I am going to be moving into a new apartment next month and
my new landlords warned me about a dude in the building next door
who might complain about sound.

I am interested in soundproofing the wall that the neighbor and I share
probably about 10' by 8' in size.

Obviously, headphones would work, but when I am singing and playing
acoustic guitar I will feel better about letting loose with some sort
of sound barrier on that wall.

Any suggestions?
Does anyone else have some sort of setup they use?

I was thinking about those foam absorbers, but I read that they actually
don't block the sound and might actually cause him to hear more noise.

I am considering a vinyl barrier that would hang from the wall. It won't block everything
but should add another layer to help reduce the sound transmission directly through the wall.

There are a few good articles on soundproofing listed here
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/articles15.htm

Post your request at recording.org

There is a forum for acoustics treatment and soundproofing, with several moderators who are professional acousticians and studio sound techs that will be able to give you exactly the information you need to it best and to do it cheaply.

I've been reading a lot of those 'studio makeover' features in various mags like 'sound on sound' etc. Almost all of them have plenty of good advice and tips for banishing standing waves etc. with expensive acoustic tiling, thereby improving the sound in the studio, but skirt around the issue of keeping the sound *in* the studio to avoid midnight homicidal encounters with irate neighbours.
I must check out those links myself, as I'm getting nearer to making some noise when my kit arrives.
Hope you got sorted with yours, cheers, John

Auralex makes a MAX Wall kit that is portable and might be good for an apartment.

http://www.auralex.com/category_max-wall/c...ry_max-wall.asp

also Sheetblok soundbarier on your shared wall.

http://www.auralex.com/c_studio_constructi...onstruction.asp

Luckily I live in a house, and have not had to soundproof like that. It's very difficult to stop sound transfer through a wall. When the walls share studs on each side, sound waves are transmitted thru the structure. A gap of air is the best way to defeat transference. Maybe you could put soundbarier on the wall, and the use something like Celotex (available at Home Depot, Lowes ect.) to fashon a second false wall in front of your wall with an air gap of several inches. Then treat the Celotex with foam.

Also might help to pay the neighbor a visit, get to know him. See if there are times that he is not around that you can really bump it out without disturbing. Ask him how much sound he hears when you jam out. If he's cool maybe even invite him over. I have had rehearsal spots before that we have been able to keep around by having good comunication with the neighbors, they even enjoy the music and occasionally like to observe.

Cheers...

It needn't be too expensive - the Auralex kits are nice but a a bit overpriced IMO.

What you need is a barrier. I've ordered a few sheets of weighted vinyl from http://www.soundprooffoam.com. You can install that, haniging about a half inch from your wall, and it'll absorb a lot of sound. It can cut 14db of low frequency out of a signal, which is pretty good. It won't be perfect, of course, as you probably also share a floor with your neighbors too...but every bit helps. And it's not too terribly expensive, and can be rolled up and put away if you decide you need to do such a thing (or if you move).

Also, rigid fiberglass insulation has a dual benefit of working as a bass trap and as an absorber - of course you don't want to breathe fiberglass so I've wrapped mine in some cloth. You can buy the famous Owens Corning 703 2" thick stuff for around USD 100 for 6 4x2 sheets - which ends up being quite a bit.

I've just had to go through a lot of this in my studio - I don't share a wall with anybody, but I'd hate to distrub my neighbors during a mixdown session at 2am. So far, nobody's complained.

Good luck!

I've a hunch that the floor could be a culprit for transmitting vibrations not only downstairs but also next door. Have you got some sort of carpet on it?

Yeah, when you've made contact stick some music on and go and listen next door - before you try anything.

I live in the country and the nearest neighbour is about 100 metres away, but I occasionally like to put the volume up when listening, and country people do get used to a quiet environment. I remember asking the neighbour if my music was too loud. He said it wasn't loud enough. Then when I got home he'd put his military music on very loud He told me his neighbour on the other side once had a loudness competition with him and blew his speakers

Trapped air is a good insulator, but I've heard a second layer of trapped sand would help too. Better check on that though. I'm sure you could get something fixed up without buying expensive stuff. If your room is small, you don't want to make it too much smaller though.

Concerning the sand, if you trapped it between two partitions, you'd need to calculate to get 2.5 lbs/sq" That would mean 200 lbs for your whole wall.

I've not tried it and I'm only supposing from physics. Still, when we don't want to spend too much, and not loose too much room space, we have to be inventive. No salesman will like the idea.

Haha! I can imagine a tiny leak just over your downstairs neighbours pillow on his bed. Well, maybe not a good idea - you may get a space on the top when it settles anyway.

Good luck

The hanging of a large sheet (as large as posible) as heavy(dense) as possible sounds like your best bet to me. It should be isolated from the ceiling by some means of suspension (springs and or rubber). The bass trap effect should also improve your room's sound. Mass and layers are the key. Also adding layers to the flooring might help. Your first concern though should be any outlet that might exist on the common wall - a hole wiil act like an open window tranmitting your sounds.

Just an idea on the soundproofing issue, I have a set of those old fashioned 12ft long rails for drying/airing damp laundry which are suspended from the ceiling in my lounge. They are raised + lowered by a pulley system. I've almost removed the fittings loads of times so I can decorate properly; but perhaps they might come in useful if I relocate downstairs and claim this room as my 'studio'......
It would seem to be an ideal contraption for suspending those thick sheets of dense foam or whatever it is to improve the sound, both inside and out.
Or even cheaper..I wonder if I were to hang a large thick(dry!) duvet (or two) from this it might help protect the neighbours from my infernal din? The ajoining wall to the next door property is on the opposite back side of the duvets from where all the racket will be,
Hmmmm, food for thought.
This room also has the advantage of solid concrete floors with carpet on top. Not as warm as wood flooring in winter but it certainly won't transmit any vibration, short of earthquake anyway! What d'ya think?
cheers, John.

howdy, i've done some soundproofing of an old farmhouse. its more of a performance space that we throw mics in.some large poly-cylidrical defusers are used as well as styrofoam insalation on all serfaces including the subfloor. vulcanized rubber sheets are great for thin absorbment of sound. put it on the wall and increase the space as you go up to the ceiling. this helps break the 90degreee angle of wall to floor to ceiling that standing waves need to develop.stuff the cavity with fiberglass . also the use of old glass windows (in frame) to reflect the sound into the mics and give "natural sounding " mechanical monitors. one side is reflective glass, the other side is rubber sheet . make sure there is a sealed airspace between the sheet of glass and the sheet of rubber.then you have a movable dead or live side.sound actually travels through glass very fast.(that which is not reflected) more later.