I play music, and my friends and I are trying to set up a rehearsal area in the basement of his apartment. There are houses right next door, his girlfriend usually goes to bed early, and we can only play at night because of jobs. So we need to eliminate as much noise as possible, and we have a limited budget to do so. anyone know of any miracle materials or methods? I have heard of using egg-crates and mattresses, but I want to know if there are any other options.

Thanks for your time.

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headrivenoise... listen.

Those are the old college stand bys. a layer of old rugs doesn't hurt either.

Back in my day the bandmembers would go in on a u-stor-it garage and line it with old carpet from their parents' houses. Don't know where the power came from; I assume they stole it.

High-school 'hair bands'... so old

webwench: that's really funny, we always talk about doing that somehow. A storage place is way cheaper to rent than a monthly studio. juice is always a problem, though.

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headrivenoise... listen.

Those storage units usually come with a lightbulb. Just remove the lightbulb, and get a socket-to-plug adapter.

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http://comp.uark.edu/~dmgill/signature.jpg

Does a lightbulb socket provide enough power to Rock You Like a Hurricane?

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'90 300SE 298k
-300K and it gets put into retirement.
'80 300D 255k Purchased new by family in 1980.

Had a:
1973 220 (gas)
1980 300SD
1992 400E

Only one way to find out.

Just have a fire extinguisher handy

Depending on how much room is available, you could build a room within a room. Simple studs at 2' oc.Drywall one side only ( for appearance),and insulate between the walls. Do not allow any contact between the inner and out rooms. Make sure no ducts are in the quiet room as the sound will travel right thru them. Off set the doors so the sound has a longer path.

Exactly.....I was going to say the same thing.

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Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

You can use acoustic insulation which is slightly more expensive than R13.

High and mid frequencies aren't the problem. It's the bass waves which tend to bend around things. It's the most annoying thing as far as neighbors are concerned. Building a room inside a room will help immensely but sometimes there's just not the space nor the budget. If you can't afford to build a floating room, you should consider building some bass traps. It's pretty cheap. Cheap even, not just affordable. Just track down some scrap lumber and leftover building materials in the classifieds section of your newspaper.

Basically, build a panel which resonates at bass frequencies, and then add insulation to suck out all that energy, or dampen it. 3M actually has some cool panels which convert sonic energy to sheer, a much more efficient way to do it. They may be spendy.

Remember your vibrating panels have to have good anchor points, just like a stretched guitar string. This ensures that it vibrates instead of flapping in the wind. It should be pretty simple. Some people break it up into different nodes by adding bracing on the back.

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

...and carpeting won't work, bass frequencies easily penetrates those materials...

...and as others posted, the only way to soundproof a room is to prevent the room itself from vibrating, which by itself becomes a large transducer!

I'm not sure any of the effective solutions are going to be cheap or quick, and your best bet is finding a remote location to rehearse...

...and NO, you won't be able to power 3200W worth of Ampeg and Marshall heads and a Mackie board through the storage unit light bulb socket!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Wear earplugs. Voila!