<p>Does anyone have a quick and cheap way to soundproof a room?</p>
<p>Where, what kind of room, to what level?</p>
<p>There are things you can do to soundproof an existing room, though it won’t approach the levels of professional acoustic soundproofing (it also will reduce reverb, which is valuable if a student is trying to hear their playing). It also depends on your tolerance for the appearence of the room…</p>
<p>1)Carpeting or rubber tiles on the floor, if it is hardwood or concrete, will help absorb reflected sound and stop it from transmitting it. These are not expensive, I picked up ones at Sam’s club I use in our basement, they also sell them as exercise tiles…or you could put down cheap area rugs on the floor, if it is not carpeted.</p>
<p>2)If the room has windows, put heavy drapes over them</p>
<p>3)On the walls, buy cheap drapes or heavy cloth and hang it (depending on how light or heavy the material is, may be able to get away with pushpins or those hanger pins used for hanging pictures up, minimizes damage).</p>
<p>4)Depending on the ceiling, you could hang cloth as a swag, where the cloth undulates (sorry, not good from descriptive geometry), picture it as a bunch of waves or if viewed from the side, a half pipe with the round side down towards the floor</p>
<p>VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV viewed from the side, V is towards the floor, you pin up at the two tops of the V.</p>
<p>5)There is a more expensive method, that won’t look great, but there is something called egg crate foam acoustic insulation (it kind of looks like a giant sheet of foam that looks like egg cartons glued together), I have seen people buy this stuff and attach it to the walls with rubber cement or with small tack nails…it isn’t cheap, though, it usually is used inside walls. </p>
<p>I agree, I think it would be valuable to know more…is this a bedroom, a living room, a space dedicated to practicing? How big? How tall the ceiling?</p>
<p>I suspect anything you can do quickly and cheaply may not cut as much noise as you think, if it is something like the kid is practicing piano or electric guitar and the neighbors in the apartment building are complaining, may not do enough to please them…</p>
<p>Another suggestion is to check do it yourself sites, like DIY.COM, and see what they have, too. </p>
<p>Agree with the need for a more clear goal. Are you trying to mitigate sound or really make it “soundproof” - the instrument in question will make a difference as well. Real soundproofing isn’t for the faint of heart. As the mother of a drummer with close neighbors we have been down this road ;)</p>
<p>It’s guitar and piano, no drums thank god. We were going to do either her bedroom or the garage. She practices at night and my son, whose bedroom is right next door, has to be up at 4am for work. The wall between the 2 room actually has a closet, so maybe I can do the egg crate thing in the closet. And her floor is hardwood, we will look for carpet.</p>