Wayne Parham Messages: 18782 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
Absorbent panels made from old towels will be better than nothing, but could be improved upon quite a bit.
One problem is you need to damp a wide range of frequencies. High frequencies are pretty easy to absorb but midrange is harder and low frequencies are the hardest to damp. Acoustic wedges, foam and fibrous insulation materials work well at medium to high frequencies and vibrating panels work best down low. You probably won't have any trouble with high frequencies, but you'll need to absorb both midrange and low frequencies to be effective at keeping sounds from emanating from your house.
Be realistic though. If you're not going to be playing a rock band with amplifiers cranked up really loud, then you may not have a problem. Acoustic instruments are usually capable of being louder than vocal conversation level, but I wouldn't expect them to wake up the neighbors. You might have someone play the instruments and go outside to see how much you can really hear. Chances are, if your daughters are playing acoustic instruments without amplification, then you're OK without any additional sound damping treatments.