21
Nov
2007
18:57

Sound isolation

Today Larry and I paid a visit to our downstairs neighbor to do some sound tests. We found that if we put our “Rock Band” drum set on a blanket, that greatly isolated the noise. We could not, however, find any good way to keep jess’s music on her computer from being annoyingly loud in the downstairs bedroom.
I’m investigating trying to find some sound absorbing materials to put the drum set on and to put our stereo speakers on (which we run the TV through).

1 Response

  1. Anonymous says:

    Heath, I’ve done a little research in this area before so I can suggest a couple things. First, there is a conflict of interest in all this, which is basically that any sound that you absorb to isolate, you lose in your current environment. The only way to isolate the sound from your downstairs neighbor is to block it with another 8″ of concrete on your floor 😉
    Second, if you want more information on the topic, environmental acoustics is where I found the most applicable information, but acoustical engineering texts are where the scientific side comes in.
    I could help more if I could see it, so let me know if you want me to look at it. In both cases, the problem is basically that you need to “decouple” the drum set and the speakers from the floor.
    The drum set is not as big a deal because its just an input device, so its not where the sound comes from. The blanket is a great idea, and I’m guessing that if you put about 4″ of blanket sandwiched between the floor and a piece of plywood (or something else stiff), with the drum set on top, you’ll remove almost all the sound of the drum set banging on the floor.
    You can do something similar with the speakers, but the problem is by decoupling them from the floor you are going to lose a lot of bass. Honestly the “best” solution in terms of reducing noise thru the floor would be to hang the speakers on a cable from the ceiling and us stabilizing cables to the walls to hold its placement and orientation. But again, thats a LOT of bass lost.
    Anyhoo, theres a couple ideas to think about. Contact me if you want me to see it or chat further about what you can do. I’d loan you the
    Environmental Acoustics text I have… but I think I loaned / gave it to someone several years ago…
    I’m willing to offer barter for my consulting… equal time on the rock band game!
    Sean

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