Paranoid about my cam noise!

[SnuggieBear]

Hi there everyone!

I'm brand new to the forum and I'm not exactly sure where to introduce myself, but uh...I'm SnuggieBear and I work on Streamate. And um...yeah!

So my question is this: How do I make sure the people living upstairs from me don't hear me camming? I'm moving to a new apartment in NYC on March 1st and the landlord lives two floors up and his parents (an older couple who seem to like me) live right above me. I'm on the ground floor by myself so I don't have to worry about next door neighbors, just people who walk in the front door and get their mail and stuff. And even then, I think the entrance to my apartment is in the back of the building, past all that.

I'm crazy paranoid that either the landlord or his parents are going to hear me while I'm camming! Do any of you have a similar situation or preventative measures that you take that seem to work? I don't even really know how loud I actually am...I moan and talk, but I don't know if it's really THAT loud. I'm going to take time to soundproof my studio with area rugs and curtains and everything but I don't know, I guess I'm just freaking because they don't know what I do.

Thanks!

 

[southsamurai]

they make eggcrate foam that dampens sound. its not very expensive, tho its hard to find in larger sizes. you should be able to mount it temporarily with the sticky stuff they use to hang posters. wont damage surfaces and comes back down easily. put it on any surface between you and another room and it "should" decrease the transmission of sounds above around the 500 hz range decently... maybe as much as 50 percent depending on the density of the foam. there are other products designed to dampen sound, but they tend to be more expensive.

if you cant find any then save up some actual egg cartons. styrofoam ones are best, but even cardboard ones will do. they can decrease sound a little bit by themselves, and are easily painted if you want a more uniform color. for extra sound reduction good ol spray foam from the hardware store sprayed in a fairly even layer across the back of them will improve that aspect slightly. just secure them to a semi stiff backer (posterboard works) for portable, easy to install temporary units.

of course thats for an apartment dweller or renter who cant make more permanent alterations to the space. with the ability to install screws or use permanent adhesives you can cut sound transmission thru walls and ceilings even more with other materials, but those wont do you much good.

and no, dont ask why i needed to know how to dampen sounds in the frequency range of human screaming

 

[LacieLaPlante]

they make eggcrate foam that dampens sound. its not very expensive, tho its hard to find in larger sizes. you should be able to mount it temporarily with the sticky stuff they use to hang posters. wont damage surfaces and comes back down easily. put it on any surface between you and another room and it "should" decrease the transmission of sounds above around the 500 hz range decently... maybe as much as 50 percent depending on the density of the foam. there are other products designed to dampen sound, but they tend to be more expensive.

if you cant find any then save up some actual egg cartons. styrofoam ones are best, but even cardboard ones will do. they can decrease sound a little bit by themselves, and are easily painted if you want a more uniform color. for extra sound reduction good ol spray foam from the hardware store sprayed in a fairly even layer across the back of them will improve that aspect slightly. just secure them to a semi stiff backer (posterboard works) for portable, easy to install temporary units.

of course thats for an apartment dweller or renter who cant make more permanent alterations to the space. with the ability to install screws or use permanent adhesives you can cut sound transmission thru walls and ceilings even more with other materials, but those wont do you much good.

and no, dont ask why i needed to know how to dampen sounds in the frequency range of human screaming

Until the last line, I would have just assumed that you were a musician but now I'm curious.

 

[SnuggieBear]

I've thought about the egg carton thing, but I don't think it would look cosmetically right if I put egg cartons on the ceiling. Plus, if the landlord ever checked my apartment out because I needed help with something, he'd probably point at the ceiling and be like, "Uh...what?"

 

[southsamurai]

i dont have a musical bone in my body lol

 

[Keithy]

Any "soft" dense substance works for dampening sound. Corkboards too.
You can always say you like loud music and singing loudly but didn't want to disturb the neighbors.

 

[LadyLuna]

Any "soft" dense substance works for dampening sound. Corkboards too.
You can always say you like loud music and singing loudly but didn't want to disturb the neighbors.

THIS!

Also- if you use the command strips to fasten hooks from the four corners of the ceiling, you could then hang the foam from those hooks, take it down when you're not on camera, and hang potted plants there if the landlord visits (those visits should be announced in advance)

 

[SnuggieBear]

Now that I think of it, the ceiling has this weird tiled corkboard looking stuff on it already. Kind of like the kind you find on the ceiling of a classroom, (at least from what I can remember from being in high school.) I wonder if that's already serving as a barrier between the actually ceiling/floor of the upstairs neighbor?

 

[AllisonWilder]

Now that I think of it, the ceiling has this weird tiled corkboard looking stuff on it already. Kind of like the kind you find on the ceiling of a classroom, (at least from what I can remember from being in high school.) I wonder if that's already serving as a barrier between the actually ceiling/floor of the upstairs neighbor?

You could always ask the landlord to be sure. I'm sure they'd find you responsible for even thinking to ask a question like that. I know I would, anyway.

 

[southsamurai]

a helpful hint i just got from an apartment dwelling female friend: apparently if you can hear their tv well enough to tell what show they are watching they will be able to hear you have sex and realize thats whats going on ( and i include solo sex in that idea as well). apparently she wont even enjoy herself if she can hear her neighbor's tv upstairs because they complained after a rather vigorous solo session she had a few years back at her previous apartment.

 

[Diana Blake]

Test your insulation in your apartment by playing some music at about the level you'd be talking/orgasming and then step ouside your apartment and close the door behind you. Depending on how loud it is for you you can probably guess it'll be close to that for your upstairs neighbors.

 

[SoTxBob]

Back in college, I had access to some decent size pieces of thick plush carpet. I made a design mosaic and carpeted the entire room walls and ceiling, including the back of the door. Worked like a dream to kill the tunes so I didn't get any grief. I used a plain jane staple gun to put it all up. The landlord asked me to leave it when I left bc he really liked the designs.

 

[SaffronBurke]

When I lived in an apartment, the acoustics and sound transmission was very odd. If I was in the hallway, I could hear anything loud in my neighbor's apartment. However, if I went into my bedroom, which shared a wall with her living room, where she'd have loud music/parties, I couldn't hear a thing, even if I pressed my ear against the wall and had no other sound in my apartment. I could hear my upstairs neighbors if they were being loud, though if I were in the bathroom, I could hear everything happening up there - awkward! She's actually a friend of mine, and recently asked if we ever heard her having sex - yep. Sound seems to transmit better down than it does up, though, because we've never had any mention of too much noise/hearing us from above.

I didn't employ any methods of soundproofing, but I did use background noise and white noise successfully. Even if my music wasn't very loud, it helped to damper my voice and make it difficult for anyone to determine what was going on. I'd also have a big floor fan going, partly for white noise (the big ones REALLY help cut down sound, and partly because my apartment didn't have central air and I'd be in the bedroom with the door closed, dancing around and sweating bullets.

For the most part, as long as you keep your talking to an average conversational level, they're not going to hear that. As far as pleasure noises go, try asking your viewers how loud they think you are, specifying that they need to answer AFTER the show, not during, and that should give you an idea of how much you need to soundproof.

 

[JaneJupiter]

Your landlord himself definitely can't hear you in his place, unless you're like screaming constantly, or something. However, since his parents live right above you, I guess that doesn't matter too much because that is nearly just as bad. There are two ways to discourage sound leaking out of your apartment: sound absorption, and sound blocking. Sound blocking would be making sure that there isn't a way for sound to directly move into other areas. For my room, that means installing a sound proof door. For you with your vertical issue, it might mean checking that there aren't pipes or vents that connect the apartments. If there are, try to seal them as best as you can, at least while you are camming. Sound absorption is also very very very helpful. Like other posters said, you could use cork, egg cartons, or foam. Even having more pillows, heavier throw rugs, and drapes hung up help quite a bit. If you want to spend more money, there are several products like this http://www.audimutesoundproofing.com/how-to-soundproof-a-room-soundproof-walls-sound-insulation.aspx that are probably very helpful. But, I would say, unless you are very, very loud, or can hear absolutely everything your landlord's parents say and do (besides walking around) I would try not to worry about it

 

[PinkiePixi]

Having lived in numerous NYC apartments - err on the side of caution. Every apt building I have ever been in has had incredibly thin walls and I could *easily* hear everything from any places above or next to me. Likewise they could hear me - they told me. Watch out for pipes or air ducts (if you happen to have central air/heat) - in one apt the vents were what hugely carried all of the sound, in others though it was mostly thin shitty walls.

 

[SnuggieBear]

So...this is a little off topic, but as of now, I lost my apartment and am no longer moving. I'm pretty much screwed, but I was wondering about my fellow NYCers, how do you handle being a cam girl in the city? Do most of you live alone? Or do you live with roommates and just do it when they're not home? Or do you rent a studio space? I'm at a real loss now! Any help would be much appreciated! I'm trying to be resourceful, but it's not looking too good out there and my knowledge is minimal at best.

 

[PinkiePixi]

So...this is a little off topic, but as of now, I lost my apartment and am no longer moving. I'm pretty much screwed, but I was wondering about my fellow NYCers, how do you handle being a cam girl in the city? Do most of you live alone? Or do you live with roommates and just do it when they're not home? Or do you rent a studio space? I'm at a real loss now! Any help would be much appreciated! I'm trying to be resourceful, but it's not looking too good out there and my knowledge is minimal at best.

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