Conference napalm::guitar

    You'd probably get better ideas from VAXWRK::AUDIO or
    PNO::AUDIO_ENGINEERING, but I'd bet Sondex panels are a good start.
    
    Mike

    I read a few articles about sound-proofing a room. The accepted way
    of doing it is to build a room-within-a-room. Both sets of walls are
    insulated, with an air gap in between. I believe the gap area should
    be about 12-18 inches. Obviously, this greatly reduces the size of 
    the room once you build the second set of walls, since you lose about
    3' in length and width if you have an 18" air gap all around. You also
    must build a second cieling, dropped 18" below the original cieling.
    If the original cieling is low to begin with, this is not practical
    and in some cases impossible. 
    
    My home studio is only 11' x 13' to begin with. Building two sets of
    walls would have made the room only about 8 x 10. I settled for
    insulating the room, and using a good rigid wall board. I used
    particle board, and T1-11 for my walls. I'm planning to cover the
    particle board with a Ozite carpeting or a heavy fabric. I haven't 
    finished the cieling yet, but I am considering putting up particle 
    board, and covering it with Sonex tiles, or similar tiles with an 
    anachoic pattern. I don't have the option of dropping my cieling,
    since it is only about 7.5' high to begin with. 
    
    Years ago, my father finished his basement by attaching 3" thick 
    styrofoam sheets to the foundation walls with panel adhesive. He 
    then glued paneling to the styrofoam with panel adhesive, and put 
    in a drop cieling. The 3" styrofoam makes for an extremely dense 
    wall with little or no sound reflection. If the walls in your garage 
    are made of cement blocks, or some other hard masonary surface, you 
    might consider this approach.
    
    Anything less than the full blown room-within-a-room approach will
    yield less than ideal results, but most people are limited by room
    dimensions, and budgets when tackling a project like this in their
    homes. I have heard that in many professional studios the walls are
    filled with sand to isolate them acoustically. Since sand is a heavy
    material, the walls must be heavily braced and reinforced to take all
    the extra weight.
    
    Mark
    

    A friend of mine did his base manet with cheap matresses from Goodwill. 
    Not perfect but really worked well and CHEAP!
    
    ...No kiddin!
    
    Will

    Brian,
    Your note says you require "NO" sound to leave the room. I am not an
    acoustician but spent 8 years supplying audio consoles to the recording
    and broadcasting industries. You need to define NO Sound. 
    To start with
    even a room within a room will have some sound transfer in and out via
    the suspension mounts. What levels do you intend playing at? Have you a
    lot of energy in the Bass ranges? Are you just practising or recording?
    Do you want the room to be 'bright' or 'dead'. To some extent the
    colouration will be determined by the room dimensions and overall
    volume. 
    Is the floor of the garage connected to the floor of the house and what
    material is it constructed of. I am out of touch with current prices
    let alone those in the USA but even the materials for a professional
    job would be very expensive. Any basic acoustic book will give you the
    knowledge to start specifying the sound levels you can tolerate in the
    kitchen and then it is a question of specifications of current
    materials versus your finances.
    
    Having said all that many adequate recording rooms have been engineered
    using secondary walls and acoustic filling. The difficult areas are
    transmission through floors, gaps, doors and any windows you need to
    see through. Sand in doors is the best and large gaps (for the
    wavelength ) between double or triple glazed windows. Like any sound
    system you need to concentrate on the weak links. The best wall
    insulation is pointless if all the noise disapears through the door.
    
    The project is possible to a certain limit but you do need to define
    what limit is acceptable to you. After all the rumble of the
    underground could be heard in even some of the professionally built
    London studios. 
    Good luck,
    
    Alan.  

    
    	One possible approach that's worked for me is to change the
    way you play/practice, regarding the use of live amplification.
    
    	For about a year, when the band I was in practiced, the only
    thing that made a sound was the drums...Does a lot toward the amount
    of sound "deadening" you need.
    
    	You could cordor off a section of the garage, probably the one
    furthest from the house wall, and make that a "drum booth", with
    a window toward the rest of the space, lighting of course, and lots
    of cloth covered fiberglass thermal insulation or acoustic foam
    lining the walls.
    
    	Mike the drums, run the recording outputs from all the instrument
    preamps and mics into a mixer and monitor with everyone using
    headphones. When your mix is right, you'll be able to hear everyone. 
    Gone are the "volume wars" and hearing fatigue associated with
    practices at performance SPLs...You'll be able to make some great
    recordings too.
    
    	Of course, somebody's guitar wont "sound the same" in not going 
    through a speaker, or that they cant do their sonic feedbacks...But
    I'll bet your "wife who doesnt like noise" will certainly hear the
    difference.
    
    	Joe

    What my band does is this:
    
    Our drummer made a practice pad set (affectionately called his PK-1000,
    or "practice kit 1000) out of wood and pipe.  He used 1/2" thick pieces
    of rubber on the "drums" to quiet them and give them a bit of natural 
    bounce.  His kit even hs a place to use his bass pedal.  He does use
    his hi-hat, but it's muffled with a towel.  
    
    The guitar players use small combo amps at a very low volume, and
    vocals are not amplified.  We learn songs at an incredible rate this
    way, and our vocal harmony arrangements have improved a lot too.
    
    When we play live ("using live ammo", we call it ...) there is a
    definite adrenalin rush from hearing your rig cranking.  And so far,
    all our tapes and videos show that this type of practice has improved
    our sound.
    
    Scary (who practices in the apartment next to the manager !)
    
                                                    

    The book "The Home Recording Handbook" by Chris Everard, Amaco
    Publications has a big chapter on building a studio with all sorts of
    advice on sound-proofing. I bought my copy in a music store in Boston
    and have seen it in Acton Music. The book is also full of the authors
    reviews of studio equipment (mikes, tape recorders, etc). 
    
    John 

      I like your idea Jerry. I'm in a new band and the drummer is using
    a Sonor double bass drum kit with the works! One of my first
    suggestions after my first three practices was to bring the volume
    down, even if it somewhat compromises the guitar sound. I admitted
    that I like a meaty guitar sound, but for the sake of having a 
    quality practice I'll give in. But when we play out- WATCH OUT!
      Besides my rack doesn't sound *that* bad a low volume, it's
    just...... ....you know what I mean!!!
    
    						-KaBOOM-

    Hey, kaBOOM....I know whatcha mean...I like the way most amps sound
    on 7-8 (MV wise)...it's just THERE, ya know?
    
    I find that 5 to be a more workable volume in most siuations, but the
    tone changes (as does my attitude!)  ;^)  So, I know whatcha mean!
    
    Buck, who'd rather play loudly

    I read someplace that sound radiation is almost IMPOSSIBLE to stop.
    It's one of the toughest kinds of radiation to contain (short of
    nuclear fallout)...
    
    Anyhow, I suppose the idea of a room inside a room is a great idea...
    That SONEX foam is MEGA-expensive...  How about filling the gap between
    the tow "rooms" with "popcorn" and egg-shelling the inner walls...
    time to hit the chicken barn...
    
    
    ;)