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Hi All,

I've just posted my first post in the Newbie Intro forum. Part of that post talks about a soundproofing issue that I have so I thought that it would be appropriate to ask the question here in the tech forum.

Although I’ve got a good PA system set up in my internal access garage/basement, and have built up a collection of CD+Gs over the past 10 years, sadly I’ve not put the gear to maximum use. The main reason is I live in suburbia and I need to determine how to cost effectively minimise the sound escaping the garage so as not to annoy the neighbours.

The two areas where the sound is getting out are the sectional garage door (steel) and the single glazed windows. All advice appreciated. Thanks.

Cheapest & ugliest way is go to your local flooring/rug centers, they usually have discarded floor pads (under carpet padding) in rolls adn generally they are in their trash bins, you can get these & hang them up on the doors & this will help tremendously. We used to run our band in my basement & had to cover up 2 windows & this helped alot. We eventually got custom made foam (made for sound & high fire retardant) which is more expensive, but for a quick fix, this will work or at least diminish 75% of the sound leakge!

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I am sure you know this, but bass carries a lot farther than treble. Use your equalization to cut the lowest frequencies more, and the "carry" will be a lot less.

Or do like I did, move out in the countryside!

I live in a seniors' small apt in a high rise. My adjacent neighbor is a one legged guy with a hard cane that he pounds on the wall with. You think you got problems?

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very good advice, the foam stuff is great but it cost alot of money. For regular usage something like hanging carpet would work with the higher frequency.

Some people uses insulation material for this kind of jobs too.

BeeCee.......

I recently struggled with this issue too. I moved into town ( ) and can't crank my music like I used to.

I haven't done anything to my garage yet. It was converted before I moved in. (carpeted, the walls have panelling/sheetrock, etc)

Funny, the next door neighbors that are closest to my garage have just moved to washington state and the house is up for sale. Makes me wonder if I played a part in that?..... ....... but at the same time, I don't have to worry so much about keeping it down quiet now. (atleast until new neighbors move in, and the housing market is stagnant at the moment, so maybe it will sit empty for a while)

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double glazing the window will help...you dont have to use the real stuff...our big sash windows in the bedrooms of our old wooden house has some kind of clear perspex pseudo double glazing...and wow its suprising how much warmer the rooms that have this are and how much noise is kept out...or in, as the case may be
so do that to the window then follow up with Lonnie's suggestion

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Another novel idea For a couple of months the apts around me was empty and we were recording like crazy. An older couple moved in across the hall so I knocked on the door, introduced myself and said we will be recording. Music might get a little loud but it shouldnt last more than an hour. They have been good neighbors for about 2 years now. Never can tell maybe the new neighbors like to sing too.

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When we practiced in garages (60's and 70's) before the cops used DB meters, garage bands were deafeningly loud (as the norm not the exception). When we used shag carpets, and hung quilts and comforters even stood old mattresses up (to dampen sound) it seriously threw off the EQ inside the room as well, killed FX and desirable balance we wished for.. The degree of dampening you will need to really considerably crank up your volume will also deaden some of what you are going for inside the area as well too much sound absorbtion if not set properly can deaden and muffle some of your frequencies, sustain, reverberation and dampen what you too will hear.

Balance became near impossible with too much dampening and absorbing material, and blend was tougher to attain.. The reason we wished to crank our speakers was to use what the interior area offered adjunct with our equipment to achieve a desired effect that uses the room for certain features too. The room is also a sound chamber and how you muffle the room makes a difference.. Can you draw a rough diagram of the garage, post specs regarding the dimensions ? Also, Do you have the speakers firing into the steel doors or do you have the back of the cabs towards the doors and the fronts of the speakers firing into your house interior ? If-so naturally sounds will be thrown in that direction instead face the speakers away from the neighbors and dampen behind and to the sides of the speakers with carpeting and try to muffle the interior wall so you don't get bounce, naturally doors are going to vibrate.. Depending on window size this shouldn't be tough at all, if the windows are relatively small stuff old pillows and cushions in the alcove, or hang a heavy quilt over them..The more padded furniture, curtains, carpetting (or anything plush and upholstered) you have in a room the more sound is absorbed...Resonance will vibrate the heck out've garage doors given lower frequencies, harmonics and conduction properties and the room is essentially acting like a speaker cabinet itself...Read some articles regarding how to affordably dampen rooms without spending money on acoustic treatments that run a lot of money.. There are some great articles written, I've had to do it in this condo.. I don't wish to spend loads of money on area partitions that pretty much put your speakers in a "booth"..

Sometimes I still miss, and crave the old days wishing there was acoustically treated big aluminum drum (like a giant 55 gallon aluminum drum) that I could crawl into with an amp and guitar put the lid on I (having the outside dampend) and wail.. Since I didn't have excessive nerve deafness from the ridiculously loud classic rock garage band levels by age 50.. I'm now willing to take some chances I miss the old LOUD LOUD days and using the room or garage for it's fxf !!!

Seems that Joes garage *in zappas song* had a small Fender Champ and he still got busted... We had Fender Twins slaved, and Marshall half-stacks, Ampeg SVT bass-rigs... Only got busted a few dozen times (just warnings from the cops) with roughly two acres of property between closed doors and an ajacent neighboring home.. We'd get complaints when playing inside houses *when parents were on vacation of course* from well over half a mile away VERY frequently. Damn, I miss waking up in the morning 10 hours later (after a jam session or practice) feeling as though there's water and insulation in my ear canals.. I'm getting all nostalgic here.. I LOVED loud, and still do ! Still get complaints about bass on my stereo.. Thing is, if the woofers can't blow out a match, it's just too quiet, well, maybe not that loud anymore but still, loud

Maybe I am partially deaf after-all ?

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Used to be you could go to your local restaurant and ask for discarded dividers in those big boxes of eggs. Those always worked pretty good for me when I was in bands. Also used to pick up those pieces of foam you could put on your mattress for extra support. They're usually around $30-40 for a queen size, but make all the difference in the world, and you can find them in any Wal-Mart or Target type of store. The quilt and blanket option is also good. A combination of all three will - as mentioned by Steve Kaplan - deaden a lot of the sound in the room, but if you know how to tweak the levels, you can get a great sound while keeping much of it from escaping the room.

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We have a local chicken farm close to us, we were able to buy a bunch of those egg dividers as well. These work great for corner traps as well.

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Thank you all for the practical advice. I will experiment with a number of the dampening options suggested – including tweaking the levels. What I haven’t mentioned is that the garage needs to look presentable so that will be a key factor in my final decision.

The sound getting out of the garage door is the main concern but the feedback provided indicates that strategically placed dampening within the room should help. I’m not expecting miracles




The garage is approximately 60 sq meters, 7 meters wide and the garage sectional door is 4.8 meters wide. The speakers, Peavey SP5Gs, are pole mounted on either side of the garage door and they are ‘firing’ away from the door and towards the interior of the garage. The aluminium framed window and side door is in the immediate vicinity of the garage door but at right angles. The window is 1.5 meters x 1.0 meter and is adjoined by a standard aluminium framed door 0.8 meters x 2.0 meters. Current aluminium window/door treatment is cedar venetian/slat blinds.

I’ll try an upload a .jpg file to give you an idea of how one of two speakers is set-up. Not sure if it’ll work.

Cheers.