My niece who’s in a junior art school in Seoul South Korea lives in a high rise condo (called ‘apartment’ there). She has I think Yamaha C5 grand in her practice room. The room was soundproof exactly the way Robert described - room in a room and all other stuff. One time I was there I thought my niece wasn’t there. After a while she appeared and told me she was practicing for hours in her room. Had absolutely no idea she was playing piano. So properly done, you can indeed soundproof to a very good level.
Great video Robert, sadly there is no magic bullet. As a kid I got a chance to accompany my father on a job at Pathe Sound and tour the big sound stage. Every room had two doors and the concrete floors were cut out between the doors leaving a small gap. In the studios all the walls were made on angles, even the glass walls were angled and up above and in the larger rooms they had motorized panels of absorptive and reflective materials that could be remotely deployed. It was totally crazy and I'll never forget it. Years later I got to see the construction of a home studio for a symphony conductor where he deployed similar techniques but on a much smaller scale. Not having the budget of ether I just tried to make due with my practice rooms in basements or my friend's rooms. We tried to make changes and nothing we did ever made much of a difference, layers of carpet, blocking heat vents, double layers of drywall, in wall insulation, egg cartons, etc. all the low cost options make very small differences. It wasn't until I moved to my current house that had an added on sun room that we converted into the studio, this room is the best because as you said it has its own foundation, it was made and attached to an exterior wall, even had exterior doors. I can play all night and bother no one and best of all I only had to add curtains to finish my room.
What Robert says here is so right, and "noise proofing " is usually misunderstood and confused with THERMAL insulation which may change the internal acoustics but not the transmission of noise through walls. In simple terms: noise/sound is absorbed in proportion to the mass of the proofing material. So. straw is a poor choice, but lead is a good choice! Lead lined ceilings, floors, walls, as thick as the intensity of the sound dictates. Oh and no small gaps to let it escape...
Theory: What if you build a regular brick room, but there are two layers of brick that make up the walls, with a space in between, and in between those spaces, is filled with... cinder blocks and sand, all packed tightly, would that work? I'd be really happy if anyone with experience replied :D
If you have windows, the sound will go through them. If you have a door, the sound will travel through as well. You will also need to soundproof them, which is expensive. There are even ways to soundproof an air conditioner air duct.
I can already play my piano at any time without bothering anyone outside of the house but the noise inside is the issue. My room mate is often sleeping while I'm awake but didn't know I was playing when I played a fast and loud song not knowing he's asleep so I think it would be fairly easy for me to get it to a point the sound from outside the room isn't effecting my recordings and the sound from inside has no chance at waking them up. My piano has panels in the back that cover the sound board so I could take those off and stuff it with insulating material to stop most of the sound from making it through the outside wall since I record from the front.
First question - do you want to keep sound in, or out? If you just want to play without bothering others, you may be able to deaden your sound transmission to the rest of the house on a reasonable budget. It's actually much like heat/cooling insulation. First, block any possible air leaks. Then, look for any surface that allows sound vibration to be transferred from room to room - wall studs and woodworking will do this. You need to physically separate inner from outer walls to prevent transmission. Finally, vibration-deadening material like blown wall insulation will help. While a 2x4 will vibrate from room to room, soft insulation will not. If you want to keep sound out for recording purposes, you need to do all that and then some. While people in the next room may not be bothered by a very low level of piano in the background, microphones will pick up any noise present. For that, you need big money.
Partitioned walls filled with cavity insulation is the best way of practically insulating a room against low frequencies. Acoustic tiles will only absorb high to mid frequencies. So you need both to create a room that absorbs the sound and reduces transmission outside the room. But, as you say, that's the way to create a studio room, which is no fun to play in - especially for a piano. I don't think I'd want to play a grand piano in a floating room supported on points!
There is sound proofing and there is sound deadening. A practice room with ceiling tiles on the walls, door and ceiling. Carpet on the floor. You cannot hear the sound waves bouncing off the wall. That's how a blind person keeps from walking into the walls around. It's an erry feeling walking into this practice room. I.took a few piano lessons in this room when one of the grand pianos was being used. It was an experience and helpful in some technique. That was a dead room for sound but the one professor had his office next door and could hear me playing when I had lessons. So the room was not sound proof
Priester Johan only if you get on that’s shit. You get ones with the same action as a grand and play really well or even better because you don’t have to rely solely on mechanics so you can get ones that play extremely well.
I think you know peter Bence just see his channel you will notice that he use best backing track with these think his viedo will look best . Can you make a viedo for how to make backing tracks for piano. I think that viedo will break the record of your views. If you can make this viedo please reply me or just ignore
They don't even try to soundproof the apartments in Los Angeles. You can hear your neighbors scratching, breathing, and even thinking.
looooooooooool
LOL
My niece who’s in a junior art school in Seoul South Korea lives in a high rise condo (called ‘apartment’ there). She has I think Yamaha C5 grand in her practice room. The room was soundproof exactly the way Robert described - room in a room and all other stuff. One time I was there I thought my niece wasn’t there. After a while she appeared and told me she was practicing for hours in her room. Had absolutely no idea she was playing piano. So properly done, you can indeed soundproof to a very good level.
Thanks for the video, Mark Hamill!
Great video Robert, sadly there is no magic bullet.
As a kid I got a chance to accompany my father on a job at Pathe Sound and tour the big sound stage. Every room had two doors and the concrete floors were cut out between the doors leaving a small gap. In the studios all the walls were made on angles, even the glass walls were angled and up above and in the larger rooms they had motorized panels of absorptive and reflective materials that could be remotely deployed. It was totally crazy and I'll never forget it. Years later I got to see the construction of a home studio for a symphony conductor where he deployed similar techniques but on a much smaller scale. Not having the budget of ether I just tried to make due with my practice rooms in basements or my friend's rooms. We tried to make changes and nothing we did ever made much of a difference, layers of carpet, blocking heat vents, double layers of drywall, in wall insulation, egg cartons, etc. all the low cost options make very small differences. It wasn't until I moved to my current house that had an added on sun room that we converted into the studio, this room is the best because as you said it has its own foundation, it was made and attached to an exterior wall, even had exterior doors. I can play all night and bother no one and best of all I only had to add curtains to finish my room.
Brian Boni sun room?
What Robert says here is so right, and "noise proofing " is usually misunderstood and confused with THERMAL insulation which may change the internal acoustics but not the transmission of noise through walls.
In simple terms: noise/sound is absorbed in proportion to the mass of the proofing material.
So. straw is a poor choice, but lead is a good choice!
Lead lined ceilings, floors, walls, as thick as the intensity of the sound dictates. Oh and no small gaps to let it escape...
Theory:
What if you build a regular brick room, but there are two layers of brick that make up the walls, with a space in between, and in between those spaces, is filled with... cinder blocks and sand, all packed tightly, would that work? I'd be really happy if anyone with experience replied :D
If you have windows, the sound will go through them. If you have a door, the sound will travel through as well. You will also need to soundproof them, which is expensive. There are even ways to soundproof an air conditioner air duct.
I can already play my piano at any time without bothering anyone outside of the house but the noise inside is the issue. My room mate is often sleeping while I'm awake but didn't know I was playing when I played a fast and loud song not knowing he's asleep so I think it would be fairly easy for me to get it to a point the sound from outside the room isn't effecting my recordings and the sound from inside has no chance at waking them up.
My piano has panels in the back that cover the sound board so I could take those off and stuff it with insulating material to stop most of the sound from making it through the outside wall since I record from the front.
First question - do you want to keep sound in, or out? If you just want to play without bothering others, you may be able to deaden your sound transmission to the rest of the house on a reasonable budget. It's actually much like heat/cooling insulation. First, block any possible air leaks. Then, look for any surface that allows sound vibration to be transferred from room to room - wall studs and woodworking will do this. You need to physically separate inner from outer walls to prevent transmission. Finally, vibration-deadening material like blown wall insulation will help. While a 2x4 will vibrate from room to room, soft insulation will not.
If you want to keep sound out for recording purposes, you need to do all that and then some. While people in the next room may not be bothered by a very low level of piano in the background, microphones will pick up any noise present. For that, you need big money.
Keeping it in or out is the same thing lmfao
This is why you need a digital piano and acoustic. Headphones!
That was REALLY informative.
Partitioned walls filled with cavity insulation is the best way of practically insulating a room against low frequencies. Acoustic tiles will only absorb high to mid frequencies. So you need both to create a room that absorbs the sound and reduces transmission outside the room. But, as you say, that's the way to create a studio room, which is no fun to play in - especially for a piano. I don't think I'd want to play a grand piano in a floating room supported on points!
There is sound proofing and there is sound deadening. A practice room with ceiling tiles on the walls, door and ceiling. Carpet on the floor. You cannot hear the sound waves bouncing off the wall. That's how a blind person keeps from walking into the walls around. It's an erry feeling walking into this practice room. I.took a few piano lessons in this room when one of the grand pianos was being used. It was an experience and helpful in some technique. That was a dead room for sound but the one professor had his office next door and could hear me playing when I had lessons. So the room was not sound proof
Thanks for the ideas and honesty friend 🙏
0:18 i really dont know
You can get a high-end digital piano with good open-backed headphones. It sounds gorgeous, and it bothers no one.
Great advise, money you put into soundproofing you never get back and it does not make you sound better.
you're right, I have my digital keyboard which sounds stunning and that's it, plug in headphones and no one will hear you
great e pianos dont
Priester Johan only if you get on that’s shit. You get ones with the same action as a grand and play really well or even better because you don’t have to rely solely on mechanics so you can get ones that play extremely well.
Priester Johan depends which one you buy :-)
Brick wall country ftw
I think you know peter Bence just see his channel you will notice that he use best backing track with these think his viedo will look best . Can you make a viedo for how to make backing tracks for piano. I think that viedo will break the record of your views. If you can make this viedo please reply me or just ignore