Rock bands have been around for several decades, and while technology has changed the face of music on several counts, including the way it can be recorded and shared, the magic of forming a garage band remains. Even with the rise of the Internet, youngsters’ desire to get together and form a band remains unchanged. What do you do when your teen decides to convert your garage into a music studio? While you desire to support his musical interests, you doubt if the neighbors will be just as understanding. How do you make sure you can contain the sound enough so as not to disturb the neighbors without needing to put all the instruments on earphones? Soundproofing a garage is actually something you can do by yourself without needing the services of a professional acoustics specialist.

Step 1. Determine what kind of instruments will be used, as well as which part of the garage each one will be set up. If you already have a drum set in your garage, that should give you a general idea of how the setup will look. If you are unsure, do not hesitate to ask your teen.

Step 2. Cover all the walls with sound proofing materials. Egg trays are a very affordable choice for sound proofing, although some experts question whether they make any difference in keeping the sound in. A next choice would be to buy Styrofoam panels or a thick, heavy foam. You can typically get these for a low cost at factory outlets, as you can buy extra pieces from other people’s cut-ups. But the best choice by far would be to invest in acoustic boards. While these may be a bit more expensive, if you intend to keep the garage studio for a while, it would turn out to be a good investment.

Step 3. Drums are typically the loudest instrument in any band. Other instruments will generally be plugged into amplifiers, whose volumes can be easily turned down, but drums will have to played really softly or you will need to do something to keep the sound in. many experts swear by drum shields, although buying a drum shield may set you back a bit too much. Instead, you can purchase acrylic sheets joined together with hinges. A good size would be between four to six pieces of 2 feet wide panels, with height ranging from 4 to 6 feet. What the panels do is to bounce back the sound of the drums; as such, make sure you also attach acoustic boards all across the wall behind the drummer.

Step 4. Finally, do a quick check of the items left in the garage music studio. If you find many items made of a wide expanse of metal, try to transfer them to another room, the attic or the basement, maybe, as the material may cause the sound to reverberate, creating greater noise than you would like.