Tuning that damn snare.

[Jeffs Carrot]

Complete would be very difficult

I do think you could get the sound down enough where someone on the upper floor would only hear it faintly. Getting the reflections down to a minimum with the reflectors, use some foam or blankets behind them and even the ceiling to cut them down. I think you'd be able to pull it off.

[Vinnie's Ice Cream]

No, the panels only work as baffles and adsorbing sound with in the space they confine. Purely for treating the room. IE Great for a vocal or drum booth to dry out the sound, separate instruments for bleed purposes but won't do shit for actually deadening sound that leaves the space.

The only way to go completely sound proof is either some serious wall in wall construction - or a basement.

Basement is the best option because most the work is done. Unfinished is even better because you'll be building up over the structure ideally.

There is really nothing you can do to sound proof anywhere without serious permanent modifications. So if you are renting it's just better off to rent a lock out somewhere, prob cost you about the same in materials over the short term anyway.
Find a band to play with and split the lock out, now you have a 24/7 practice space for 1/3 or 1/4 the cost it would otherwise be....

If you own a place, that's a whole different ball game. There's lots of info online on how to do wall in wall construction, sound proofing, sound treating and everything else you could need to know about building a studio.

Where my band's studio is, we don't have neighbors close enough that the sound is an issue. All we are interested in is treating the inside of the rooms for our desired sonic environment. Could care less about sound escaping, because nobody's around to complain.

*Side note we just got a claw foot bathtub (for free) to put the amps into to record. Super cool natural reverb trick we had read about.


** I have heard that the sonic lead sheeting used in cars can truly sound proof a room without ripping the walls apart and such. However the cost is insanely high.

[Det_Nosnip]

Well, like I said...we're looking to buy our own place within the next year or so, so hopefully that will be an option (although it's sounding a bit expensive). Of course, it also depends upon what we get...my guess is I probably still couldn't do it in a condo, even if I do own the place.

[Jeffs Carrot]

Might have to E-kit it

[Vinnie's Ice Cream]

Probably not in a condo either, assuming it has no basement and at least 1 common wall.
Though you never know, layout and design could grant you a far away room good enough for the purpose.

In all cases building a home studio is not going to be cheap. I've been stock piling items for my studio for years and years. From chords to mics, to books on engineering, acoustic foam, guitars, drums, amps, etc
It takes no small amount of money to have even a moderate selection of instruments and tools for recording.
I just bought some more mics actually, but again, they'll just sit in their cases until the "studio" is finished.. probably 2-3 years from now. It was a great deal on something I knew I would will want later.

We're going to be buying a house pretty soon as well. With an eye on homes with larger basements to suit my purposes.
I've stock piled quite a bit of info on construction, layout, sound treatment, wall angling, control room setups, etc

Very much a long term project for me. But the goal is to have a place to practice, record and write music 24/7, in my own home, with everything I need and ideally, not even wake the misses.

But again, look into lockouts, they generally run about $1/sq ft.

[Det_Nosnip]

Yeah, I'm looking for the same thing Jos. My plan is to set up a practice space first, then bring in the recording equipment. I've been collecting mics too...I figure I'm better off getting quality stuff then buying a whole pack of shit mics I'll eventually replace.

Our "best case scenario" is a townhome, which WOULD have a basement...we might even snag a single family home with all of the foreclosures going on. Right now we're renting a 2-flat with a basement where my stuff is which is actually a decent setup (horrible acoustics aside), and we're not planning on rushing into anything, so I'm hoping to get something decent. Nice thing about Chicago is it seems like it's the last remaining big city where you can actually live in it long term...

[Jeffs Carrot]

It's expensive though man, even without car payments you need to make pretty good money to live there.

[Det_Nosnip]

Good thing I'm a greedy overpaid CPS teacher.