Convert Basement for Band Practice

Problem: To control the amount of noise bleeding through the walls and ceilings into other areas of the home, or into adjoining homes that share a common wall.

Solution: Add density into the walls and ceilings, separate the room's surfaces from those structure of the facility, and then condition the room for sound with wall absorption products.

Your initial question has to address how serious you are about treating the room for sound bleed.

If you're limited on funds, or just rent your space, or have weak ambition, and you're less motivated to do all that we recommend, there are still steps you can take. Let's start with the incorrect way.

By simply adding our 3" Pyramids on 50-70% of the wall space in your room, you can effectively absorb the energy within the room and give you and your band a great sound. As a fallout factor, a secondary result, by diffusing the echo in the room, you control the amount penetrating through the walls and ceiling, not to mention the noise reflecting into vents, pipes, windows, doors, outlets, etc. Right?

So the Pyramids will slow the bleed down, but not block it altogether. If you're looking for a quick, less costly way to do this, here is the #1 selling product in our line. Get the quantity by dividing your overall wallspace in half, and treat with these 2'x2' squares of open cell polyurethane foam. Also, note that the 3" thick Pyramids quadruples your low bass tones over the 2" Pyramids or the 3" Wedge. Ideal for conditioning your room for sound, less than ideal for protecting neighbors, but still helps.

Now let's address the proper technique of first holding noise to within the room, so that the Pyramids can do what they're intended to do: absorb echo. To hold the noise in and protect unhappy family, friends and neighbors, you need two components for effective transmission loss:

DENSITY + DISCONNECTION

The combination of adding weight into your wall and disconnecting your surface from the structure of the facility yields your maximum result. 15-20 dB drops can be attained if you do this right. Note that every 3 dB is a 50% drop in sound pressure. Also, note that we tell all our customers that no matter what steps you take to address this problem, NOTHING will cure it. Our attempts here are simply to help better control it. So set your expectation levels accordingly!

Density is attained with the use of our dB-Bloc. This is a thin weighted mass loaded vinyl that's designed to "block" unwanted sound energy from passing through the material. It is NOT enough to simply put this on your wall, however. You need to also "lift" or "float" your wall and ceiling away from the structure. Some customers actually build new walls and ceilings infront of existing, but most opt to simply add firring channels to the existing structure. These can be thin slats of wood that are screwed directly to your existing wall studs or ceiling joists AFTER you've stapled up the dB-Bloc . Run the firring strips perpendicular to the ceiling joists, and horizontal on the walls. Then your final layer of drywall can be applied direct to your firring strips. Tape and paint the new walls/ceiling, and you're ready to mount your absorption products.

If you're erecting new walls within the basement, the disconnection issue can be achieved with the use of either a double wall construction or a staggered stud construction. Double wall simply means building side by side walls that don't connect. Staggered stud means building a single wall with 2x4 studs, but start with a 6" base plate and stagger the studs. Have the odd numbered studs support the room on the left, and the even numbered studs support the room on the right, but no stud connects both walls together.

Either technique will force the vibrating noise to "die" inside the dead air gap inside your wall cavity.

If you have a drop grid ceiling in your basement, note that standard ceiling tiles DO NOT block sound from bleeding upstairs. Ceiling tiles are typically an inexpensive way to cosmetically treat a room's ceiling where you still want access to the pipes. To "hold" the noise out using your drop ceiling system, you simply rest our Ceiling Caps on top of your ceiling tiles. These are 1" compressed fiberglass boards, cut into 2'x4' panels, and laminated to our dB-Bloc for sound transmission loss through a ceiling grid system.

Remember, to control noise bleeding out, you need a "room within a room" scenario with disconnected walls and ceilings. Next add your weight and finish off. Then mount absorption on the finished surface to help control the noise being compressed within the room. On the other hand, with limited funds or ambition, just mount Pyramids to your walls. And don't forget to stack our Contour Bass Traps in your corners to help attentuate those low bass tones!

Good luck! Your neighbors, friends and family will thank you...and hopefully NetWell!