Whether you simply game at home on weekends or you have managed to make a career out of gaming, you know that playing videogames is now an extremely mainstream way many of us spend our free time. In fact, in order to fully get “in the zone”, it’s more and more common to dedicate an entire room in the house as a gaming room. Why would you want an empty guest bedroom when instead you can deck it out with all your various gaming systems and at least 2 TVs? If you’ve invested in a gaming room and found your way to this page, we know that you’re having issues with sounds getting into or out of your gaming room. If that’s you, it’s time to learn about soundproofing a gaming room to get the ultimate experience.

To soundproof your gaming room, we at Second Skin Audio have all of the tricks of the trade

There are plenty of reasons why you may want to soundproof your gaming room. First of all, gaming can be loud. We have all been in a situation where you lose a kill streak or die after CLEARLY parrying that attack (I’m looking at you Dark Souls), and you can’t help but let the rage out. Or maybe you like playing with the volume turned up to 11. Or maybe it’s exterior, loud background noises such as construction and traffic that are distracting you while you are trying to enjoy a little downtime. Whatever the reason, we have you covered!

One common reason gamers want to soundproof their gaming room is for streaming. As a Twitch streamer, you want to avoid any outside noise disrupting the sound quality of your stream. Whether you want to keep sound in or out of your gaming room, soundproofing your gaming room is something you should be looking into.

If you are looking at not improving the sound quality inside the room itself, you should be looking into acoustical materials not soundproofing materials. The two are actually different! Adding sound absorption into the room will improve the acoustics in your gaming room. This type of treatment is really only necessary in a home theater level gaming room or for streaming.

Read on to get to know the details of how to soundproof or acoustically treat your gaming room.

When soundproofing a room, there are two main things to focus on:

• • Adding density to walls or barriers in the room
  • Sealing gaps and openings to prevent airborne noise from entering

You will need to do this to all 6 surfaces (4 walls, ceiling, and floor) in your gaming room to be completely soundproof. You will also need to soundproof the door, which is generally generally the weak point for noise from inside the house, and soundproof the windows, which is where noise from outside is typically getting into the room.

Soundproofing a Gaming Room Door

The door is one of the most important places to start when soundproofing a gaming room. Standard residential doors are hollow core, and not designed to be good at blocking sound. Depending on your type of door, you will either need to add to your existing door or replace it to soundproof your gaming room.

Make sure you have a solid core door

The doors to your gaming room is either solid core and hollow core. Hollow core doors are not dense enough to block sound. If you have a hollow core door, replace it with a solid one. There are some alternatives to replacing the door completely if you are desperate, such as sealing up the door with mass loaded vinyl. But any sealing you do will make the door… not a door. The best option is to replace the hollow core door with a solid core door, or better yet a Sound Lock Soundproof Door.

Seal around the perimeter of the door

Even if you have a solid core door, sound will still travel around the door through the air gaps, unless you seal around the perimeter and the bottom. Use our Sound Lock Door Seal Kit for sealing around the door’s air gaps. This product is adjustable and makes it easy to open and close the door, while still effectively blocking noise.

Soundproof Gaming Room Windows

If you have exterior noise getting into your gaming room, your windows are almost always the problem.

If you are living in a busy area and you want to cut out the noise from the outside world, you should consider soundproofing your window. Luckily, you can do this easily without having to replace the window itself. Our Fantastic Frame Soundproof Window Inserts are a great option. They will reduce noise through a window by up to 80% and you can reasonably expect at least a 10 dB reduction by installing these, no matter which windows you have currently.

Soundproof Walls for Gaming Rooms

The main barriers all rooms have are the walls, floor, and ceiling. Each surface should be dense and airtight to block airborne noise. So, adding to the density of these barriers and sealing off any gaps is imperative when soundproofing.

Sealing around the perimeter of the wall

Using our Acoustical Sealant, seal around the perimeter of the wall, ceiling, or floor and be sure to cover any gaps and seams. Even the smallest of openings can allow a lot of sound to enter or escape your gaming sanctuary. Common air gaps are at the bottom of the wall behind the baseboard and behind any penetrations (outlets, switches, etc).

Adding density to the surfaces

There is more than one way to add density to a wall, but the most common and effective method for an existing wall is to add an additional layer of 5/8” drywall with Green Glue in between the 2 layers of drywall. Finish by sealing the perimeter and around any penetrations. This soundproofing method for an existing wall will increase the STC rating of the wall to 50-52. (that’s a good number)

For more helpful information on soundproofing walls, floors, and ceilings, read our guide on soundproofing a wall and soundproofing a common wall.

Soundproof a Gaming Room Floor/Ceiling

If you live in an apartment complex or a multi-story home, noise may travel through the floor or ceiling. Sounds such as washing machines, loud music, or just your downstairs neighbors arguing can be very irritating when trying to get in the zone.

The solution depends on the type of noise you are dealing with and where it is coming from. If you want to soundproof your floor to keep sounds from below out, the 10mm version of our UnderBlock rubber underlayment is what you need. If you have the sound of footsteps and other impact noises coming through the ceiling, your only options are to treat the floor above with that same rubber underlayment or to remove the existing ceiling and install a sound isolation clip system (RSIC clips). If you have airborne noise coming through the ceiling – people talking, NOT walking – then you can use the Green Glue + 5/8” drywall method you’d use to soundproof an existing wall.

We know that’s a lot. Feel free to reach out to us if you want help with your specific project.

Soundproofing Your PC

When recording for Twitch, any type of noise can interfere with your stream. High-powered gaming computers are equipped with heavy-duty fans to keep your PC from overheating, and the noise these fans emit can be quite irritating.

Sound coming from your PC is often vibrational noise coming from the fan or other parts of the computer. The best way to deaden this sound is to use a vibration dampener such as Damplifier Pro. Stop the vibrations, and you’ll stop the noise. This is a similar project to making soundproof server cabinets.