Help identifying types of noise & appropriate soundproof Questions and answers on many aspects of soundproofing areas of your home

[x10]

Hi all,
I was hoping for some help from all the wonderfully knowledgeable people on this forum.
I've had a search through the forum to see if I can find the answers to my questions but have come up empty so far.

I'm trying to soundproof my office so I can use it to do voice over.
The thing I don't know is what type of sound it is I need to sound proof against and what materials would be best for it.

The room is (approximately) 272cm x 489.8cm, built above our garage.
The left length is joined to the 1st floor bedroom with a door and steps up into the bedroom;
the right length is joined to the neighbour's 1st floor bedroom;
the rear width looks out onto the garden;
the front width looks out onto the road (the house is situated on a light traffic Avenue).

The main undesireable noises I can describe are:

- Sound of vehicles driving by outside.
- If the vehicle is large I get also get a rumble through the floor and quite a bass noise.
- Birds singing.
- The next-door neighbour's windchime.
- People (on rare occassion) shouting in adjoining gardens from the rear length of the room.
- People (on rare occassion) talking on the pavement from the front length of the room.

The windows are single glazing (it's an old Victorian house) and I cannot change this.
My budget isn't very large, but am willing to adjust to what would need to be done effectively but efficiently.
There are shelves on the left and right lengths, which makes putting anything on the walls that much more difficult.

Included below are images to give you a better idea of what I'm on about.

I hope these descriptions are accurate enough, those of you with experience will know what range of noise/sounds these are and will hopefully be able to suggest suitable material/measures in order to reduce these as much as possible.

Many thanks.
X10

[img]http://img3014.photobox.co.uk/828523045882b8fab4c39d355d1730710568d59a3f9e65d2a8b4cad3640bdf097982633a.jpg[/img]

[url]http://img3014.photobox.co.uk/828523045882b8fab4c39d355d1730710568d59a3f9e65d2a8b4cad3640bdf097982633a.jpg[/url]

[rosebery]

If your windows are single glazed and you can't change these you really don't have a hope frankly. Sorry to put a damper on it.

Cheers

[x10]

The windows have 6 inches of space before being flush with the wall, could a frame not be made with soundproofing materials that can slot into this 120cmx79cmx15cm window space?

X10

[Perry525]

You experience all the normal noises that one has in town.
A lot of these noises can be attenuated by fitting plastic windows on the inside of your existing frames/windows.
The best option are perhaps the ones fitted using a magnetic strip.
They are not cheap - but are cheaper than made to measure double glazing, make sure that the plastic windows are of a different thickness to the existing glass, each will attenuate a different frequency.
Perhaps you should start by looking at some of the modern sound recording equipment and noise cancelling microphones - a simple 6mm plywood box with a double skin and an all round gap of four inches can work wonders.

[rosebery]

"The windows have 6 inches of space before being flush with the wall, could a frame not be made with soundproofing materials that can slot into this 120cmx79cmx15cm window space?"

Since you have now provided additional data which would have modified my original response the answer is probably yes.
Cheers

[x10]

[quote="Perry525"]You experience all the normal noises that one has in town.
A lot of these noises can be attenuated by fitting plastic windows on the inside of your existing frames/windows.
The best option are perhaps the ones fitted using a magnetic strip.
They are not cheap - but are cheaper than made to measure double glazing, make sure that the plastic windows are of a different thickness to the existing glass, each will attenuate a different frequency.
[/quote]
Thanks Perry525, do you have any recommendations for suppliers, and do you reccommend just 1 plastic window behind the existing wooden frame, or is it possible to have multiple?

[quote="Perry525"]
Perhaps you should start by looking at some of the modern sound recording equipment and noise cancelling microphones[/quote]
Not sure what you mean here, could you elaborate? I already have some pretty modern sound equipment, and noise cancelling microphones aren't really used for Voice Over purposes.

[quote="Perry525"] - a simple 6mm plywood box with a double skin and an all round gap of four inches can work wonders.[/quote]
Again, can you elaborate, do you mean as a recording booth?

Thanks for you response!

[quote="roseberry"]
Since you have now provided additional data which would have modified my original response the answer is probably yes.
Cheers[/quote]
Cool, any advice on how to acheive that?

X10