I've got a garden shed for hiding in and making music in. I tried to sound-dampen it by hanging carpet inside it, all over the walls. Now it looks cool but it's about as sound proof as a bra draped on the front of a Jay Mascis amp stack.

Anyone got any cost effective ideas for just making it bearable for the neighbours at night?
I'm not playing drums so it doesn't need to be fully sound proof.

it may cost a few bucks but have you tried putting insulation in/on the walls?

There is no cost effective way to soundproof.
You have to build high density walls with "dead space" in between.
The dead space needs to be as close to a vacuum as possible.
Thats what stops the sound from escaping. The more layers / dead spaces, the less sound gets out.

Foam, insulation, egg crates, carpet, socks, whatever...
Aint doing shit unfortunately!!!!

Its a bummer, but its inescapable laws of physics unfortunately!
-Jake

Have you done that yourself Jake?
It sounds a bit sciencey with talk of vaccuums and physics so I'm just wondering how difficult it is to complete that exercise?

No havent tried to build anything like that, cause I have talked to people who have done it right, and done it wrong!!! The time spent on either is about the same, only the outcome is vastly different!

I havent lived anywhere long enough to do it...
And have done crazy shit with piling up carpets and blankets and all kinds of other shit. It totally didnt keep the neighbors happy, and it made the jamspace sound so dead that it was un-mojofying.

Right you are then. I'll halt my crazy egg-boxes and carpet antics.

I'll be spending the weekend installing Reaper and considering a new sound card.
For some reason my mic (shure SM57) is always really quiet. It's fine through the amp (the mic works) , but it's super quiet through the soundcard. And all the various volume controls are cranked up to 11.
I'm a bit of a luddite - still using Cakewalk Pro Audio. I like the simplicity of it.
Then I started putting the mic through my old Tascam 4-track en-route to the (very cheap) sound card, as a sort of mixer/pre amp experiement. It didn't help much.

I know it's a pretty loosey-goosey question, but if you have any basic suggestions, (including a good value inexpensive sound card) I'd be happy to heed any advice.

<sorry ! I just realized that you answered all the sound card bits in the other thread!>

Reaper is highly recommended by yours truely, im glad that you are gonna use it. Ive been putting it through its paces and obsessed with its development for about a year now, so I am a good person to ask questions of if you so desire.
So are the Reaper forums, where I spend alot of time wearing out my F5 key, and the reaper IRC Channel, which I have open most of the time.
Most helpful and good spirited audio board on the www.

So yeah, save your egg crates!

Soundcards...
I am a big fan of the Presonus stuff, they make little ones (2 inputs) and big ones (8 inputs / many models) Good preamps!!!
Forget about the Firestudio though, it apparently doesnt work right...
I use a Firepod, now called FP10. Its been totally great, and I often chain two of them together for 16 inputs.

Also, I am again recommending Line6 Toneport devices if you are going to play guitar direct into the computer. (You wont need egg crates!)

Sounds like that SM57 needs a proper preamp!
Going right into your computer with one of those is an impedance issue 99% of the time. Its just not made for a real mic like a 57 / 58.

If your gonna get yourself some kind of big, impressively sized condenser mic at some point, make sure that your card has XLR inputs / phantom power.

I installed and farted about with Reaper. Looks nice and easy to 'get started'. Looking forward to recording next week

I'm excited about a classified ad, someone across town is selling a Toneport GX for about $20 (!!!) so am hoping to scoop that up tomorrow.

But here's a stupid question... what exactly does that do for me?
Their website says "1/4-inch input (adapter required for use with microphone)"

Why is an adaptor needed? Do you (Jake) record vox through your GX with a mic? I'm hoping that it will work with my SM57 mic...

AHH! Found an answer online:
"A 1/4-inch to female XLR adapter or cable is required, but you can plug a dynamic microphone into TonePort GX and record vocals viai 6 mic preamp models."

Now the only concern is that I need XP SP2
(only have 2000 still)

I ended up not going the toneport route, because it would have meant a new PC,and I don't have the $ or time to do that now.
So I stayed a bit oldshool. I got this for $50:
http://www.behringer.com/UB502/index.cfm?lang=eng
(has phantom power)
and also this:
http://www.maxmusic.co.za/ProductInfo.a ... =XVAMPLX1X
for only $22 in a shrewd Ebay score

So I should be set to record that Loewenstein cover over the Xmas

Hey! Ho! Lets go!