How to soundproof rehearsal room in shared building with other rehearsal rooms?

Question

I rent a small room for rehearsals of my rock band. It's 16m2 (172 sq ft). It's in a building with many other rehearsal rooms. There is no soundproofing in the entire building, so if you're unlucky enough that your neighbor is rehearsing at the same time you are, it's a disaster. You hear everything, and vice-versa.

It seems that the noise is only a problem on the walls; the ceiling and floor don't seem to let in noise from the other floors.

What would be an economical way to reduce sound bleeding from outside our room? And it will need to be very thin, as the room is pretty small as it is.

Answer 1

Since your limited to the type of construction you can perform on the walls; it would be best to consider a portable (or easily knocked-down) sound-lessening partition wall. My only thought is an 4' x 8' x 2 inch foam insulation board hinged to a second piece(for easy set-up). Setting up several of these against the existing walls should lower sound transmission in either direction.

Answer 2

I had decent results quieting a room by purchasing from Goodwill about 15 bed comforters, heavy blankets, etc. To cover 8' x 35' of walls two layers thick cost about $80. I used a combination of thumbtacks directly into the wall and a simple wood frame constructed of 2x2s which pinched the upper coverings against the ceiling when wedged to the floor. It did consume about a foot of space from the room, but that wasn't a factor in my application.

If you have more of a budget (money and time), it wouldn't be rocket science to build a temporary wall of heavy plywood and sound dampening material like RAAMmat (targeted at automotive applications) or a frame and sound dampening sheetrock. Minimize fasteners to the existing wall and leave some airspace between.