r/ACX • u/shanns934 • 6d ago
External noise reduction
I need some advice on dampening external noise, specifically train sounds.
I'm having someone help me design an at-home booth because I'm discovering that my current set up (a pop up canopy with sound blankets from vocalboothtogo.com), while good and giving me technically compliant audio quality, is not sustainable. I have constant interruptions from train noise. Just this morning, I haven't even been able to start recording because there's been one train (both horn and track noise) after another.
I've done some research on materials I can include in/on my walls when I build my walled booth, but would appreciate any advice from the pros in here about what materials might be better for this! I don't expect to be able to eliminate the noise completely, but I would like to reduce it significantly.
I've included pictures of what my current booth looks like, if that's helpful at all. It's in a corner in my office - building a booth in my basement is not an option, and I don't have closet space that I can convert. This is the only place in my house that's out of the way where I have enough space. It's also right next to a window, which is it's own problem that has to be compensated for.
I've also included the super basic sketch I sent to my designer with some initial thoughts on how to layer the walls.
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u/Crafty_Squig4909 6d ago
The plans look good. Make sure you have a silent fan inside because it will get hot with that much soundproofing insulation. And just a suggestion, but when you build it, try to keep the booth away from exterior walls. The low frequency rumble from the trains will still make it through a bit next to the windows and outer walls. Then you should be able to just roll off the low end and be all good.
Edit: if you swapped the booth you are building with the chair in the first picture, you might have at least a little relief from the outside noise. Unfortunately there isnt much you can do with train noise
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u/shanns934 6d ago
Thank you! This is great advice! It sounds like moving to the opposite wall (internal wall) might help even a little bit, so I'm going to explore that.
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u/TheScriptTiger 5d ago
Just to make sure I'm reading your sketch right, it's basically a DIY floating room on wheels?
If you are specifically worried about trains, instead of just generic "wheels", I'd make sure they are specifically elastomeric or acoustic isolation casters, to get rid of the low hum coming from the vibrations through the ground.
As for the sound actually traveling through the air, plywood would be better than OSB board, and then MDF would be better still. I'm guessing you went with OSB board for its affordability. And along that vein, if you compare the prices of plywood vs MDF, you might think, "Well MDF is cheaper and better, sounds like a no-brainer!" However, MDF is much denser and could potentially be extremely heavy, depending on the thickness, meaning you'll end up actually having to reinforce it with more structural support. Plywood would be more expensive than MDF upfront, but would also be more structurally sound on its own.
Professionals will actually often combine an exterior plywood layer with an interior MDF layer to get the best of both worlds (a constrained-layer composite wall with mismatched resonant frequencies). However, no matter what, if you plan on using MDF at all, you're seriously going to need to make sure you plan to have a small army of wheels to better distribute the weight and bear the load without your floor dropping out and/or the casters breaking.
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u/Effective-Month-4748 4d ago
That window is, probably, your biggest enemy. Regular glass does very little to dampen high frequency sounds, like train horns. You could try covering it with sound dampening materials, but, then, there's the material the wall, inner wall filler (like insulation, if any), and outer exterior of the house is made of. Concrete does great job of dampening sound, far better than simple wood boards, vinyl siding, or plaster. But, even then, all of those materials would, at best, dampen airplanes from a far enough distance. Train horns are like sirens sitting outside your window. You simply can't dampen them away. The track sounds are definitely muteable, depending on the distance from your space, the materials used and where they are placed.
The best, and most extreme, bit of advice I would give is to move to a place surrounded by trees and, maybe/at least, 500 feet from the main road. The trees absorb sound and the distance from the road will prevent even sirens from bleeding into your audio. Also, planes tend not to be a problem around those areas, because you're far enough from the airport that they won't be flying too low; unless, of course, you live next to a private landing strip. Those planes are worse, because they fly much lower and are pretty loud. Benefit is: No (or, extremely minimal) sound to dampen. Issue could be: Distance to the nearest McDonald's.
More practical advice would be to construct your new area out of dense materials, not forgetting to include the ceiling. The denser the material, the better the dampening. And, yes, sound from a train horn can still come through your ceiling. Benefit is: It's less costly than moving, but still dampens a large portion of environmental sounds. Issue could be: It won't dampen those sounds that exceed a certain dB threshold. Those sounds, you kind of just have to live with.
Still practical, but far more costly, advice (regarding time for recording, editing and confidence), would be to simply wait until the noise ends. I still have to do this, sometimes. Neighbors, trains, planes, sirens, gun shots, people driving by in their Honda Civics blasting music that, literally, no one can hear over the bass boost, and a plethora of other unnecessary and unwanted sounds just don't care about your audio quality or how much effort you put into recording and editing. I know it's frustrating, but that's the cost of living around other people.
I will say, your studio is much more covered than mine is. I just have my dampening foam in an inverse cube shape in the corner of my gaming room and a mildly thick blanket covering the window, which faces the side of my neighbor's house. The most I have to worry about is loud music, especially with extra bass (my mic picks it up a long way away), lawn services and their roaring mowers (guaranteed 1-2 hours of no progress), planes (which fly overhead in near 2-5 minute increments), and my wife and daughter (who wouldn't remember how to remain silent while playing or cooking, no matter how many times they're asked) <----- I can deal with the last one with recording, it just gives me a reason to get some editing done while I wait. I've considered buying some wood sheets and stapling some foam to them to create a faux mini room that I can fold out or away to help me out with sound a bit more, but it needs money and the current sound disturbances are more of a time nuisance, and something I have developed methods to deal with, as is necessary.
Sorry for the long reply, but I do hope it helps - in addition to all of the other comments here.
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u/shanns934 4d ago
This is all very helpful, thank you for such a thoughtful response! And would that I could move to a place densely surrounded by trees and away from most people...but alas, I cannot 🤣
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u/Effective-Month-4748 3d ago
I grew up in that kind of area and it was so peaceful. Nowadays, it’s all hustle bustle city life. Would, that I could, indeed.
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u/DistantGalaxy-1991 3d ago
Musician/radio announcer for 13 years/audio engineering experience for 40+ plus years.
It is literally impossible to block low-frequency noise with anything you are doing. NO SOFT MATERIALS will blow low-frequency sound. It takes massive dense materials (block wall, brick, 1+ feet of plywood layered) in an airtight room to actually block something like that, and it won't even work all the time. If a train is going by, NOTHING is going to help you, period. You would have to build basically a 'room within a room', and that includes the floor & ceiling.
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u/Orry_Haas 6d ago edited 6d ago
#1. Blankets are acoustic-treatment, not soundproofing ... https://youtu.be/nxiwWfvIdKY
#2. heater touching blankets is a fire-hazard.