Soundproof a Room for Guitar and Drums
By: WhisperRoom™
March 18, 2020
When you’re on stage, there’s nothing better than enjoying the rough punch that a good drumset provides. However, while you’re practicing with your band, this can prove to be a bit too much for your neighbors; regardless of where you are. That’s why knowing how to soundproof a room for drums and guitars is important if you ever want to get your band off the ground.
Bear in mind that professional soundproofing is no small investment; if you want to achieve that, you will need to have quite a bit of money. And even with sufficient funds, we’re talking about a very substantial effort. So, you’ll basically need to do a complete remodel of the room in question or invest in a sound booth.
However, if you’re not prepared for such a huge undertaking – there are still a couple of things that you can do without breaking the bank and spending a whole lot of time. And this will allow you to significantly reduce the amount of sound that others hear outside of your soundproofed room. The primary purpose of the methods we’ll describe below is sound absorption, as you’ll see soon enough.
Finding Air Leaks
While completely sealing off a room from external airflow would shut out most of the sound, the room itself would be too stuffy, hot, and practically unusable for any people inside.
But, you can still work to seal off the bigger leaks of air you can find through soundproof insulation; thus reducing the noise you emit to the outside world. Remember – if air can easily flow between the room and the outside world, the noise from drumming and guitars will flow with the same ease.
Reinforcing The Door
As you might have expected, the most obvious place where you’ll find most of the air leaks from your room is the door. Luckily, there are plenty of amateur kits that you can buy, and which are a great help with the bottom seam of the door, as well as the sides; all of which need to be properly sealed for a soundproof room.
Plus, unless you have a home that was built a while ago with doors made out of solid wood; you probably have a hollow door that’s not too much of a sound barrier.
In fact, the laws of physics say that a hollow door is actually a sound amplifier – in other words, the complete opposite of the effect you want to achieve. With that in mind, you need to reinforce your door with some sort of fiberglass panel. This will help minimize the level of sound that goes outside through the structure of the door itself.
Drum Rug
You may not know this, but if you put a rug beneath your drumset – it will actually manage to soak up a lot of your sound. This is a well-known fact to experienced musicians; that’s why you can buy drum rugs that are specifically designed to reduce the amount of noise the instrument produces.
The design of such rugs is there to make sure that your stands and spurs dig into the rug. That way, you won’t have to think about your overzealous drumming causing some kind of tipping or unwanted movement.
For those who like their drum setup to match their personal aesthetic, there are all kinds of rugs out there; from matte black to oriental rugs. Though, we do recommend that you still only use such drum rugs on floors that have already been carpeted. Otherwise, you should either put rugs across the entire floor or install some carpeting.
Acoustic Foam
One of the reasons why a drum rug is a good idea is the fact that drums and other instruments produce more noise when you have hard surfaces nearby. The sound you produce can bounce off those, making your band’s music even louder. The same principle is true for the ceiling and walls of your room. Combined with music, they make an effect in which the sound jumps around all the different surfaces, becoming even more amplified. This is why we arrive at perhaps the most important part of this soundproofing guide – acoustic foam.
To be more specific, you should cover the entirety of the room (ceiling and walls) with acoustic foam. For those with an overall artsy inclination – you can always arrange these foam pieces in interesting and unique patterns.
Still, the most important effect of this foam is to reduce the echo and reverb that amplify your sound. Bear in mind that a decently-sized room will require more than one pack of foam. If you’re tight with money and can’t afford all the foam needed to cover the entirety of the room’s surface area – don’t despair! As long as you cover at least one-quarter of the room’s size, you’ll do enough to make a noticeable difference. Naturally, the bigger the surface area you cover, the more effective your soundproofing efforts will be.
Drapes on Windows
Even if your band room is inside a house and not an apartment building; there’s still the chance that too much noise is exhibited to the outside world. In that case – you should take care to do something regarding your windows as well.
Once you repeat the leak-finding process you had with the door, you should do the same with your windows. When this is done, all that’s needed to do is to cover them with thick curtains or drapes.
You’d be surprised at just how effective blackout curtains can be when it comes to blocking noise. Plus, if you’re willing to put some more effort and money into your soundproofing, you’ll be able to find specially-made noise-reducing drapes that help with thermal insulation too.
Conclusion
As you have probably realized from the very beginning, all of this is rarely enough compared to professional-grade soundproofing efforts and the noise reduction capabilities of a WhisperRoom™. However, if you don’t want to completely remodel your interior, the steps we’ve showcased above will prove to be surprisingly adept at significantly lowering noise levels and help you soundproof a room.
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