Outside Noise Challenge

Started by rubinomusic on 11 February 2009. 1 reply.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 11686.

Hi there, I have a challenging question... I am about to lease a space to use for myself in Los Angeles as a MIDI studio. I am a composer for film/tv and my space will be used primarily as a writing room. I am not going to be doing any recording except the occasional vocal. My problem is a water fountain about ten feet outside the front door of the space would create a distracting noise within the space. I am looking for a way to simply cut down on the noise from the fountain. It does not have to be a 100% reduction - even a little would be great. Not a bad problem. Here's the catch - this is somewhat of a temporary space. I am signing a one year lease after which I may be moving on. This means I don't really want to do anything permanent like a full wall construction, and this also means I don't want to spend more than about $500. There went all your ideas - lol. Sorry! That's why this problem may need a creative answer, or may have no answer at all which is ok. This space is basically in an office building. It's on the ground floor and shares only one common wall with another tenant. This other tenant is ok with some noise, so sound isolation won't be an issue. I don't have exact dimensions of the room unfortunately because the space is not mine yet and they have not given me a floor plan, so I will describe to the best of my ability. Let's start with the idea that the room is basically a rectangle about 22' x 17'. The 22' foot walls and one of the 17' walls are exterior walls, and the other 17' wall is an interior wall separating another tenant. It's on the ground floor with a few feet of concrete slab underneath. The front of the space is along one of the 22' walls. Along this front wall there is a double door surrounded by three windows, one to each side and one above the door. The windows are maybe 12"-16" wide and run the whole length of the door on all sides with wood framing in between. (see picture). The landlord does not want to ruin the look of the building from the outside in any way, so has suggested "standard issue" blinds to be placed in the windows and door. I can do anything I want behind that. My listening position will probably be about 12' feet directly in front of the door. I am sure most of the sound from the fountain is coming through the glass. I have to comply with the landlord and put up blinds like he asked, but then I can do something behind that. Is there anything temporary or semi-permanent I can do to this space to filter out some of the outside noise from the fountain without building a whole new wall? I've read a lot on this forum and am familiar with a lot of the construction techniques, but I thought maybe someone might have a creative idea for something less permanent. I realize this is quite a challenge. Thank you for your help and if you need more detail I will do my best without having all the info on the space yet!
Image not preserved: IMG_0184.JPG
some things to try 1. curtains. heavier/thicker better. 2. weather strips/gaskets/seals on glass doors