Sound damping a room?

[tugboat]

So my gf and I will be moving in and we're gonna look for houses to rent. Are there any basic things one can do to a room to dampen the sound throughout the rest of the house? This will be a rental so no major modifications. Just wondering if there is anything good and inexpensive that I can do for the Man Cave.

[Offshore Angler]

Yep. Go direct.

[tugboat]

Go direct meaning direct into the computer? Got that covered, just wondering if there is anything good and simple I can do. If there isn't no big deal. I'll just plug into my Mac or my iPad and have at it when I can't use a tube amp.

[Gravity Jim]

There are things you can do, but probably not to a rental. Preventing transmission from room to room requires decoupling the walls and floor from the rest of the building. You could hang heavy, heavy curtains or blankets around all four walls (over the door, especially) and decoupling the amp from the floor with a MoPad or similar thing, and that would mitigate it somewhat... but the sound is still gonna get through.

[tugboat]

I'll try the curtain idea if it ends up being a problem. With a good pedal and strategic and/or reasonable hours it may be a moot point.

[tugboat]

Interesting observation. Plugged into GarageBand on my Mac for the first time in over 2 years and it sounds better than plugging into GarageBand on my iPad. Not sure if the amp models are better on the Mac or if the connection is better. For my iPad I'm using an iRig into the headphone jack and on my Mac I'm using an MAudio Fast Track. Could also be the decent speakers connected to my Mac vs the cheap stock headphones from my iPad.

Might have to upgrade to the post-App store version of GarageBand so it plays nicely with my iPad. And I get a few more amp models! The tweed bassman especially looks fun.

[58reissue]

What I did is on the cheap and very easily removed when you move. I looked into acoustic curtains, but for 40$ a curtain, forget it! I found out that moving blankets are the same dam thing and cost about 15$ a peice. They are 5X7 and really knock down some sound. I also put acoustic tiles in the floor joices above me. It sounds amazing down there and was on the cheap. I'd say I did my whole studio for under 400$.
Good luck.

[boobtube21]

There are things you can do, but probably not to a rental. Preventing transmission from room to room requires decoupling the walls and floor from the rest of the building. You could hang heavy, heavy curtains or blankets around all four walls (over the door, especially) and decoupling the amp from the floor with a MoPad or similar thing, and that would mitigate it somewhat... but the sound is still gonna get through.

What he said. I would almost concentrate more on getting the room treatment set up to give you accurate mixes so your work will translate to your car stereo, iPod, etc.

Also, get this book and read as much of it as you can wrap your head around.

[jrgtr42]

foam sound dampener blocks aren't too bad price-wise either, I hear.
I knew one guy who was describing his sound insulation in an apartment. IIRC, (this was some time ago...) he had plain blue foam insulation against the walls, then some of the dampener blocks, and big curtains / carpets over that. He couldn't crank a Marshall 100 stack, but he could get well above conversation level without bothering the neighbors (he had previously informed them of what he was doing and solicited comments.)