How to Silence the Cistern

Increasing numbers of us are recording music in the domestic environment. I have for some time been searching for practical ways to improve this situation without structural or expensive alteration. Many found objects have acoustic properties, e.g. large cardboard boxes, duvets, couches, etc. The following is the single cheapest, quickest, best bang for buck that I have come up with. So, Hear Ye, come join me in the Brethern of the Silent Cistern. Flush the Loo and a sequence of events is triggered. First a noisy event, loud enough to make it’s presence felt throughout a building, preventing any quiet recording. At least it ends quickly. Next, the cistern begins to fill up. This is slow and just noisy enough to be troublesome. Furthermore, the sound is distributed very efficiently throughout the house via the water filled pipes. When this is complete, a much bigger water tank in the attic tops itself up to replace the cistern-fill. The sound of the water cascading in this tank, is carried across the supporting rafters and radiated by plasterboard ceilings. Slow, noisy, intrusive. Both of these noise sources are mini waterfalls. Water falling from a height splashes and bounces sound around the tank. Sounds travels very fast and without much loss through liquids and solids. It pervades our temporary recording studio. Because of this highly efficient distribution network, the best place to attack this nuisance is at source- stop the splashing. Check out the water valves in your Cistern and Attic tank, measure them if possible. Get some pvc or other plastic piping. I got my bits of pipe from offcuts from a bar installation. By a strange stroke of luck two of the pipes were exact fits for the two valves. Cut the pipe approximately to a height from the valve to the tank floor. Gradually trim some height off until you achieve a perfect pressure fit with the pipe held firmly in the valve by it’s pressing on the tank floor. Next take the pipe back out and cut an angled slice off the end. Cut off just enough that the the resulting slot lies beneath the little remaining water. This gives the incoming filling water a wide quiet submerged entrance. No fall, no splashing, little bubbling, little noise. Welcome to the Brotherhood. The Answer In place Dan FitzGerald http://www.soundsound.ie