a sheetrock wall in an area used for storage). THey are the crappy old school, single pane with a steel perimeter type windows, that fold in towards the basement and only open enough to crack it for some air flow. Some of these windows are in cinderblock walls that I've painted with Drylock masonry waterproofer, and when you open the window, the opening in the cinderblock is just big enough to let the window move. My plan is to make a frame around the cinderblock opening with 2X4s and screw them into the brick using tapcons. By framing around the opening, and not inside, I won't impede the windows movement. Next, I'm going to make a panel that will fit inside this frame. I'm thinking the panel will be constructed something like: 2 sheets of 1/2" mold resistant sheetrock in the middle, with fiberglass insulation batting wrapped around the whole thing. Then I'll wrap it in some kind of fabric to keep it the insulation tight. The basic idea is to make this part big enough to kind of wedge into the frame without being too loose or too tight. THen I'll put a piece of plywood on the back (the side facing in toward the studio) big enough to cover the frame put a couple of handles on it or something. I'll put some kind of gasketing material on the overlapping portion of the plywood (the part that covers the frame) to add to the air-tightness of the whole deal.

But then again, I haven't even made these yet, so it could be a complete bust. But writing it all out like that helped me visualize it better.... maybe you could improve on it a little.

[Kiwiburger]

Best approach is double glazing. Ideally with a large gap (inches, not fractions of an inch), non-parallel preferably, and certainly two different thickness of glass.

The last point is important. Glass has a resonant frequency, and sound at that frequency goes straight thru. Having two different thickness means 2 totally different resonant frequencies, so whatever gets past the first one can't get past the last one.

My studio is build from 8" concrete block, filled with concrete. I simply got two aluminum windows and put one on each side. The 8" gap is perfect - probably doesn't matter that they are parallel at that distance. When we were putting them in place, the complete silencing effect was very dramatic.

Knowing how well this works, I would have been more generous with windows that I was ...

[orksnork]

hmm removable...

you could take insulation (wrap it up in something to keep it clean and to keep shape)

you could find the studs around the window (should be completely around it) and insert....what's the word....you know...bolts without the actual part where you tighten it??? just the threading...drill a pilot hole and tighten it in...

take a piece of masonite and drill holes accordingly....

stuff your insulation into the window, put the piece of masonite over it, and then use wingnuts and washers to tighten it on to the bolts....

that should help stop some of the sound, and to remove it, all you need to do is remove the wingnuts and take the masonite and insulation and put them in a closet

[majortom]

You could make a window plug with thick MDF and fluffy fiberglass. In my experience it'll work pretty well, provided you get a good seal. MDF is better than plywood, because it's more dense. You need a dense, heavy material and an airtight seal to make it work.

I made a window plug with 5/8" MDF and a 1x6" inch frame (filled with acoustic cotton) that fit inside the window's recessed sill and put some of that adhesive foam rubber stuff around the recesses interior to act as a gasket and get a good seal. The frame was angled slightly so that it got tighter the further you shoved it into the opening. It cut out maybe 95% of the outside noise. Only the really loud, low-end stuff got through. It was kinda hard to get in and out, though. You can glue two sheets of MDF together with something like green glue which would probably help absorb more low-end rumble, but that doesn't sound like your problem and it would add to the weight and the cost.

If escape in case of fire isn't an issue and light is, you could put up a second window. I've used 1/2" plexi glass for this. Works pretty well too, except if the window is too big, you might get some resonance going on which could magnify low-end rumble from trucks and trains.

Good luck.

[tINY]

The best thing to do is call a window company and get a dual glassed replacement window.

Like Kiwi said, make sure that the glass is "differentiated" like with a laminate ("security") glass on the outside and regular glass on the inside.



-tINY

[Vinrockindie]

Thanks for everyones replies. I'm not sure which direction I'll take, but I do know that replacing the window is out of question (I don't own the home).

I'm going to go to Lowe's, see what I can find and see if a few suggestions made here will work out.

If anyone has any other ideas...feel free to chime in.

[Eggsmack]

try hanging a mover's blanket over the window. theyre only 8 bucks at home depot and pretty effective. if you need more proofing, add another blanket. this way you dont have to take forever making a plug and you can take down the blanket any time you like. they're also great for isolating your kick mic from the rest of the kit as well as throwing one over a few mic stands to create a makeshift gobo.

[Vinrockindie]

Tried it, but it wasn't enough. I'd need a lot of them to do any good. The dog is relatively close, and goes bonkers once an hour...usually on the hour.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[microsoftsucks]

If you want to keep the natural light, try Sheetblock.

Here's a short article on how it worked for me:

Project Studio Acoustics