Soundproof Walls

What is the best cheap way to soundproof a room?

I live in an apartment and I play the drums. I want to somewhat soundproof the room so I don't get complained on but I don't have much money to work with.

Public Comments

1. Soundproofing a room? Need to soundproof small bedrooms. ... If you can find some cheaply enough, cork does a nice job of this too. http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/23105 I wish you good luck,friend.
2. depending on your budget, you can stuff towels in the crack under the door or invest in acoustic tile or styrofoam for walls and ceilings. heavily carpeting and drapes on walls will also absorb the sounds and keep it from esacaping the room.
3. gluing styrofoam to cardboard pieces and hanging them up will muffle the sound, but unfourtunatley with out some money, you really would need to get some sound foam you can buy in any music store
4. It takes a lot of time, but cardboard egg cartons work great.
5. Empty egg cartons stuck to the walls. Cheaper if you get F&F to help.
6. we once used old carpet to cover the walls for cheap sound proofing. Or look into foam sound proofing. make sure it's fire retardant.
7. Egg crate foam mattress tops work. Ask around to your family friends and neighbors if they have any theyre not using. Free!
8. foam or make a smaller version of a walled enclosure for the drumset (a room within a room)
9. Tough call, especially if money is a constraint and your room has not been designed to be soundproofed. Remember that the floor and ceilings need to be fixed and not just the walls (which include the windows & doors). Heavy curtains help to a certain extend on the walls. However, depending on what material has been used for your walls, (plus ceiling and floor), different soundproofing treatments may be necessary. Drum beats are typically of the lower frequency band, you need to look at materials which are better at absorbing such noise. Try lining the floor with firm but absorbent material. For the walls, conical and irregular shaped sponge-like materials can help to disperse and absorb the 'noise' but you need to find a way to mount them or keep them in place while at the same time maintain the aestethics of your room (use a curtain to hide the sound absorbents, etc). Ceilings, window and door gaps are tougher. My advise is that a little bit more of research will also help. Lastly but importantly, don't forget to check that you are not introducing fire hazards when adding sound insulation in the room.
10. It doesn't matter what you try to sound proof the apartment, it will, probably, be cheaper to move into a house.
11. There is none. I raised three kids. Drums, Sax, and finally Mr. Rap Magic! I tried everything. It just can't be done. You can muffle it but you can't "sound proof" ordinary walls and ceilings. I finally leased an old auto dealership building and moved the whole family in there. The kids thought it was great but my wife divorced my butt.
12. Most of the stuff you put on the wall like foam, cork, and acoustical tiles ... is to keep sound from bouncing around in a on-air or recording studio. To make it sound proof you need to construct it that way by making a soundproof wall. There is a fiberglass product that can be dropped down from the attic between the outer wall and drywall. It very expensive though.
13. Please note that drums have low bass noise which cannot be controlled with any soft material. Noise control works by converting sound energy into Heat Energy i.e creating friction between absorbing material and sound. Anyway forget the technicalities, The best and cheapest way to reduce the sound going to the next apartment from drums is to put a rubber board on floor under the drums (available at kids stores around the world). Secondly, put a wooden closet or cupboard next to the wall of the room by leaving at least 4 inches of air gap behind the cupboard or closet. Now stuff the old foam toys or rags in the gaps between the sides. This will reduce the sound transsmission by 50%. This will only work if your cupboard or closet is almost the size of the wall to be treated. However, if the concern is apartment below & above, sorry, you need a specialist to redo the ceiling and floor. This is cheap solution worth trying.