[Wayner]

Well it's getting slowly warmer here in the frozen waste-land we call Minnesota. Now the kids are out playing basketball and their general screwing around, making noise. How do I isolate external noise from entering my studio and bothering my low level vinyl listening (other then tying up the kids...that is a good idea). They are a menace to music listening world. Does wall treatments kill external noise well?

Wayner

[*Scotty*]

Wayner,is the sound of their playing coming through the windows of your room or through the walls. Any acoustical treatment you apply to the walls of your room will also attenuate the transmission of external noises into your studio. Of course any windows you may have in your studio are the major sources of transmission of external sounds from their playing outside excluding ill fitting doors with gaps between the door and the frame.
Triple glazing can help but anything short of the type windows used in sound booths for acoustic isolation may be less than satisfactory. If you don't need the light from the window a dose of Owens Corning 703 about 2or3in. thick might do the trick.
Scotty

[Dan Kolton]

Putting in new double glazed windows a few years ago really reduced the outside noise entering our house.  Where you live, though, you probably already have double or tripple glazed.

[Wayner]

I really think the noise gets amplified by echoing in between the adjacent houses. If I build another house, it's sound room will have double walls.

Wayner 

[*Scotty*]

It sounds like you have 2x4 wall construction,if you do build a home in the future you could kill 2 birds with one stone by using 2x6 or 2x8 construction ,vastly better R factor and reduced sound transmission. The ultimate quiet house can realized by using insulated form concrete wall construction. Here are some links to ICF construction information.
http://www.foxblocks.com/
http://www.greenblock.com/
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete-homes/
Scotty

[richidoo]

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/help.htm

Basketball bounce has some low frequency in it, so it will penetrate. Soundproofing is much harder than acoustic treatment, the edges need to be sealed to stop pressure waves getting through. Better just go threaten or bribe the kid not to play except when you're at work.

[Wayner]

I have 2 X 6 walls, fully insulated. I also have a foot of insulation on the ceiling between the floors (I'm in the lower level). I do have an electric panel on the other side of the wall to the studio where some sound could come from and I do have an evil air inlet on the other wall in the laundry/furnace room. Yes, it's a low frequency sound for sure.

Wayner

[orthobiz]

Check the air inlet: instead of aluminum duct work, you could try a corrugated soft duct. It may transmit less noise. And it wouldn't cost an awful lot. Is it for heat and/or airconditioning? A true audiophile would cut the ductwork out and freeze in the winter and swelter in the summer, as long as the tunes were sweet! 

I'll bet slapping on an extra layer of 5/8" sheetrock (or drywall as the call it in the Midwest) would help, using Green Glue. (hint: I'm selling a case of it right now under "Accessories"). Sure, it would involve moving a bunch of stuff off your walls, etc. and painting and mudding the wall, but it might be halfway cost effective.

In my last room, the wall that faced our electrical closet was just made of studs and drywall, no insulation, no drywall on the other side. That situation drastically changed for the better when I got flooded last summer and redid everything.

Do you have drywall on the ceiling, or is it a drop ceiling? How about a few pics??? And do you have cans in the ceiling? I went to sconces (thanks again JLM) and it helps a lot!

Paul

[JP78]

we use acoustiblok here at work...you can find out more at www.acoustiblok.com.  when properly installed acoustiblok has better sound isolation than a twelve inch wall of poured concrete!

anyway, this stuff is phenomenal...often its used for the office portion of industrial facilities, to encase loud generators, and pretty much in every theater room the guys use a double framed double layer...can't hear much in adjacent rooms except a small rumbling for the loudest (115db+) of explosions.

[oneinthepipe]

Wayner:

Aren't there some ways to merely make the kids afraid to come near your home?  I could likely think of a few things, but they probably are not appropriate for discussion on a public forum.   JK, BTW.   

[Wayner]

The kid's dad comes over all the time and has beer. He even listens to my vinyl! I'd rather have the kids play basketball then do drugs or be a complete pain in the ars. Someone needs to invent a chambered basketball that doesn't  make so much noise.

Wayner 

[Turnandcough]

Wayner:

Aren't there some ways to merely make the kids afraid to come near your home? 

Loud classical music got rid of gangs of kids hanging around outside my local convenience store.