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Soundproofing my room

Newbie956

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I live in a apartment and i was wondering how i could sound proof my walls in my room without tearing anything down... im not looking for sound absorption advice or acoustic treatment advice....i want to block sound coming out of the room...the sound i want to block is mainly gonna be solo vocal sound ...no loud music at all maybe just some loud signing just my
voice on its own...my budget is around 1500$...any advice?
 

AudiOhm

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DonH56

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I live in a apartment and i was wondering how i could sound proof my walls in my room without tearing anything down... im not looking for sound absorption advice or acoustic treatment advice....i want to block sound coming out of the room...the sound i want to block is mainly gonna be solo vocal sound ...no loud music at all maybe just some loud signing just my
voice on its own...my budget is around 1500$...any advice?
Depends on the layout of your room with respect to the others in the apartment/house, but in order of cost here are three quick ideas:
  1. Sing into an open closet filled with clothes;
  2. Build an isolation booth or corner (may not need a completely sealed booth, which could be claustrophobic and hot anyway)) from framed (commercial or DIY) absorbers using e.g. Corning OC-70x or Rockwool; or,
  3. Buy a commercial isolation booth or room (probably exceeds your budget and would take up a lot of space.
If (1) is not good enough (I have done that when practicing trumpet and, if the closet is not connected to an actively-used room when in use, it works well) then for (2) you can create a pretty effective vocal booth using framed panels with legs or stands to make them easy to move around and store out of the way when not in use.

I left out heavier isolation schemes as likely to be impractical assuming a temporary installation. Fortunately the vocal range is much easier to isolate than deep bass.

HTH - Don
 

HarmonicTHD

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My friend plays the trumpet and has an isolation booth in his room to step into for practice. Not sure what it costs though.
 
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DVDdoug

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I always wanted to fill the walls with sand! :p

But it's extremely hard to do if it's not new construction. The wall might bulge-out from the weight, and if it breaks the walls that would be a minor disaster. Or if someone drills a hole that could be a problem too.

If you're a renter soundproofing a whole room is probably out of the question, and you'd exceed your budget. It's really the one thing that makes it hard & expensive to make a home studio that equals (or nearly equals) a pro studio.
 

Qbd

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02046B6B-03B1-4927-8982-C56F7A3FE8FF.jpeg
Sounds like you’re looking for a Stenomask.

Edit: Don’t know if they work well for singing, but at least you’d look super cool!
 

DonH56

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I have seen a few home-made "blanket booths". Here is a commercial example: https://phatikk.com/products/large-portable-soundproof-vocal-recording-isolation-booth?currency=USD&variant=42565494866149&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjwpcOTBhCZARIsAEAYLuUtl_aJzlq8ynXNBOQwpPp-MAyV8SFk5cieGNG-9y2LpGhgCNMhHmcaAqz-EALw_wcB They are cheap but don't work all that great IME...

What I had in mind and have seen (heard?) be more effective (again IME/IME) is more like this: https://www.gikacoustics.com/produc...m33aLiKby5guk1RdTYifaMnVEHMfewksaAqOHEALw_wcB

Sweetwater Sound, a company I have used for many years, has a variety to choose from and a well-informed, helpful sales team: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/se...Fsi1ubsAAvpWYMPqXO8aAuN4EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

HTH - Don
 

Inner Space

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i want to block sound coming out of the room...the sound i want to block is mainly gonna be solo vocal sound ...no loud music at all maybe just some loud signing just my voice on its own...my budget is around 1500$...any advice?
The advice from others about isolation booths is excellent, but also do the small, boring stuff - weatherstripping around the door, around power outlets and light fixture fitments, any gaps and cracks, etc - makes a huge difference.
 

mkt

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DonH56

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Doors are often a significant source of transmission... I simply used a heavy "outside" (solid-core) door with full weather sealing for my media room. For an apartment, it may be hollow-core, and in any event probably not something a tenant can replace (could ask, I suppose). Weather sealing around the sides and top using foam tape from Walmart or Amazon can help, and a door gap filler at the bottom.
 
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Newbie956

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Ok cool thanks for the advice... what do yall think about sound blankets i was doing some research on sound blankets from a website called vocalboothtogo.com there very heavy blankets about 10lbs... i was thinking of stapling some (2lb) mass loaded vinyl to my wall then over that adding sound blankets. do you think that would help?
 

andrewjohn007

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I've been down this road before and my research indicated that soundproofing a room as a tenant wasn't an economically viable notion.
 
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