posted by Lara Levitan; original article from Redfin
Music students are a noisy bunch, and as a parent, you want to provide a safe space for your kid to make practice as fun and effective as possible. If you live in a small apartment, condo, or townhouse–or even a house with several other family members– you might want to consider soundproofing a room or two for peace and quiet, and peace of mind!
Before you start, consider the layout of your home.
Don’t choose a space that shares a wall with or is directly beneath a neighbor’s bedroom. If you’re in a house, avoid choosing rooms very close to a neighbor’s exterior wall, or near bedrooms.
Select a space that is big enough for your child’s practice needs – if you or a teacher plan to sit beside your kid as they play, make sure there is enough room to fit your child, his instructor and his instrument, comfortably.
Once you’ve decided on the best practice room, you can focus on the actual soundproofing.
A lot of sound can escape through door and window gaps.
- Add a door sweep on the inside and the outside of the door to help reduce sound travel.
- Hang thick curtains over windows, or seal leaks with a budget-friendly foam weather-stripping or professional-grade acoustic sealant.
- Further reduce noise by lining your heating and cooling ducts with soundproofing duct liner.
If the room you’ve chosen has any hard surfaces, such as granite countertops or hardwood floors, sound will reflect and bounce around the room.
- Soundproof against reflection by covering the floor with carpeting or thick rugs (that can be done with the team from carpet cleaning grand junction), and consider hanging some material from the walls.
- Install soundproof curtains around the perimeter of the room, tack up vinyl or install acoustic insulation.
Click on Spray Foam Insulation: Everything You Need to Know if you need more information on insulation.
- Skip the egg crates and mattresses – these are ugly and ineffective.
If you’d like to go a bit further, or if your student is a bit more advanced, why not transform your room into an at-home recording studio?
Here are a few additional tips to consider, along with our other soundproofing tips.
• Eliminate feedback from electrical equipment by putting items like amps as far away from microphones as possible.
• Allow some sound reflection and install diffusers. This will preserve the natural frequency of your music.
• Think about high and low-end sound absorption. Install a few bass traps to help dampen the sound for lower frequencies.
• Make sure you have plenty of outlets with proper wattage available.
• Maximize your space and your equipment. Once achieved, this means fewer things for sound to bounce off of. Use digital instruments to keep the clutter to a minimum and, if affordable, use compact equipment.
Additionally, decide on a specific time each day for your child to play. Some children are at their best in the morning, before school. Think of small ways you can help make the space special, such as including a goal chart or photos of past recitals, performances or achievements.
