How to Soundproof a Gaming Room

If you decide to go down the route of building a proper gaming room, I applaud you. I made this decision myself when I moved into my latest property, and it has changed the entire experience. Now I can get a proper session going, fully engaged in my game, without distraction.

So, here are some tips that I wish I had thought about when soundproofing a gaming room. This could save you lots of time and, hopefully, save you falling out with friends and family. So, how do you go about properly soundproofing your gaming room? What steps do you take here?

Table of Contents

Soundproofing your gaming setup today:

Acoustic Foam

So, if you are going to build a proper gaming room, you should think about drowning out as much noise as you can. For me, this meant installing acoustic foam around the room. This foam is easily purchased from sound production companies. These foam installations can go along the wall and absorb large amounts of the sound that your room is producing.

Affordable and easily installed, this is best put on the walls of the room so that you can eat up as much sound as you possibly can. The more the merrier, so try and fit as much of this into the design as you can. It would be quite an expensive DIY job, but you could perhaps even consider insulating your walls of the room with the foam. This avoids it being visible, whilst still minimising sound bleed from one room to the next.

Avoid Sound Bleed

One thing that you can do if you have (like me) made your setup downstairs is to think about the upstairs sound pollution. Installing something as simple as sound blankets to the ceiling of your gaming room can be very useful indeed. This is effective as it allows for you to stop the sound from bleeding through the ceiling into the room/property above.

I love these sound blankets as they can easily block out the sound. You could even use these as makeshift curtains. This means that you can stop the sound from blaring out of your windows to the same degree. While it is almost impossible to stop all sound bleeding through, focusing on the upstairs and the downstairs rooms is very important. Deal with these issues with the right equipment and accessories, though, and the majority of the noise will be cancelled out.

Think About Flooring

One thing that totally escaped my thinking was the flooring. When I am gaming, I am not thinking about the people underneath. My new setup is downstairs on the first floor, but if you are upstairs or in an apartment you need to think about those down below.

So, try and install some kind of flooring that can dampen sound. This could include something like a thick carpet. Where possible, too, keep all hardware off the ground. This means putting your PC itself on a flat surface can reduce that vibration sound that can pollute through to other rooms.

Install some anti-vibration fan mouths on your PC and you can reduce this, but there is only so much you can do. Where possible, avoid installing things like speakers and computers onto the floor if you have someone underneath your room.

Consider Investing in Carpets

If you are using an upstairs room, then I highly recommend you get some carpets. I used to have my gaming setup in my apartment, and the amount of times my door was chapped by irate people underneath was in the dozens. Once I invested in some carpets, though, it was really only those who were looking for an argument who came back!

This is why I recommend you buy a carpet for your gaming room if you are not on the bottom floor of your building. This will drown out a lot of the noise, as carpet is a great sound absorber. Wool carpets are the best for absorption, but they do naturally cost a bit more so be prepared to pay extra.

The results, though, will speak for themselves. Carpets are a good choice for any gaming room for atmosphere, but they work extra-well for upstairs rooms.

Check the Final Points

There are a couple of final things I recommend, too, including:

Get a clear measurement of the room so that you know the exact dimensions involved
Soundproofing the other parts of your room, such as your doors, to help reduce noise bleed
Invest in some pillows if you have any kind of seating/social areas in your gaming room
Making use of noise dampeners on the floors around where your speakers are installed

This is probably the best advice I can give you on soundproofing a gaming room. It is not easy, but it should be considered a priority if you want to be fair to those around you. Now, you can get the music and the conversation as loud as you want without having everyone else in the house/building annoyed at you!

Benefits of Soundproofing Your Gaming Room

I do not have to try and drown out the sound of the TV playing, or music in the background, or my better half chatting on the phone. Put simply, I can game without having to tune anything else out!

However, one thing that was quickly brought to my attention was the noise pollution factor. I was so into my games, so into my chat with mates and people watching, that I didn’t realise how noisy I was.

Naturally, I had the music blaring and the feelgood factor high, so I wasn’t really thinking. In truth? I felt so enveloped in my little gaming room that I forgot about the outside world. However, I do not want you to repeat my mistake. That is why I want to talk about something vital: soundproofing a gaming room.

For me, soundproofing should be something you do almost instantly. When you are in the initial process of putting the room together, do NOT ignore the value of some soundproofing. It can stop arguments, it can limit distractions for others, and it means that you do not have to turn everything down when you are in the zone.