Music and frequencies

[Cerex]

First up, a small look into my living quarters. I live in a fairly dilapidated house, and the insulation in the walls let nearly any sound pass through unimpeded. I, like many others, play music while I work, and I like to rock. Now I am a fairly modest rocker and don't play my music loud at all.

Now I have a very basic understanding of sound, and what I figure is that the lower frequencies can travel through matter easier, causing less vibrations and deteriorating at a slower rate... higher frequencies doing the exact opposite, causing more vibrations and dying out quicker. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Here is my question: Will editing a song to filter out some of the lower frequencies (practically in the infrasound range, 30-60hz and the like) cause my music to stay inside the room? Are there any equalizer settings or treble/bass settings that could be changed? You know, the quick fixes. Will removing the near-infrasound frequencies make a noticeable change in my music? I will tinker with  my music once I get some free time, adjusting software is so much cheaper to do than deadening the sound in the room. Any input would be awesome.

Thanks in advance.

[ScottyDoes]

Just to clear something up, a healthy human can hear down to 20 Hz. So you would be filtering out those sounds that are still a part of the music. Second of all, if the sound penetrates the walls, the best solution would be to change the walls, not the sound. If you wanna rock, don't take away from that. There are lots of easy and cheap ways to sound-proof a room. Large, thick curtains and egg crates tend to be the cheapest way and tend to be effective. You are correct in saying that the low freqencies will cause the most disturbance in the rooms next to you, but they ones that are disturbing are in the audible range. Also something to consider is the time it would take to run a frequency filter like you are suggesting on your entire music collection. If I were you I'd buy alot of eggs and get some old stage curtains form eBay or something and soundproof it up. Cheers.

[digip]

I would not suggest filtering the music. It not only takes away from the songs as they were intended to be heard, but is also not necessary. If your room is your personal space and your not worried about what people will say, tack a few thick blankets up in the room, overlapping the corners of the room. Bass and noise sounds get trapped in corners. You can actually sweeten the sound by doing a little dampening to remove reflective noise in the room from hard surfaces. Cover any windows with curtains as suggested and not plastic or hard blinds. Add some furniture as well, like a plush couch or chair, as they absorb a lot of noise without taking away from the look of the room.

I used to have a recording studio in my old house and a few simple foam squares were all it took to not only keep the noise in out but to keep the music in as well. It fill make the  music sound much clearer, but also much drier. It will cut the high highs and low lows and give you a nice rich sound while not annoying people on either side of the walls. A good speaker system can also make the difference. You do not need huge sub woofers and 1200 watts of high-fi equipment. Nice, mid range speakers that give true sound reproduction in a properly sound proofed room will allo wyou to hear things in the music you woudl only normally hear with head phones.

Invest in the room and not in the destruction of the song files or filters. Or, buy some really good, top end head phones. These can range anywhere from $20.00 to $200.00 depending on the amount of money you want to spend. I use a pair of AKG k-220m head phones (They are almost always on sale half off somewhere - do not pay more than $60.00 for them cause there are always cheap ones around online or at guitar shops) and they work well enough for most applications, but if your a real audio nut, go with a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50's. These bad bouys are around the $200.00 range though.

[VaKo]

Just turn the bass down.

[digip]

Any media player with EQ can lower the bass, but I wouldn't suggest he manually encode the music to a lowered bass(or any other frequency settings) as I think that was what he wanted to do. Don't destroy the music files themselves. EQ is the best way to go, but if the noise is still a problem when he has it stated

I am a fairly modest rocker and don't play my music loud at all.

then maybe a little insulation in the room to still enjoy all the frequencies is in order. Or just put on some headphones and save the ears of the people on either side of your walls.

[ScottyDoes]

thanks for essentially repeating what I said but with much more detail digip! and to be honest, blankets would be a much better idea than trying to get curtains....I just happen to have some when I did my room is why I say that.

[Deveant]

this is gonna sound a lil nuts, but if u wanna sound proof ur wall, tape egg cartans to the wall, cover the entire wall wif em, and it will decrease the noise to 3% hearable (i think that was it) it was a prac we did in physics last year.

Beacuse the material, and the cone shape, the egg cartans can absord, and re-distribute the soundm easly and efficently.

[digip]

this is gonna sound a lil nuts, but if u wanna sound proof ur wall, tape egg cartans to the wall, cover the entire wall wif em, and it will decrease the noise to 3% hearable (i think that was it) it was a prac we did in physics last year.

Beacuse the material, and the cone shape, the egg cartans can absord, and re-distribute the soundm easly and efficently.

Yeah, it's an old but tested method of quick sound proofing. Carpet foam or even indoor/outdoor carpet(or any for that matter), packing foam from boxes (not the styrofoam), blankets like the ones painters use and a number of other easy fix items can be used to help improve sound dampening and noise reduction.

[Pichet]

Heavy speakers may appear to be fused to the building's structure because of weight,

some people add bricks to "feel" the music (and pester their neighbours) so the opposite

might help here it that applies:  uncouple the speakers from the floor, walls, whatever...