using free carpet as sound damper

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:58 am

hey all
first off my studio is in a nice hot sweaty garage in mia.fl.
with the right side of the wall cement ,
the floor cement ,
the left wall side- a cluster of pots and boxes neatly stacked on shelves and over that is a thin carpet.(nothing close to a cement wall!)
the monitors are about 14 feet away facing the garage door which is made from some thin aluminum(you can here the grass being cut and stuff)
and behind the monitors are about 7 feet long with laundry machines and a water heater.
so ,,
i am going to pick up tons of free scrap carpet at a warehouse carpet dealer.
i basically plan on padding the right cement wall with a layer or to of carpet or maybe bedfoam before the carpet
-two layers of carpet on the floor
->and for the left wall with no solid cement wall maybe just some bed foaming.
the garage door will get some bed foaming as well.
the ceiling maybe come pillows.

this is what i have to work with and maybe a 200 bucks to spend depending if it will make a great improvement
by now , some of you maybe thinking ugh too much damping will make it sound dead or thats a great idea! or maybe thats all you can do with the room your working with.

ciriticism and advice is greatly appreciated into turning this garage into a great..... sounding garage,
thanks in advance for your replies

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:05 pm

In my exp. bed foam and carpet asorb some high frequency waves, but nothing on the low end. If you trying to reduce the sound the lawnmower you might want to try the room within a room idea.

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:08 pm

thanks, i dont really plan on removing it rather not record when they guy is doin the mowin'
the room within the room sounds like building a room , i dont know if i should build a room im broke

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 1:13 pm

Well carpet is not the way I would go, as it won't help your bottom end. Is your goal to make the room have a flatter frequency response?

Carpet might help catch some high frequencies reflections, but those may not be your problem....

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:02 pm

DO NOT USE PILLOWS, BED FOAM AND CARPET!

Use at least something that is less inflammable and will at least do you some good.

Your local building supply house will have insulation and gypsum... use those materials instead.

Here, 5/8" fire rated gypsum is $6.00/sheet. Insulation is about $40.00 for a bundle of R-19.

So, it's not like it will be all that expensive... maybe $250-300. So, save your money and do it right.

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 4:42 pm

hello , yes i would look forward to getting a flat freq responce from my garage.
thanks mad max . i will consider other means of insulation for the walls

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 5:30 pm

MadMax is right but...

From what you have to work with carpeting the one wall isn't THAT bad of a thing to do. It sounds like you are working in a standard home garage and you just want to tame things a bit. Sure, it won't do anything for low frequencies but it'll do for the high ones. I say if you can get it free, go for it.

If you've got $200 to spend, build your self some absorption panels. $200 bucks can go a long way if you DIY. Example
They ain't gotta be that nice but you get the idea. Hang those from the ceiling and wall and you should hear a big difference.

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:12 pm

The way I'm reading SF's post, there isn't any covering except the exterior of the garage... e.g exposed studs and rafters.

Getting some insulation in the walls and ceiling, along with some gypsum would make more of a difference in terms of sound coming in and in terms of comfort.... Which keeping the place a bit cooler should also help the gear investment remain viable for a much longer time.

That Miami heat and salt air can't be good on the gear.

Not that what the P-man is saying is totally wrong... The carpet on the concrete wall would at least knock down any flutter that may set up once the gypsum is up.

Bass trapping will def help... you will likely need quite a bit of it... I'd just tend to put it in as you could afford it and treat your place as a regular build and do the right thing by closing in the walls and getting that heat under control... at least then, you could put a small window AC unit in and cool it down enough to track or mix.

Just a coupla' questions...

What are the thicknesses of the existing walls?
Is there enough power to do what you want to?
What are the inside dimensions of the garage?

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 6:24 pm

pr0gr4m wrote:

MadMax is right but...

From what you have to work with carpeting the one wall isn't THAT bad of a thing to do. It sounds like you are working in a standard home garage and you just want to tame things a bit.

Good advice if you don't mind recommending that someone creates a fire trap - carpet is made for floors - and goes up like wildfire when installed on walls should a fire occur.

Only berber carpet is tested for walls - and even then there is a limiting factor.

Quote:

Sure, it won't do anything for low frequencies but it'll do for the high ones. I say if you can get it free, go for it.

Actually - all this will succed in doing is making the room muddy - this because it will suck the life (the mids - high mids and high frequencies) out of the room - and leave the bass modal issues which will just leave a muddy sounding room.

AND IT WILL NOT DO A SINGLE THIG TO HELP STOP OUTSIDE NOISES FROM COMING INTO THE SPACE.

Max gave good advice - listen to Max.

Sincerely,

Rod

Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 9:56 pm

Rod and Max are absolutely correct and I cannot argue any of the points that they've made...although I wanted to, just from the OP's situational standpoint.

I guess I have to ask myself what I would do in the situation. I wouldn't carpet. I'd build traps and big ol' rolling gobos and make that work for me instead of carpet. It won't help with external sounds but I guess I could shape the sound inside a little better.

As for South Florida houses, unless it's an old one it's probably got two gypsum walls a gypsum ceiling, one cinder block wall and that damn garage door.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:32 am

pr0gr4m wrote:

As for South Florida houses, unless it's an old one it's probably got two gypsum walls a gypsum ceiling, one cinder block wall and that damn garage door.

Once again, this is why the necessity for Rod's sticky.... Not enough clear info!

Is the garage insulated and gypsum on the walls AND ceiling already, or not?

Any windows?

Size of the garage door?

Are you willing to take the garage door down?

What other doors?

How far do you want to take it in what time line, and what budget?

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:54 am

sorry i thought i made myself clear enough.
my walls other than that one wall(left) are raw cement.
the Left wall,is also cement BUT has a 7 foot tall shelf , about two and a half feet from that cement well and about as long the monitors are from the garage door (14 feet)
the ceiling is a flimsy sheet rockish panel and a small attic is above it.
id say what i have to work with is about 10 feet wide and 15 -16 feet long and 10 feet tall
the garage door as about 8 feet wide and 8 feet tall .

i took the time to a visual "tour" of my studio i hope it will give you all a better representation of my studio.

i already get now that bass traps must be purchased to avoid that muddy amateur sound
thanks!

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k203/fedism/GARAGE.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k203/fedism/06-25-08_1223.jpg

thats a hard to view image of the walls n floors.(no treatment)

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k203/fedism/drezdigitalcamzke046.jpg

and thats a photo of my old studio with bed foams .

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:59 pm

SeniorFedup wrote:

i already get now that bass traps must be purchased to avoid that muddy amateur sound

Sir,

that is totally not true - you can build excellent traps using inexpensive (in comparison) materials if you have a bit of DIY in you.

Rod

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 7:24 pm

thats the spirit im lookin for
well sir, is using R-19 a good material or would you suggest something stronger?

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:54 pm

With all that un treated area, maybe you should spruce up your concrete floor, you did say the carpet remnants were free? Concrete wall, (maybe two I can't really tell) pots and pans, a metal garage door? He needs a break from hard reflecting areas Smile

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