Best way to block sound?

Headphones or expensive insulation added to walls, ceiling and floors.

Egg cartons, put them all over the walls

I was also going to say egg cartons (solicit them from friends and co-workers) Or go to a discount store like TJ Maxx and get Egg Crate foam mattress covers… about $26 for king sized. Staple them to the walls.

@Tropical_Willie No headphones, I have that, but for purpose of tone I need to hear live too. Also you can be more specific?

@XOIIO Prefer not to do that.

Also I only need this for one side of a wall,not very big at all. I found a pretty good deal on craigslist while back,but was sold before I could get to it. Wish I could find picture.

I volunteer at the local NPR station and what they have on the walls looks very much like egg-crate mattress covers. It absorbs echo so sound is pure and when the studio door is closed, you cannot hear from outside.

Egg cartons are a good cheap fix, though egg crate foam (as recommended by @Blueroses) is a better alternative. The shape of them breaks up the echoes, and foam naturally deadens sound anyways. Hell, I’ve been in a few professional sound booths that went with the egg crate foam simply because it works well.

haha, what @jerv said

I am not exactly against the egg carton thing, but it needs to look good. For a lack of better words is there a way to do it without looking tacky or shitty?

EDIT: Would these work? It is similar to what I seen on craigslist(they looked a bit nicer).

http://compare.ebay.com/like/320467731741?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

@CuriousLoner did you intend to post a link?

At the studio, they either bought or spray painted the foam to fit the decor. On one wall, there is a tapestry hung over the egg crate foam. It doesn’t seem to affect the sound dampening.

@Blueroses I did intend to, guess it didn’t paste. Added the link, thanks.

Yep. That’s how it looks.

Since you said low budget, I suggested the mattress covers which often go on sale and can be sprayed to any color.

@Blueroses I thought y’all literally meant egg cartons?

Literal egg cartons can also work. I’ve known many a garage band to use that trick. It isn’t pretty and it works better if you can find an upholstery shop that tosses out end-rolls of foam in the back dumpsters and put that up under the egg cartons.

@Blueroses I see and is there anyway to put this stuff on the walls without damaging or stapling?

@CuriousLoner Just paint em black or whatever color you want,

@CuriousLoner a staple gun is your best bet. If it’s a rented place and you can’t leave nail holes, staple holes are barely noticeable and all you have to do is (old renter’s trick) smear matching toothpaste over the small holes.

@Blueroses Ok cool. The walls are white so should make it easier for covering it up.

@CuriousLoner Original Colgate matches most white walls. :)

If you could go with the egg carton method that works. Not the plastic foamy ones! Also on cardboard boxes if you rip off the first layer you get to the “ridges” and those are great too. How about going to the flee market and finding some rugs for cheap?

You should place something to the wall to reflect the sound into the room rather than allowing it to reach the shared wall.

I need to soundproof a room I’m using as a recording studio and found many links, including this and this.

You can try a layered approach by gluing the eggcrates or foam to some foamcore sheets then mounting the foamcore to the wall. It would minimize the impact on the wall. It’s a bit more complicated and expensive, but won’t damage the walls and the foamcore layer adds an extra bit of soundproofing that reflects back into the room.

Sound proofing a room and killing standing waves (echos) are two very different procedures.

Placing acoustic foam on the walls will only help diffuse the sound waves bouncing off the walls. This will allow you to use a microphone or listen to sound in a specific area with the least amount of frequency multiplication/cancelation from standing waves. However this has little affect in blocking sound from traveling through walls.

The only way to prevent sound from traveling through your thin walls is to increase the insulation in the walls or to build a room within a room.

@CuriousLoner You’ll have to build a room within a room, so that none of the walls pass the sound outside.

Silence & Tropical are almost right. A vacuum is needed. Build a room within a room insulating one wall from the other like a thermos bottle. Sound won’t travel in a vacuum.