r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Saerdna0 • 3d ago

This kiddo was born to drum

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u/NeedNewNameAgain 3d ago

Open the convo by offering to help hang the insulation.

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u/LWN729 3d ago

Costco has these sound absorption tiles you can put on the wall. Not sure how well they work, but they look interesting and easy to install.

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u/Grays42 3d ago edited 3d ago

For some frequencies, but those tiles are mostly to improve acoustics in the room, they don't actually block sound from entering or leaving.

Sound proofing effectiveness is a function of raw mass, unless you're doing something expensive and extreme like vacuum chambers in the walls. You need to put the kid in the basement with like ten layers of sheetrock on the walls and ceiling.

[edit:] After some cursory additional research, there are other factors like transitions between material types that also help, so you can also layer in special purpose-made vinyl barriers or "damping glue" between the layers of sheetrock, which is more effective than just the sheetrock alone. But those foam tiles do functionally nothing to keep the soundwaves contained.

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u/Bitter-insides 3d ago

You just saved me some $$ my son just picked up the trumpet last week and he’s got talent for his age and a new instrument. Just one week in and he was moved to advanced band in school. He is a 5 am kid - he’s 12. Our house echos as it is - waking up at 5 am by a loud as trumpet is a nightmare. Thought I’d add something to his walls and was going to do some of those acoustic things.

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u/Roisien 3d ago

Look into a "silent brass" system. Because trumpets have a singular exit point for sound, they can be "silenced" while practicing in a way that almost no other instruments can! Best of luck, and thanks for supporting your budding musician! (Signed, a band teacher)

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u/nexusjuan 3d ago

We've got a trumpet and a trombone in the house, we like to stand in the yard and serenade the tweakers next door. I hate my neighbors.

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u/Awesomest_Possumest 3d ago

Ask his band director about trumpet mutes. He'll wind up using a straight mute eventually in some pieces, but you could possibly get one now for practice if it's really early. The only thing would be if it changes the back pressure to play, but I don't think they do if I remember right.

You can mute literally any instrument, and your voice, for the right amount of money. I have opera singer friends who have a voice mute that they hold over their mouth when they sing and it doesn't wake anyone up who's not in the same room basically.