eisprl

Does anyone have any tips on how I could soundproof my apartment so I don't annoy the neighbours? I am looking for something really simple and really cheap.

Eric

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Eric Sproul
Practice is like filling a leaky bucket

Bb: Yamaha Xeno 8335
C: Bach Stadivarious 239L and 25A leadpipe (Owned by Eric Sholtz)
Flugel: Yamaha Bobby Shew 6310Z
Mouthpieces: GR tech
www.stadband.ca

Tootsall

Eric, that's a really tough one to answer since so much depends upon the construction of the building your apartment is located in. I've heard of everything from playing "into" a loaded (with clothes) clothes cupboard to buying one of those "practice booths" to all kinds of strange (and costly but effective) layered foam with thin layers of lead in it and building a "box".

Obviously the quickest, most portable is to just buy a Yamaha Silent Brass... and as someone who is likely going to have to spend a LOT of time practicing in "noise restricted zones" as you are... this is probably the best (but not "most ideal") way to go. There are all kinds of "practice mutes" running from JoRal to the "Renuzit" deodorizer ones (description of how to build one of these floats around the internet... someone else can lead you to the link since I can't remember at the moment.

Personally I've tried using a harmon with the stem removed and a sock or two stretched over the bell!..... NOT the right way to go. It was reported that I could be heard in a concrete block hotel room on one band trip!

The most "ideal"? Own your own house and have neighbours who either don't care or who enjoy the sound of practice, and wail away! (Now if the darn garage were only heated during the winter.)

Clarence

Tootsall said:The most "ideal"? Own your own house and have neighbours who either don't care or who enjoy the sound of practice, and wail away! (Now if the darn garage were only heated during the winter.)

Boy are you ever right' nothing beats being able to blow
at anytime thru out the house it,s the best for me.
i love my huge den music room.
was not alway,s that way.
But i got it going on like donkey-kong now.

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eisprl

Rest assured I will be saving for a down payment on a house within a year or two. Until then I have to make due with the apt. I really don't like the hastle of the silent brass system. I agree that a practice mute may be nessicary, but I don't think I will be using my Silent Brass. Right now I have been using a harmon (at least with my Abersold recordings on the stereo). Noone has said anything yet...but I would like to practice tone and that is very hard to do with a mute

E.

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Eric Sproul
Practice is like filling a leaky bucket

Bb: Yamaha Xeno 8335
C: Bach Stadivarious 239L and 25A leadpipe (Owned by Eric Sholtz)
Flugel: Yamaha Bobby Shew 6310Z
Mouthpieces: GR tech
www.stadband.ca

trpt2345

Just go until someone complains. If they don't complain, don't worry. If they do, well, harmon mute. Find a school who will let you ptractice. Or someplace outside.

Michael McLaughlin

The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself.
Benjamin Franklin

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rowuk

The thinner your sound, the easier it is to dampen it..........

Soundproofing an apartment at "trumpet" frequencies requires more construction that you can implement in an apartment.

You have two concepts to work with: isolation and damping

Basically, isolation consists of a box within a box. The 2 boxes must have no common sound transferring connections.
Because you probably want to sound OK when you practice, you can't just put 2 feet of sound absorbing materials on the wall. That would sound VERY dead! The only "practical" way is to damp the sound where it is produced. That means a mute of some sort.
How effective professional boxes can be, can be observed at any university with practice cells. Cheaper and better is pretty tough. Do you have basement room? They may be easier to isolate.

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Deecy

I hesitate to suggest this because it sounds so ridiculous but cardboard egg cartons glued on the walls of your music room cheek by jowl will do the job in spades. The cardboard is soft and dense, the cups that hold the eggs trap the sound beautifully. The problem is finding enough empty egg cartons.
However they are certainly cheap and somebody manufactures them in great numbers, so they are available.
I played in such a room once. The guy had scrounged every egg carton he could find and had the room's walls about 3/4 covered (bottom side out). It really worked.
However, don't start eating eggs to get the cartons. You might end up like Glen Gould!

T//

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ptynan

Eirc,

Why don't you shed at the Base?

PT

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Eclipsehornplayer

Eric,

Yeah that's a tuff one for sure.

Alex Yates as you know is a member here on the board and my teacher. She turned me onto a mute she uses when in noise restricted areas.

Try it; it worked for me!

http://www.bremnermusic.com/shop.htm

It's called the Shhhhh Mute; and is a very good compormise when you can't let the horn sing.

Hopefully this helps until you can get your own place.

Clarence is right; it's nice to just be able to uncork the bell and rasie the roof!

Good luck!
John

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gregc

There is no simple & cheap when it comes to controlling acoustics, unfortunately.

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