So you got your new movie projector and about to play the latest Blu Ray disc with your latest high power hi fidelity super surround sound set. But five minutes into the movie, you felt let down, you cannot feel the sound effects. There are just too much noise distraction from the outside.
Today’s home movie theaters demands a higher standard of sound proofing the movie projector room and more sound isolation measures in their rooms to prevent the police from visiting. You can engage an expensive acoustical professional to examine your room and charge you by the hour, or you can do a little research and with a little sweat, seal your room for maximum performance of your new sound and sight system. If your walls are not sealed properly, all is lost and a high level of performance cannot be attained.
Here are a few simple tips to help you soundproof your room.
Firstly, add mass to your walls. Mass impedes the transmission of sound. You can use a number of drywall layers and stack up the total mass of that wall. On a common single wall, doubling the number of drywall layers yields 4-5dB of improvement.
Secondly, add mass to your floor. Sound bouncing off the hard floor creates an echoing effect on your ears. Lay a thick carpet on the entire floor with a good slab rubber padding underneath. It will do a lot of good and justice to your sound system with this little investment on the entire floor. The rubber padding not only adds mass to the floor but also gives your feet a comfortable springy feeling.
Thirdly, create a false ceiling. You can use drywall for this purpose also. There is no need to feed anything in between the ceiling and drywall. The vacuum would not do any damage to the sound in the room but instead would absorb it. Some would recommend egg crates or paper boards, but they are actually quite useless.
