New York Renovator

I have written a number of articles on soundproofing lately (for online publication SF Gate Home) and here. The science behind it is very interesting. There’s s new product called Green Glue. It’s a “viscoelastic damping compound” that looks like green caulk. Apparently, you spread it between a sandwich of drywall boards, and it converts sound waves to heat. Amazing! According to a number of people who have used it, the stuff actually works.

I’m storing all this information for two reasons. One, when sitting in my office, I can hear a pin drop upstairs, right through the floor. It’s simply staggering, how sound travels through this old house. Two, I’m going to be converting the garage into a family music room, and I’ll want it to be soundproof, or at least somewhat soundproof.

Another reason is that we have dogs. Yorkies. They are adorable dogs but they YIP YIP YIP all day long. Not very conducive to recording music in a studio!

Soundproofing is not very common in homes. It should be mandatory in apartment houses, I think. It isn’t very expensive to soundproof or even muffle noises. I don’t know why more landlords don’t do it. I wish mine had!

So this is my latest venture, investigating the science and construction of soundproofing. I haven’t been able to start my built-in bookshelf project yet….

I saw this guitar while shopping at Buy.com. OH. MY. GOSH. !!! lol!!! I kinda like it!

We are a musical family. My husband is a superb guitar player. The kids are following in his footsteps. We currently have *AHEM*: TWO electric guitars, ONE bass guitar; SIX acoustic guitars, FOUR amplifiers; ONE keyboard; ONE microphone and stand; TWO amplifier stands…. and just one tiny little guitar stand. :S And six people who are CAH-RAZY about music!

In all my meticulous planning for the renovation, I did not think of a place to store all that stuff. Oops. So it’s all piled up in the dining room and in the kids’ rooms. *sigh* Well, next year, I hope we can gut the garage and convert it into a music room (I’m calling it The Conservatory). I will rig up a super high-def sound system in there. We’ll have nooks and crannies for all the instruments, comfy places to sit and play, and all the gear to record stuff.

Anyway. Back to the pink guitar. Cute, huh? Buy.com has a lot of nice musical instruments for beginners (and advanced musicians). They have a special page of musical instruments under $50, just in time for the holidays. Things at Buy.com sell VERY quickly, believe me. I might get an email in the morning, showcasing their special deals, and if I procrastinate to the next day, stuff is sometimes gone. Right now, there are sales on all sorts of very nice instruments: guitars, keyboards, bongos, maracas, cabasas, accordions, violins, etc. They also have stuff for the music studio: microphones, headphones, mixers, equalizers, cables, and more. After I get the garage converted, I’ll be looking at mixers and recording equipment.