Acoustic treatment to cut down noise for neighbors?

[Jazzpunk]

What is the best wall treatment for killing noise in order to keep my neighbors happy?

I live in an apartment and occasionally pick up freelance post production gigs that I can knock out at home. It's never too loud but I would like to remain as anonymous as possible.

From reading through the threads here on various room treatments, it doesn't sound like there is much one can do (besides keeping the volume down) in order to keep sound from passing to the next apartment.

Is there any kind of sound proofing that will help or is it just a waste of money in my situation?

[Protools Guy]

It's going to be very expensive to keep the low end from getting out, and, unfortunately, the low end is what's going to shake your neighbors' pillows.

Sorry to be such a pessimist, but I've been there. You might spend thousands of dollars and still not achieve low end isolation.

[Ironklad Audio]

mass, mass, and more mass

[samwinston123]

Probably the easiest and in this case the most effective thing you can do is put your monitors on some foam pads. That will at least control the low end that is being transfered through your desk and into the floor. You could buy some of the specialized stuff, but I've just got some that I found and it works great. Short of floating all of the walls, there's not much you can do.

[Jack Ruston]

I wouldn't spend a penny on soundproofing if I were you.

Buy yourself a really good set of open backed cans that you can use late at night if needs be, and keep your levels down at other times.

Why? Because it absolutely will not work. What happens is that sound travels through every tiny gap, and more importantly through the fabric of the building itself...what happens is that it hits your walls, floor and ceiling and causes them to vibrate slightly...which in turn causes the walls floors and ceilings of your neighbours to vibrate too. Which of course the can hear. The only way to stop this is to build a substantial structure within your appartment which is completely isolated from the existing walls floors and ceiling, which will vibrate, absorb that energy and pass so little into the air of the actual room as to have a negligable effect on the real walls etc. As you can imagine, that is a fools errand in an apartment.

Do it when you have a nice big house.

J

[lowfreq33]

You'd have to add an extra layer of drywall to achieve any noticeable improvement. When I lived in an apartment I just tried to work during the day when my neighbors were at work.
On the headphones tip, a buddy of mine swears by Ultrasones.

[chasman]

hey jack ruston,

i thought i read that the biggest problem is sound going out windows?????

is that wrong?????

[Sui_City]

Originally Posted by chasman

hey jack ruston,

i thought i read that the biggest problem is sound going out windows?????

is that wrong?????

Although that would help a little, and i do mean "a little", with the highs and upper mids, it will do near nothing for the low end.

Low end goes straight through structure as Jack pointed out. It sets the whole place resonating, and in some cases the low end can be louder for your neighbours than it is for you.

I worked in a CD store in the early nineties that was upstairs from a gift store in the same centre. Whenever we played "Dummy" by Portishead, they'd complain about the bass vibrations in their store. It was unbearable for them, but for us it was fine.

Mass, as someone already pointed out, is critical. If you could build a room within a room, then it would be much better. But even then you need to use something to de-couple one room from the other, and there is no cheap solution.

good luck

[Jazzpunk]

Yeah, it'd be cheaper to build a room inside of a room than to get a house here in L.A.!

Looks like it's just low volumes for now.

Thanks guys.

[chasman]

thanks for the info Sui City.

sincerely,
charlie