Ceiling tiles, insulation, egg crate foam and other sound absorbing materials are intended to reduce the bouncing of sound off of hard surfaces within the room but they will do little to reduce the transfer of sound to other rooms. For that you need mass or resilience. For a ceiling the most cost effective solution is to hang a double layer of drywall on a channel system that has a resilient connection to the structure.

Here is a link that might be useful: sound clips

check out products from Quiet Solutions (makers of quiet rock) and Supress. Sound rated gyp boards will help you as well as other sound isolation systems they offer.
As mentioned, adding materials like you suggested alter the acoustics within the space, and not really do much for keep sound in. Also any duct work going into the space will carry sound like crazy throughout the rest of the house. The best way is to have an isolated duct direct from the furnace to that room and not a branch duct.

"Double walls were designed into the space and we filled the cavity with open cell foam. "

Do stop the movement of sound through walls and ceilings you need mass that cannot be moved by the sound striking it.

If you are willing to put feet of foam in small pyramids on the walls (look up 'anechoic chamber') you can deaden anything but the lowest frequency sounds transmitted directly through the structure (like footsteps or impact noise).

The walls of the room absorb the sound very nicely.
It is so quit in a good one you can hear your own heartbeat (like listening to shell).

A double wall with lead lined flexible material hanging between the walls is probably what you would need.

Stopping base noise is the hardest, particularly from percussion instruments.

It is the ultimate in impact noise.

Thanks for all the responses. It's too late to isolate ducts; the ceiling is now a major duct highway. We have a 12 ft. tall basement. We decided that the most economical and practical solution with all the wires, pipes and ducts in the ceiling of the band room was to do a suspended ceiling. Do I understand that a suspended ceiling cannot be adequately sound proofed? We could have several feet to work with above the ceiling tiles.

I'm a little confused about the anechoic chamber idea. I can see how that would be useful for a recording studio, but would it cut the sound leaving the room?

I'm getting a price on the sound rated sheet rock and the head rocker has been pushing for the sound clips. So, those things really work?

Most of the sound attenuation materials like QuietRock and green glue are in response to the desire to provide sound separation between rooms in a building without taking up any more space than a conventional wall. For a music studio the thickness of a wall or a ceiling assembly is not usually an issue.

The suspended ceiling should be made of a couple of layers of gypsum board on channels suspended by wires with acoustic dampers somewhere along the wires so the sound vibrates the boards but not the structure above. The use of "acoustic" materials is solely for the purpose of dampening the sound within the room. Earplugs work well too.

An even better approach is to build walls in the basement and support ceiling joists on the walls then add as many layers of gypsum board as you can afford. Green glue and mass vinyl can help too.

Here is a link that might be useful: hangers

Isolation hangers are for equipment, ductwork and the like.

To most effectively reduce STC, use constrained layer damping drywall such as Quiet Rock or, to in effect, produce your own constrained layer damping drywall, you can use Green Glue. Vinyl sheeting is much less effective.

To cut through the confusion and the conflicting free advice here, you can consult a noise control specialist. If you had done that initially, you wouldn't have wasted money on open-cell foam.

FWIW - I've heard that 2 layers of drywall attached with green glue is significantly cheaper than Quiet Rock and just as effective. Not to mention, more locally available.

I think quiet rock is about $60 a 4x12 sheet (just to give you an idea).

Any ceiling attached directly to the structure above will transmit sound directly to the space above even if you use QuietRock, Green Glue, etc.

The best solution is to not connect the ceiling to the structure above and the second best solution is to provide the maximum resilience between the structure and the hung gypsum board ceiling system. For that purpose there is nothing more effective than installing an acoustic hanger at every support wire.

Any acoustic hanger designed to support a metal channel and drywall ceiling system with wires can also be used to support ductwork and light weight equipment.

I have seen acoustic hangers supporting drywall ceilings work astoundingly well above music practice rooms, professional recording studios, and large restaurant kitchens.

Here is a link that might be useful: acoustic ceiling hangers

"I can see how that would be useful for a recording studio, but would it cut the sound leaving the room?"

Sounds is actually absorbed by the walls in an anechoic chamber.
Many recording studios use sound absorbing material on walls and very stiff walls to stop sound movement.

It works but requires a lot of attention to details, like ANY holes in the acoustic material.

By building on concrete floors sound isolation through the slab is generally very good.

The more mass you can hang on the walls and ceiling (more layers of drywall) the better.

Two layers of 5/8 drywall is a good start.

I appreciate all the input. I am going to consult with a sound person, but since most of them are selling products, I wanted to get some opinions before the sales pitch. I also understand that I'm going at this hind part foremost. I thought the musicians were handling it, they thought the one who complains about screeching guitars was on it.

So, I am hearing that I need to ditch the suspended ceiling and go with a suspended sheetrock ceiling, which limits the accessibility to the space above but improves the sound dampening. I haven't heard any advice on how to make the ceiling tiles work.

With the two layers of sheetrock on the ceiling, are the layers attached by anything other than the glue? Do you screw down the second layer? I'm a little leery of just gluing. When we moved into our current house 18 years ago, the sheetrock had been nailed around the perimeter of each sheet and just glued in the middle. The glue held the paper backing to the joists but the paper backing came off of the sheetrock and and the ceilings had a pillow effect. I'm scarred and scared by the experience. I don't want sagging ceilings!

A suspended acoustic ceiling with tiles will stop very little sound transfer to the floor above. The term "acoustic" is applied to these ceilings only because they reduce the amount of sound that bounces off of the ceiling. They are not sound separation assemblies and have no STC rating.

If your adviser is selling a product you might as well go straight to the product website.

If you want to build a successful acoustic separation hire an independent consultant. If that prevents you from doing the job twice it will be well worth the cost.

The Green Glue instructions on their site is very thorough. I would also be hesitant to use only glue to support ceiling panels but study the information on their site. Notice that they recommend resilient channels or hangers for ceilings in addition to green glue.

Keep in mind that the manufacturers of these products are concerned primarily with isolating footfall noise from above so they may not provide the kind of separation you want.

The 3 methods of reducing sound transfer between spaces are mass, resilience, and absorption. You should try to use all of them but don't confuse one with the other. Make the ceiling heavy and only attach it to the floor above with resilient attachments or none at all. Insulation in the cavity also helps a little.

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Glue info

To soundproof your room you will need to use a combination of materials.

The following video link is a brief demonstration on blocking sound: http://acousticsfirst.com/educational-videos-the-barrier-and-the-bell.htm

We use a mass loaded vinyl called BlockAid. (http://acousticsfirst.com/blockaid-vinyl-sound-barrier.htm) This can be added to structural composites to increase mass without loosing valuable space and can be used in conjunction with resilient channel, isolation hangers and acoustical sealant.

Always line cavities with insulation. This prevents resonant frequencies from ringing in the cavities and increases the STC (Sound Transmission Loss).

To keep structural noise from transmitting through the structure, be sure to isolate materials using resilient clips or resilient channels. Sound and noise can be transmitted structurally through any materials that touch without some type of resilient material between them.

Once your structure is complete, you can use acoustical treatments within your music room to absorb sound and improve the quality of sound in the room. Even though acoustical panels do not block sound, they will help reduce the overall sound pressure in the room, much like the fiberglass batting that is used with the barrier material in the video.

A drywall ceiling may sag if the contractor did not use drywall meant for ceiling applications. Be sure to check with material supplies to confirm that you have the correct material for your application.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soundproofing Demonstration

Renovator8 has some great ideas. As mentioned, MLV (regardless of whatever name they give it) is simply more mass. Drywall is more mass, and much less expensive.

The specialty drywall mentioned is simply standard drywall and a damping compound. Nothing mysterious, but very expensive relative to simply field installing damping compound yourself between standard drywall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elements of Soundproofing

Thanks for everyone's input on this matter. I have a proposal that includes the following:
�Hat channel and quiet clips, with a double layer of 5/8" drywall separated by Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound on the ceiling and the walls.
�Noise proofing Acoustical Sealant along the perimeter of all walls
�Sealtight acoustical putty pads installed around electrical outlets
�Installation of the privacy duct silencer around 3 HVAC vents
�Cutting of an acoustical foam window insert used for sound (when needed)

Think that'll contain the noise?

I would seriously consider on a new build expanding foam insulation to get into all the cracks and nooks in that room, then make it a carpeted room with very thick carpet and that will reduce the vibration on the foundation.