Music brings joy to billions of people across the world in many ways. Individuals sing in the showers, along to the radio when driving to work, and in karaoke bars from Japan to Jefferson City.

Yet, sometimes music is unwanted, and garage bands, violin practice, and singing in an apartment can annoy the neighbors and roommates alike.

More than half of Americans polled said their neighbors annoyed them several times each year. Worryingly, 35 percent said they had issues with neighbors at least once every month. And the most common neighbor disputes stem from noise and music.

Is your apartment the best place for your singing practice?

Before you start planning to soundproof your apartment, are there better places to practice? If you have access to other facilities you might be able to avoid any neighborly disputes completely.

Ask if you can use school facilities after hours, or perhaps a friend has a home where there is less chance of upsetting the neighbors with your singing. Of course, vocal coaches such as Singing Success have purpose-made rooms for practicing in too.

Fortunately, if you want to practice singing in your apartment, there are some ways you can reduce the noise.

How can you keep the sound down when you practice?

One thing that is being understood more is the range of health benefits that music brings. These include helping forms of depression and alleviating symptoms of mental illness, as well as speeding up recovery from physical injury.

However, noise can also negatively impact a person’s health. And your singing might not be as welcome in your neighbor’s home as you think. You could even be causing them stress and affecting their sleep patterns.

Use headphones

If you like to sing along to pre-recorded tracks, then using headphones will at least reduce the overall noise coming from your room. Your singing will still be audible, but your choice of music won’t be. However, you’ll need to make some other changes too if you want to be completely inaudible.

Use soft furnishings to muffle your singing

Sounds bounce off solid surfaces, so using soft materials and furniture will help to absorb your voice instead. While this might affect the acoustics somewhat, you won’t be bothering the neighbors so much.

Use gypsum boards

You’ll more likely hear these referred to as drywall, and they are commonly used for ceilings, walls, and partitions. And they are good at muffling and absorbing sound.

Gypsum boards absorb sound at both ends of the spectrum by inhibiting high and low frequencies. If you are considering some soundproofing, then drywall might be an option.

Sing quietly

Easier said than done perhaps, but you can practice singing a non-demanding song in a lighter voice. One of the most important skills for singers is having control over breathing, and singing quietly can help you to develop this. Don’t sing under your breath as this will have no benefits whatsoever, and make sure you also sing normally when you get the chance.

Up your insulation game

You could consider using more insulation or using products such as rock wool. This type of insulation stops sound from passing through walls by bouncing it back. Similarly, you could use acoustical glue or sealant on your walls to lower noise transmission.

Try communication

One of the best ways of being able to practice without annoying your neighbors is to open lines of communication. Ask your neighbors if they are disturbed by your singing and if there is a window where they are out of their home that you could practice unabated.

Better you speak to your neighbors than they to the police or lawyers, as you could find yourself with a lawsuit if you continue making noise, and fail to consider their feelings. You could be facing up to $30 for every day that your singing disrupts your neighbor.

Go somewhere else

As previously mentioned, your apartment might not be the best place for you to practice.

Join the school choir, go and get involved with the church, or take yourself outside and busk. All of these ideas will help you to practice and get experience performing in public. Taking singing lessons will help you to improve, but nothing beats performing for building up experience.

Summary

You can introduce soundproofing to your apartment, but this can be intrusive, and costly. Singing lessons will let you practice in a room designed purely for music, but you will also need somewhere for regular practice, so joining a school choir might help.

But, your best choice might simply be to speak to your neighbors and ask if there is a time when you can belt your heart out without driving them up the walls. Then you and your neighbors will all be content.