The Styrofoam Bandit!

[TheHeathBar]

Ok there is a valid explaination for the rediculous title...

Ok for the past few weeks, me and my fellow bandees have been searching head and toe for free/really cheap sound reducing material.

we quickly started this hunt after realizing that our guitarist's cement tomb of a basement was not the ideal place to record, or even practice, without getting a sonic boom of a echo.

i've searched the internet for foam like a meth head looking for his stash.

I've looked at buying foam board in bulk, and even egg cartons (no joke)

then it led to searching local fast-food resturants for paper/foam scraps...
this just lead to the dick managers calling the cops...

obviously we/i can not afford any semi-professional equpment.

so... to avoid anymore embarrassing moments with 40-year old mcdonalds managers.... id like some help with this one :p

ps. were looking for atleast around 150-200 sq feet of coverage here...
thats a lot of freaking egg cartons...

[Motleyguy]

Do any of you guys have any rugs lying around. Put some on the floor, if you've got a few extra, throw 'em up on the walls. What sort of result are you looking for? Reduce in "echo"? or some sort of fantasy land soundproofing so that the outside world can't hear you?

[TheHeathBar]

Do any of you guys have any rugs lying around. Put some on the floor, if you've got a few extra, throw 'em up on the walls. What sort of result are you looking for? Reduce in "echo"? or some sort of fantasy land soundproofing so that the outside world can't hear you?


Fantasy land would be great!!!

no... just reduced echo... im sick of hearing my basslines 2 times too many...

as for rugs... i have a shag rug in my basment that i could probably bring over there... just had too many good memorys on that thing :P

the walls are my mains concern...

[Aus_rock_god]

Mattresses and carpet dude :thumb:

Works like a dream

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=44208357

^^^ Don't really have any pics, but the soundproofing job we did in our rehursal room in brillient.

Just a f*ckload of mattresses on the walls, pillows and blankets over the window, and some rubber foam tape I stole from work along the door frame.

Also laid some carpet down, and placed the bass amp on foam (wooden floors = turning your house into a giant subwoofer).

You can't hear us from outside the house, even when we have it cranked.


You can find old matteresses and carpet everywhere, just ask familiy and friends if they have some in their garage that they want to get rid of.

[TheHeathBar]

ahahaha thats great dude!

sounds like a plan to me...

matteressesssesess... the only problem there is that the ****ing room is soo small!

i wasnt kidding with the "cement tomb"

its hard for a big dude like me to move around in there... with or without the big chunk of wood i call a bass in my hands...

and i like to get into my music!

i often knock over our vocalist (my best friend) just to thrash around in a 4'x4' space...

[Aus_rock_god]

We've got the same problem. It's funny as; everyone crammed into the room with the volume cranked.

You get used to it after a while, just stick it out.

[TheHeathBar]

yea... anything is worth it man...

i gave up a potential football career (well only the varisty spot at my highschool) to play music :P

man... as a 6'4 270lb 15 year old they wanted me bad lol...

but this weekend i will go rug hunting in the snow!

[TheHeathBar]

well alright... to give you guys a idea on how bad the recording sound is i got a link to our "best" quality recording...

myspace.com/dcjbchmccm

...sounds like absolute shizz

but with a usb recording mic (snowball) it doesnt help...

it turned a "O.K" highschool band song into trash...

[Tripp_chaos]

we did the same thing with mattresses just get all the guys to bring over there own mattress and wall them up for something temporary until you can find a permanent solution I sometimes put a box over my amp that has the mic in there and it's covered with my fiancees robe (she hates me cus she can't find it in our closet ever) causing a 80% reduction in noise and a clear non boxy recording... I'm currently trying to look for a long term solution myself and your right about the foam being pricey but this http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Auralex-Studiofoam-Designer-Kit?sku=422602 is about 1,000 sq for 99.00 and the adhesive I haven't used it personally but my buddy's brother has it in his attic outta state and he says its good for him and they have the same thing going on except there's a metal roof and that echoes outside of the house, kindof funny...

[Seafroggys]

In case it hasn't been said...

egg cartons and styrofoam do absolutly nothing.

You want things with a lot of mass. Mattresses are alright, but don't block low frequencies. You'll want to build bass traps in the corners as well, which is not hard to do.

[Moseph]

In case it hasn't been said...

egg cartons and styrofoam do absolutly nothing.

You want things with a lot of mass. Mattresses are alright, but don't block low frequencies. You'll want to build bass traps in the corners as well, which is not hard to do.

Actually, egg cartons provide a diffusive surface to fill. If you were to fill the cartons with a polymer epoxy or putty, you'd have a dense material in a diffuse shape. The hard part would then be mouting all that material to the wall. I imagine the paper-type will be more robust than the polystyrene type.

I agree polystyrene, it's purposefully designed to have low-mass and straight, smooth surfaces. You could maybe break it down into a relatively fine-grained mixture and use that to make an absorbent surface, but you'd really only dampen the very high frequencies.

[TheHeathBar]

hey guys thanks for the thoughts!

ummm this weekend ima try and find something out.

i think my mom has a bunch of quilts in the basement :P

and again... my shaggedy shagg rug...

but thanks guys, id say this is a good first experience here on the forums.

ill be spending alot of time here and on the bass forums.

again thanks!

[Aus_rock_god]

Actually, egg cartons provide a diffusive surface to fill. If you were to fill the cartons with a polymer epoxy or putty, you'd have a dense material in a diffuse shape. The hard part would then be mouting all that material to the wall. I imagine the paper-type will be more robust than the polystyrene type.

I agree polystyrene, it's purposefully designed to have low-mass and straight, smooth surfaces. You could maybe break it down into a relatively fine-grained mixture and use that to make an absorbent surface, but you'd really only dampen the very high frequencies.

Dunno, I've tried both. Eggcartons acted like sound treatment, and cut verb out, but didn't do anything in the way of actually sound proofing.

Putting polystyrine on the wall, then hanging carpet about an inch from it worked okay, but sub frequencies would pass right through it, and I suspect the carpet did a lot more than the foam did. Plus it was a real bitch to first find all that foam, then cut it, then glue it up. Then came the issue of living in a climate where summer reaches over 40 degrees celcius, and having a whole bunch of flammable material on the walls.

Also, polystyrine is a really good thermal insulater, and at one stage it reached 60 degrees in that room during summer.

And then came the task of actually removing the foam after it was glued to the walls with construction adhesive, which had caked over summer.

Mattresses, blankets and putting carpet on the floor is still the best "tight arse" solution I've used to date. Just make sure you put some foam under the bass cab so you don't turn the room into a giant sub and you're on a winner. Block up any gaps in windows and doors with tissues or linen too. If light or air can get in, sound can get out.

[Seafroggys]

Best sound proofing = rockwool insulation. :thumb:

[Aus_rock_god]

Or getting two big slabs of concrete, lining them with steel and sucking the air out from in between them.

[Tripp_chaos]

That would work if they could breath in your new idea for their "tomb"... Then again a good percentage of the greatest musicians ever are dead, So that's the secret to becoming a famous musician...

not really