How to Mix Music Without Hurting Your Neighbors
Listening to your favorite music with high-quality stereo sound is, of course, much more pleasant than through headphones. However, this creates a lot of inconvenience for your neighbors. They will have to listen for a couple of hours not at all what they like. Well, if you are also engaged in sound mixing, as at https://ekmixmaster.com audio studio online, they are simply doomed to hear you play the same (not always melodic) piece of music dozens of times, trying to find the best sound. That is why the question arises: what to do so that you can work, and the neighbors do not quarrel with you, demanding silence.
There are several ways to solve the problem. And the first one is soundproofing. We hear noises from neighbors through cracks in the seams, sockets, cracks in the walls, i.e. air vibration, echo. But music is also due to sound permeability – the speed of sound propagation in a solid medium.
You will have to start soundproofing an apartment with a global renovation. All old flooring will need to be removed. Expand floor-to-wall interfaces, wall corners, wall-to-ceiling, under windows. Fill the joints with soundproofing materials (cords, seals) or silicone sealant. Sound travels through the building structure unless soundproofing pads have been installed. If the heating pipes are metal, they are insulated with heat-resistant material or changed to polypropylene. Seal concrete floors 2 times with rubber-based waterproofing mastic. And then to lay the noise-absorbing “pie” with the entrance to the walls, to make the screed and lay the thick linoleum.
We’ll have to replace all the junction boxes with plastic ones. Pay particular attention to sockets. It is best to move them to another place, and the old ones are well repaired. Walls and ceilings are primed with deep penetration latex primer for any finish. It reduces the sound permeability of the walls. The walls themselves can be finished in any way – cork, stick 2 layers of newspapers and thick vinyl wallpaper or flocked. Acoustic panels made of polyester fibers, wood fibers, eco-boards or panels with sand give the best results. Even ordinary pressed cardboard, egg cells. Carpets on the walls and floors, upholstered furniture made of flock, heavy velvet and plush curtains, and thick fabric upholstery are good at dampening the sound.
There is another solution, it is to put a “room in a room”. Two square meters of space in the form of a cube, wired with multi-level soundproofing used in studios. The plus is that there is no reference to the structure of the apartment, only the floor is involved, on which the structure stands, and even then through the legs.
And yet, it is unlikely that it will be possible to completely eliminate sound in an apartment building – sound is transmitted not only due to the vibration of air molecules. An indistinct hum (which is also unpleasant) will penetrate through this obstacle.
So what do you do? Rent a garage and work in it as long as you want. And the neighbors will not be offended.