RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Yeah, I was gonna say, if the kid is serious about learning to play the
drums, then being able to play quietly & with finesse is a skill that
many drummers never get around to learning, at least in my experience
(I've recorded a reasonable number of drummers over the past 14 years,
many of whom only had a single volume setting: loud).

Having said that, the dude is 15, so being able to wail away as loud as
possible should definitely still at least be an option.

It's hard to stop sound, especially the high-end stuff that comes off
the snare & cymbals & whatnot. Not only do you need mass, but you also
need to be sure you've stopped up *all* the little  holes.

Chris Rossi is right: it's really hard, and if there are any other 
alternatives (moving to another room, telling the neighbors to yank it, 
etc), then they should be seriously considered. This includes, as he 
says, becoming familiar with the relevant ordinances.

HOWEVER, assuming these folks aren't renting (and neither are the 
neighbors), then it would behoove them to maintain good relations, so 
there's a limit as to what they can practically do, regardless of what 
the law says.

A couple of suggestions: for stopping sound from being transmitted
*through* a surface, mass & density are your only useful tools. This
means, practically speaking, drywall, half-inch or thicker, and
preferably two thicknesses, with the outer one glued on to the inner,
rather than nailing/screwing all the way through both.

People have been raving lately about Green Glue . . . I haven't tried
it, so I don't know, but if nothing else, the site is also full of good
soundproofing information: http://www.greengluecompany.com/

As far as the carpeting goes, it's not all that dense, so it's not going
to help with keeping the sound *in*, but it will help, on the inside,
with knocking down some of the reflected sound, thus hopefully saving
the young'un's hearing just a bit.

If you want to do it incrementally, rather than building an entire room, 
you'll definitely need to start with openings (windows *and* doors). 
Don't waste time with things like draperies & etc . . . they won't help 
much at all. Instead, I'd build little "walls" that are maybe a foot or 
two bigger than the windows (2x4 frames, doubled drywall as above) and 
either screw them over the windows, or if you want to be able to 
actually get at the windows, hinge them to a stud on one side of the window.

If you screw them in place, use weatherstripping, caulk, or the green 
glue to really get a good seal all the way around the window. If you use 
hinges, you'll have to rely on a couple of rows of weatherstripping, and 
put some kind of latch on the opposite side that will let you torque the 
thing into place.

Door-wise, if it's an easy swap, put in an exterior door. Otherwise, at 
the very least, replace a cruddy hollow-core interior door with a 
solid-core one, and apply weatherstripping all around the doorjamb, 
*especially* at the bottom.

If things are still too noisy, then you can either do Gary's 
room-within-a-room, or you can green-glue another layer of drywall to 
*all* the surfaces in the room, including the ceiling.

One last thing: The *teenager* needs to do all the work . . . the skills 
required are pretty basic, and he'll learn a trade that will come in 
handy when he's doing the starving-rocker thing 10 years from now.

Ross

Chris Clark wrote:
> Non-broken link version
>
> http://tinyurl.com/5g6xh2
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ch-scene-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:ch-scene-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Chris Clark
> Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:55 AM
> To: 'RTP-area local music and culture'
> Subject: RE: soundproofing for a teenage drummer
>
> Instead of treating the room, what about treating the drumes themselves?
>
> Something like this?
> http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/HQ-Percussion-SoundOff-Standard-Box-M
> ute-Set?sku=491796
>
>
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene
>
> -- ch-scene: the list that mirrors alt.music.chapel-hill --
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/ch-scene