So i've got an extra room in the house and was thinking of setting up a small studio. It's rite next to my bedroom so i'm planning on running the wires all into my room where i have a big desk and a computer set up. I've searched thru the existing threads on the topic and feel i have a pretty good idea of what i want equipment-wise.

I was curious though what y'all are doing as far as sound proofing. I'd like to be able to crank my amps to be able to record at the level i need to get the sound i want from my tubes. That means loud music. My neighbors aren't on top of me, but it is suburbia and i don't want to be the jerk on the block. I did find egg crate foam for pretty cheap. I'm sure it wouldn't make the room 100% soundproof but i'm thinking it would keep most of the sound in. Anyone else have a creative solution short of moving out to the boondocks?

Oh yea and if you have pics of your studio setup i'd love to see em.

Might consider an isolation booth or box to surround the amp with a realworld reflective surface (wood) close to the amp/speaker/mike and externally surround the box with egg crate or other sound absorbing material. This is much easier and cheaper than wraping an entire room. Sometimes, one can crank the amp in the basment and run the lines back up to the studio.

Research the neighbors. What hours do they keep? Babies? Irritable dogs also end up on tape.

May also want to consider some sort of power soak set up, an amp simulator, or buying your neighbors a drink.

mj

Could you soundproof a closet in the room? Then you could add reflective surfaces as needed.

I do "soundproofing" and acoustics work professionally. Foam won't help you do anything substantial. There are really no easy fixes for acoustic isolation. You can find some very good information by googling the soundproofing company.

Both John hill and Ted white are straight shooting guys who speak the truth. Also the green glue company has actually rewritten the book and done the most exhaustive testing imaginable re: sound isolation. They have made their information easy to get at their website.

Start there and you'll be going in the right direction. Acoustics inside the space??? Another question entirely. John l Sayers is a great resource for that.

Almost all acoustic soundbroofing material is pretty expensive. I know guys that actaully built insulated Boxes large enough for their amplifiers and mics and then just put them over their amp when they were recording. I know it works but I'm not sure how well. The guy I knew who did it put a flip front so he could adjust the amp without having to take the box off and then he just used a headset for a monitor system. His recordings come out very nicely so it must work pretty well. It's an alternative to soundproofing the whole room. OH...he also put a vent in the back to keep the temperatures down.
I personally run a Digitech GSP 2000 direct into my console and almost never use an amp for recording. Or I use Guitar Rig. It does a decent job of creating tube amp sounds. But I approach recording from more of a technical aspect. When I record acoustic guitar I just run an input from the Fishman in my guitar to a direct box and an AKG condenser mic into the other chanel of the box. I get the warmth of the guiter from the mic and the highs from the pickup. My direct box has the 48 volt phantom power and it will run both signals into my console stereo so I get great sound.
Home recording is all preference really. Although there are general rules to keep good sound quality.
My nearest neighbor is a ways away from me so I don't have to contend with those issues.
Are you using a DAW? If so...what did you go with?

Egg crate is a diffuser, not soundproofing. It makes the room think it is bigger than it really is and controls direct reflection. Fiberglass insulation type material does a similar job by forcing the sound waves to extend their path lengths through the weave. Foam is useless. Materials that deaden sound have two things in common. Serious weight and no grain (sound waves vibrate along the grain.) The cheapest and easiest material to work with is multiple layers of drywall. Poured concrete is better but not an option for most folks. You are better to go with three 3/4" layers than one thick layer and the air space between the panels, which should be filled with fiberglass insulation, will act as a diffusing layer to keep breaking the sound wave transmission
Leakage will be greatly dependant on sealing the room properly and for maximum soundproofing, the room should have no leaks. A one square inch hole radiates as much sound as 60 square feet of partition wall. For airflow, an important consideration, a forced air vent that enters and exits the room through a labyrinth duct will give the best soundproofing and still provide pressurized airflow. I hope this helps.

No airspace between sheetrock!!! that's triple leafing and is very, very, very bad.

I don't want this to get any more technical than this already has... so just follow these links for accurate information. most other sources are either selling something that doesn't work, or are just repeating information that is not accurate.

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/
http://www.greengluecompany.com/

if you want to get into anything specific pm me.

Soundproofing is a huge topic and you either have to do it 100% or not at all. It requires designing a whole system in the room you want to isolate. Think of sound like water and you will understand how foam doesn't soundproof—it just finds other ways out. If you want relatively simple, and ambience isn't something integral to your sound, the amp isolation suggestions were good. You could always isolate and reamp at lower volumes later to add ambience. It's not as fun to feel the amp in your bones though. Oh the tradeoffs we made to live in civilized communities! :(

More than you would ever care to know about studio design / treatment / soundproofing:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php

Working on sound reducing in my office now. Using the double sheet rock with Green Glue between the two layers. Filled the common inside walls with a special insulation about the density of the blue jeans insulation. I think it is called Ecoustimac or Acoustimac. http://www.acoustimac.com/index.php/ecoinsul422.html Just got the 1st layer of sheet rock installed. Soon the Green Glue and the 2nd layer oriented 90 degrees to the first layer. Will have to consider a new door soon too and deal with the air duct. Don't expect to end up with sound proof but hoping the decibel level will be reduced a decent percentage. I'm about half way through the project but will report back if I've actually made any measurable reduction in the sound transfer.

No airspace between sheetrock!!! that's triple leafing and is very, very, very bad.

I don't want this to get any more technical than this already has... so just follow these links for accurate information. most other sources are either selling something that doesn't work, or are just repeating information that is not accurate.

http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/
http://www.greengluecompany.com/

if you want to get into anything specific pm me.

Actually Norton, I did say to leave a space between each layer: " You are better to go with three 3/4" layers than one thick layer and the air space between the panels, which should be filled with fiberglass insulation, will act as a diffusing layer to keep breaking the sound wave transmission."

So i've got an extra room in the house and was thinking of setting up a small studio. It's rite next to my bedroom so i'm planning on running the wires all into my room where i have a big desk and a computer set up. I've searched thru the existing threads on the topic and feel i have a pretty good idea of what i want equipment-wise.

I was curious though what y'all are doing as far as sound proofing. I'd like to be able to crank my amps to be able to record at the level i need to get the sound i want from my tubes. That means loud music. My neighbors aren't on top of me, but it is suburbia and i don't want to be the jerk on the block. I did find egg crate foam for pretty cheap. I'm sure it wouldn't make the room 100% soundproof but i'm thinking it would keep most of the sound in. Anyone else have a creative solution short of moving out to the boondocks?

Oh yea and if you have pics of your studio setup i'd love to see em.

Just keep in mind that if you own your home, any money you put into to soundproofing will not add any value to your home when you decide to move.

Personally I record guitar tracks in Logic and then I am able to change the sound after it has been recorded. I sometimes even copy the guitar tracks and set each one with a different amp and effects to get some thicker rhythm tracks. I haven't recorded a live amp with a mic in a long time because it is much less hassle doing it direct and using software it keeps the neighbors quiet and I don't advertise what I have in my house.

There is a pure joy to playing with a tube amp. Pants legs flapping, the gritty breakup at the sweet spot, even the smell of hot tubes.

With that being said, I always use one of the new Line 6 Pods HD when recording. I think it sounds great. The neighbors will never know...

Working on sound reducing in my office now. Using the double sheet rock with Green Glue between the two layers. Filled the common inside walls with a special insulation about the density of the blue jeans insulation. I think it is called Ecoustimac or Acoustimac. http://www.acoustimac.com/index.php/ecoinsul422.html Just got the 1st layer of sheet rock installed. Soon the Green Glue and the 2nd layer oriented 90 degrees to the first layer. Will have to consider a new door soon too and deal with the air duct. Don't expect to end up with sound proof but hoping the decibel level will be reduced a decent percentage. I'm about half way through the project but will report back if I've actually made any measurable reduction in the sound transfer.

I didn't read the whole thread but something to consider when attempting to soundproof or lower transmission of sound is to form layers that are not touching one another. Years ago while building apartments we used to build what we called party walls. One apartment wall had sheetrock on one side then 1/2" celotex on the back of that wall which was fiberglass bat insulated. The adjoining apartment wall was built several inches away and treated the same way less the celotex. The idea is that the different insulations diffuse the sound but the real trick was the dead space between the walls . . . if the wall were to touch, the sound would transfer and the "soundproofing effect would be cut in half. IMHO the space between the layers is crucial

May be a solution here… :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ac2HSKC5OSY&feature=player_embedded

;)

Thanks for all the tips guys. Nothing's definite yet as this is still just an idea i'm floating around in my noggin. The more i think about it the more an attenuator sounds like the way to go for my amp. I think that'd be best because i could also use it when i play live in small venues, much easier to transport than an isolation box.

In all honesty i'm not too worried about the neighbors. I've been here 8 years, playing music, band practice, and building hot rods in the driveway and have never had a complaint. I was just wanting to try and be at least a little more considerate haha.

The amp noise level looks like it will be more or less easily dealt with. Worse comes to worse my modeling processor can be used to record, it's just not quite the same. The main concern will be the drums. I wasn't planning on recording with a full kit, was just going to use the computer to make drum backing tracks. Then my lil brother called and he just scored a drum kit and offered to bring it over. Looks like if i want any real sound deadening i'll just have to pony up the cash and do it correctly.

This Jet Iso box is a great solution to getting around having to turn your house into a sound booth. It is surprisingly affordable and cheaper than going crazy with construction.
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/JCA_ISO_3Q_web.jpg
http://www.jetcityamplification.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/JCA_ISO_open_web.jpg
From their web page:

The JetStream ISO12 from is a great solution for a variety of applications. Wanna CRANK your tube amp in a home recording environment? Need to manage your stage volume and feed the mains in a club?
We turned to our allies at EMINENCE SPEAKER for their expertise in this great new product. Eminence designed this ISOLATION cab to our specifications, and handled the super-smart stuff in the acoustic design too. Then we loaded it with our Custom Eminence Jet City 12″ driver.
Plug your tube amp into the speaker input, and set up your amp tone – go ahead and turn it up! Clip in your favorite guitar-recording mic and position it how you prefer. Then close up the JetStream’s front door, greatly reducing the sound level in the room. Connect the ISO12′s XLR output to a recording workstation and capture screaming amp tones without waking the neighbors, or send it to the front-of-house PA system for a cranked amp quality at a controlled listening level."

http://www.jetcityamplification.com/2010/03/10/jetstream-iso12usb-available-summer-2010/