Sound insulation

[MarylandMark]

Ok sound guys, former rock banders, audiofiles, etc.

Looking for sound dampening materials. Fairly open kitchen w/breakfast area, wood floors, etc = loud. Don't care about sound going to other rooms- which may be part of the problem in that the house is pretty solid and sound is trapped in this room (good thing for every thing but sound).

I want to put some squares flat on the top of my cabinets and things like that to absorb some of the sound. I have a few pictures up, few area rugs, etc but being I eat/drink/entertain/drink in there don't want to put any more rugs down.

What do I want to use?

 

[Audiofn]

Is it high or low frequency stuff you want to get rid of most?

 

[cuda]

Is it a D minor sound?

 

[Ratickle]

The business I'm currently helping makes the inner wall material for all of the major work cell companies and high-wall auditorium builders out there. Find out who builds church auditoriums etc in your area and see if they have the panels you need.

Under the cloth in a work cell unit, or under the wall panels in a church etrc is a semi-dense fiberglass panel which has been tested to perform at a certain level depending on the expense of the unit or what the sound engineers tested for requirements. It is anywhere from .100 to 1" thick. Most are 1/2" thick, wrapped with cloth or porous wall paper type material, and in a work cell, two are used back to back.

Density is typically 8 to 12 pounds per cubic foot, so it is somewhat like the yellow insulation wall board you see at Lowes etc.

 

[fund razor]

Ok sound guys, former rock banders, audiofiles, etc.

Looking for sound dampening materials. Fairly open kitchen w/breakfast area, wood floors, etc = loud. Don't care about sound going to other rooms- which may be part of the problem in that the house is pretty solid and sound is trapped in this room (good thing for every thing but sound).

I want to put some squares flat on the top of my cabinets and things like that to absorb some of the sound. I have a few pictures up, few area rugs, etc but being I eat/drink/entertain/drink in there don't want to put any more rugs down.

What do I want to use?

This is not a "critical listening" (ie: reference) zone of audio.
Use your volume control.

 

[TIKI]

Your best bet is to put carpet down and put an acoustic ceiling in, but it'll look like crap. Fabric wrapped sound panels work good, but look like crap. Wood floors reflect sound instead of absorbing it = loud house. A popcorn texture sprayed on the ceiling would help a little.

 

[MarylandMark]

Is it high or low frequency stuff you want to get rid of most?

People talking- wood floor, granite counters, wood cabinets, brick walls on the other side of the drywall on 3 sides, etc. Trying to absorb sound bouncing around making the kitchen/dining room noisy.

Like this- not sure if this will work or not but these are the cabinets; then above them I put egg crate things thinking/hoping they would absorb sound.

 

[Audiofn]

Probably need something that is more dense then that. That will take out high frequencies but not so good with mids to lows. It is going to be hard to do what you want with out a real accoustic annalysis of the room. Can you do anything with plants? Even fakes work well. Would you be against something going from the top of the cabinet to the ceiling?

 

[Quinlan]

I had a friend that took old ceiling tiles and screwed them to the walls 2 or 3 layers thick. Worked really well also had about 3 layers of carpet on the floor. Wont work in the Kitchen but worked great in the garage where the band jammed.

 

[MarylandMark]

Can you do anything with plants? Even fakes work well. Would you be against something going from the top of the cabinet to the ceiling?

I was thinking some thing from the top of the cabinet to the ceiling- like an extra layer of "drywall/sheetrock" but it not being drywall.

It's not much but how about a the "drywall stuff" along the top of the wall above the cabinets and then laying on top of the cabinets as well? Thinking every little bit helps...

The whole area is not very big as you can see- which is why it is so loud I guess. Here is the other side- table with 4 stools, 1 plant on one side and the opposite side is a thing hanging down with wine bottles dangling from it.

 

[drpete3]

I just want to know if the females you entertaining when it gets loud have their shirts on or are they topless?

 

[Audiofn]

You could use Fabric from the top of the cabinet to the ceiling. Then you would have to experiment with different density materials to see if you could get what you wanted. Maybe you could also come up with ome sort of a treatmen on the walls in the corners. If you did not mind covering up all that nice crown molding then you could do something like the theater below. The last picture is a room like what you have that we are working on toning down the sound. It is in the same house as the theater.

 

[Audiofn]

For some reason it will not let me put the other pictures up. At any rate you can use LOTS of different materials for the tubes it is what is behind the material that makes them work for the most part.

 

[MarylandMark]

I just want to know if the females you entertaining when it gets loud have their shirts on or are they topless?

Silly question- need these for a reason:

http://www.seriousoffshore.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11716

:sifone:

Link befow is what my original thinking was along the lines of. I wanted to just lay it on top of the cabinets but your expertise made me realize I have a lot more to think about. Audiofn is this some thing you carry/distribute (if it would work) or how I can send you business for your expertise?

http://www.soundprooffoam.com/soft-sound-studio-in-stock-foam.html?section=image