Best solution? Or cheapest solution? I've been leaning towards putting the computer into a larger pet travel cage and buring it (mostly) with comforters, pillows, or whatever is at hand. But still open on one end so it breathes and doesn't over heat. Although many newer machines come fanless, or with very quiet fans. Even solid state HDDs that make no noise. Baring any of that you can use a field recorder which makes no noise, unless you have one with an older HDD storage device. But even then it's not that loud (most of the time).

Basically eliminate the noise sources and you don't need to proof against those noises. Beyond that it's all construction. Panels, rugs, curtains, and other things that make the EPA and fire marshal cringe. Dumpster diving for old cubicle walls is always fun and cheap. And many means to an end. I've got a fair amount of leftover and otherwise scrap carpet in my room. Get some cheap garden lattice wood structure and staple gun the carpet to that and you have a movable panel. A couple book shelves with carpet cuttings lining the walls. And/or stuffed full of clothes and blankets and pillows and many means to an end.

Plus the usual suspects of closed headphones for tracking. Turning down and/or off the monitors in the other room while tracking. Not that those things mean much if you live next to an airport, military base, or freeway. Or just have noisy neighbors. I recall a home studio that my college jazz band used to track out of in the 80's. A converted 3 car garage. All the walls were like covered in that thick 4" insulation stuff on the outside of the walls. Leaving about a 2' wide walking path through the hallways. Bouncing from side to side of what could be equated to one of those balloon rooms that kids go into and bounce around. Good times, unless you had to try and drag something large through that hallway to the tracking room. Like a Tuba.

PerezZaida, post: 0 wrote: I could not believe that this question is unanswered yet?

We can use acoustic panels, it is a comparatively cheap soundproofing option to soundproof a room. Acoustic engineers use a combination of absorption and diffusion techniques to make a room soundproof.The acoustic panels are used to absorb sound energy as well as distribute the necessary sound waves evenly across the room so that unwanted noise is eliminated. Acoustic panels are porous in nature and when sound waves pass through them, the waves get trapped and the sound is deadened. Thus, for soundproofing walls, it is very effective.

The reason questions like these go unanswered...and should remain that way is that the OP is not able to follow a few simple guidelines. Often these guidelines apply across many forums of this nature, so it is not an isolated (no pun intended, none taken I am sure) incidence.

People that refuse to fill in their geographical location, give dimensions, some kind of drawing of what kind of situation they are currently in just cannot be trusted with answers since the opportunity for each and every reply to be wrong or simply a "best guess" which helps no one.

Directly to your reply, acoustic panels have no sound-proofing ability:
" Acoustic engineers use a combination of absorption and diffusion techniques to make a room soundproof."

This is what I mean by guessing...since you have no education in isolation methods. In order to stop sound you will use a combination of four things, Mass, Decoupling, Insulation and Air.

A combination of absorption and diffusion is used to smooth the response of a room, AFTER it has been constructed to isolate (sound-proof), and depending on the size...diffusion may or may not be used.

Learn about what you are saying and you will be better equipped in the future to help someone, instead of the "best guess" method that never works out.

You can get some valuable reading links here:
http://www.buildthisroom.com

And specific ideas so you look better in print the next time you get isolated:
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.buildthi…"]Part 1: Sound Isolation equals mass decoupling distance and absorption[/]="http://www.buildthi…"]Part 1: Sound Isolation equals mass decoupling distance and absorption[/]

a) home recording forum
b) it's ALWAYS going to be best guess with a pre-existing structure. (space is very limited)
c) modern living requires more temporary and mobile options.
d) panels do affect the sound. If only to minimize standing waves that help to cancel out part of the originating sound source. By no means soundproof (at least not without a lot of them in a gap-less configuration). But as with most things, better than nothing. And they can be moved to better your best guess.
e) kind of moot since the OP is not likely to be checking back after 4+ years.
f) extra moot when 1 out of 2 posts returns with server too busy on an otherwise lifeless forum to start with.

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote: a) home recording forum

Wrong forum area to begin with, it would have been better if placed here:
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://recording.or…"]Studio Construction Forum[/]="http://recording.or…"]Studio Construction Forum[/]

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote:
b) it's ALWAYS going to be best guess with a pre-existing structure. (space is very limited)

Rod Gervais doesn't guess, and Max is a highly skilled man, guessing isn't in his vocabulary either and having 30+ years in the construction industry my self has weeded out "guessing" and replaced it with education.

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote:
c) modern living requires more temporary and mobile options.

There is no such thing as a temporary solution when it comes to sound isolation, it just does not exist.

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote:
d) panels do affect the sound. If only to minimize standing waves that help to cancel out part of the originating sound source. By no means soundproof (at least not without a lot of them in a gap-less configuration). But as with most things, better than nothing. And they can be moved to better your best guess.

By no means isolation, the question was direct to sound proofing, which the Industry refers to as isolation. Panels do not sound proof but mostly absorb, big difference.

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote:
e) kind of moot since the OP is not likely to be checking back after 4+ years.

I went directly to the OP's requirements and did not post simply to get my website link picked up by the search engines, I might add, that had nothing to do with your post which was mostly moot as well.

Shadow_7, post: 353441 wrote:
f) extra moot when 1 out of 2 posts returns with server too busy on an otherwise lifeless forum to start with.

Maybe it is time for you to find a new home, many here have been here for years...like as many as nine years. Professional high quality, skilled and helpful people.

The server being busy doesn't bother us...we all recognize that recording.org is very, very active with real posts and real answers by real people, so that is moot.

Doesn't bother you? And you call yourself a professional? Probably doesn't bother you either when your 911 call to save your life keeps getting disconnected. Or the overpass that you take to work fails. Guessing / speculating bothers you, but a server that drops half of your replies doesn't?

Sir, you equate real life dangers with the equivalent of an electronic bill board that can not in any way physically hurt you.

Settle down and don't let your knees jerk. My initial post had nothing to do with your response, but since then you are taking it personal, which I will not.

there is not too much "professional" or "helpful" about being a hardon.

but i see a lot of his in audio circle. seems a roll of duct tape and a mini mag light makes everyone an uptight, pretentious and self important expert. qualified to critique every nuance of your existence.

i think it has to do with the fact that many of these pro genious types dont get paid much. coupled to the fact that the more you know, the less you need them. an irrefutable truth.

"there is this air of self importance. god, people wear their mini mag lites and rolls of ducktape on their belts like sixguns. swaggering around like they are the coolest, because they taped a cable to the floor.
audio is just full of funny people. some of them mirthless and pretentious."

Dave-Ja-Vue?

Anyway, PerezZaida post is gone, I rest my case ;)

Thanks for playing along recycled though it may have been.

But electronic billboards can hurt you. They can cost you a job. At a minimum it deleted the well though out comment I made in another thread and spent a few minutes proof reading. Had I known in advance that submit was going to FAIL, I could have saved my work first. If the job board that you are using to find a job is down 24 hours, that's 24 hours MORE that it might take you find a job. $100 or more in pay not earned, which might make the starving wife mad enough to carve out a chunk of your flesh and serve it for dinner. There's danger in any and everything. That's why people sell insurance. Which you are required by law to have for some activities like driving.

Pretentious is a bit common. It's just funny when the first response given by a "business" owner is one of attack. In a thread requesting help (albeit a bit dated). And said attack offers no help. Except for maybe the advice to go elsewhere if you don't like it. Realizing that the only reason I registered here was because I was REQUIRED to in order to download a sound sample of a mic I was thinking about getting at the time.

-----

Trying to keep it on topic, of which I seem to be the ONLY one now. Even if you proof the room, you still have a door to that room that introduces a vulnerability. And probably some air vents to bring in fresh and cooler air, with yet another vulnerability. And maybe even a window. I just found your sound-proof or else demeanor a bit funny. There's building spaces and then there's recording in them. And they may not be as related as you seem to suggest. Now for building a proof room for the GM plant to acoustically analyze their engines in proximity of an active factory is hardly the level of isolation that the average home owner needs. Perhaps needs is a bit too strong of a word. Can get away with 99% of the time.

I usually don't make it down the forum list enough to see a lot of the posts here in the Home forum. I typically cruise the CMS, Acoustics and Pro Audio forums. Today I saw the thread title and thought... "hmmm, prolly otta check this'n out."... so I did.

To address the OP, there's a coupla' ways to address the issue of a loud computer and gear.

First, build an iso box for the noisy gear. It's a lot cheaper to isolate a coupla pieces of gear than it is to even attempt soundproofing your "studio" area. You can easily build an iso box out of an old fridge or freezer that's no longer got a working compressor. Build some 19" racks inside the fridge part, and put fans in a hole between the freezer and fridge, then put in a baffle system to exit it through a hole in the freezer door, if you don't wanna build anything too elaborate.

If that's not a viable solution due to extra noise... then Space is correct, you really should pop down to the Acoustics forum, read Rod's sticky, and get some real professional advice on how to do it right. (BTW, soundproofing in a complete picture includes addressing doors, windows, HVAC, lighting, electrical along with mass, isolation and decoupling... as they are integral elements to contend with.)

As far as the rest of this pissin' contest... I think I'll grab a bucket of popcorn and watch, cause equating RO's servers being busy and not getting free advice to a failed bridge or a state run employment security commission job board is quite comical, and I wanna see how this gets justified.