I started doing voiceover work and music production from my own home over 3 years ago and noticed my microphone was picking up errant noises from outside my room and noisy neighbors. To increase my production value, I researched different ways to soundproof a room so I could produce higher quality voiceovers and create music without any excess noise in the background.
So what are some effective home office noise reduction solutions?
- Soundproof your door
- Plug all gaps
- Reduce the structural noise
- Reduce the echo
Whether it is your bedroom or home office, you can effectively soundproof the area for less than a couple hundred dollars. The remainder of this article explains a few cheap ways to soundproof a home office.
Step 1 – Soundproof Your Door
The main source of sound infiltrating my room came from the gaps in my door. This is probably one of the largest openings to your home office or bedroom, which certainly makes it the most challenging. Here are a few solutions I recommend to fix this problem.
Draft Stoppers
The cheapest way to block sound from coming through your door is to purchase a door draft stopper like this one. It is very easy to install and flexible for fitting most door types. It works on hard surface flooring or carpet. This will stop sound from bouncing underneath your door into your room. The goal here is to cover up any gap or opening under your door. Make sure to read my post on how to install a door sweep to do it correctly.
Weather Stripping
You will also need adhesive stipping to soundproof the top and sides of your door where there are small gaps. I found this soundproofing door kit on Amazon that is perfect to accomplish this task. It comes with a door sweep as well so really you could save money by using this all-in-one soundproof door kit for the whole job.
Install A Solid Core Door
Another tip to soundproofing your door is to consider replacing your current door for a solid-core door (if you don’t already have one). How do you know if you have a solid-core door? Knock on it and listen. If it sounds heavy then no further action is necessary because you have a solid-core door installed already. FYI, most exterior doors are solid white interior doors are hollow.
More than likely the door to your office or bedroom is hollow, which does not do a great job blocking sound from entering. I’d recommend picking up a solid-core door at Home Depot or Lowes for around $100 and then hiring someone to install it. If your doorway is big enough to contain two doors then use two doors. You will notice a significant difference when it comes to blocking outside noise.
Install Dense Blankets
If purchasing a new door sounds like too much work, an easy option is to buy this soundproof quilt from Amazon. It is very dense and does a great job of absorbing sound. Need a cheaper idea? Try using a couple of these moving blankets to cover your door.
Step 2 – Plug All Openings
Any opening in your wall, even the smallest ones, are the perfect gateways for sound to easily enter your room. Unless these get covered up, you will be able to hear any noise going on outside. Therefore it is extremely important to fill any holes, cracks in your window frames, or openings to mitigate sound. If you have air vents in your room this can be the perfect conductor of sound. Check out my article on how to soundproof your air vents so you can keep sound from entering your room this way.
Step 3: Reduce Structural Noise
If you are still having issues with sound after performing steps one and two, then you may be encountering structural sound problems. These are noises derived from some structural design that makes noise somewhere within your home. An example of this occurred whenever someone flushed the toilet in my place. Since my room was directly next to the bathroom, the old piping would shake and vibrate my wall every time someone flushed.
How do you prevent structural sound? Unfortunately, there is no easy way to fix this unless you are a handyman or hire someone to isolate the problem. Since your wall is passing the vibration noise into your room, you need to build a second wall layer with sound channels and clips. This will reduce the noise drastically but may not be the cheapest option.
Step 4: Reduce Echo
Think about the first time you moved into a new place that had no furniture. Remember how much it echoed? An empty room amplifies the smallest noise.
Dress Up Your Room
Filling up your room with area rugs, your bed, and additional furniture will help reduce noise. It probably won’t make a huge difference but it does help to muffle noise echo.
You want to first determine how much of an echo is actually present in your room. Close the door and yell something out loud to hear how long the reverberation lasts. Reducing echo improves the sound quality if you are recording, producing, or listening to music by eliminating potential small background noise.
Put down some rugs
After you have determined there is a substantial amount of echo in your room you need to determine the source. If your room has hardwood flooring or tiles, the first solution I recommend is purchasing a thick area rug to cover up some of the hard surfaces. You can also use acoustic foam panels to absorb additional sounds.
Decorate your walls
You should also be studying your walls. The more surface area that is exposed the greater the echo. If your walls are bare, consider purchasing something similar to this canvas wall art to absorb more sound and liven up your room.
Install some soundproof curtains
If your windows are bare, try dressing them with soundproof curtains. You need to think about adding thick, soft materials anywhere you can around your room, which will absorb the noise.
Preventing echo is important because the reverb makes it difficult to hear crisply and clearly. You can instantly make your room quieter by adding a few of the different ideas mentioned in this section.
Sound Blocking vs Sound Deadening
It is important to understand there is a difference between blocking sound and quieting it. This distinction will prove to be very helpful regarding the products you need and actions you need to take to reach your objective.
Let’s say you have loud neighbors living next door like I do. If you want your room or office to be quiet, you would probably purchase noise canceling curtains and foam panels for your walls. The surprising fact about these products is that they actually won’t help block the sound coming from outside of your room. Instead, they do a great job of the quieting sounds that echo in your room. Do you understand the difference now?
You need to buy products that will prevent sound from entering your room. Therefore you need something that is very dense to absorb sound. It is far easier to construct a home office with soundproof insulation instead of trying to soundproof a room that already exists. All you need to do is install sound blocking drywall to keep your room quiet.
In my case, I was not ready to tear down my wall and install soundproof boards. That just seemed like too much work and I’m sure my landlord would not have liked it either! Instead, I used some of the ideas mentioned in this post to keep sound from entering my room.
What to expect
You can make any room quieter by following the simple steps presented in this article. It will not be perfect but you should notice a drastic difference. The majority of ideas and tips listed in this post are relatively cheap and easy. For those that require handy work please leave it to the professionals or do some research before beginning any soundproofing project.
