Have no idea why you would want to sit in a room with insulation above your head with no cover over it makes no sense to me if you don’t want drywall do a dropped ceiling that is what we did with sound deadening insulation

Sorry, no dropped ceiling as well. I like the idea of sitting in a big unfinished basement.

Insulation has to be covered. You have set up a null set. Without adding the mass of drywall, or the acoustic absorbency of the dropped ceiling, your quest is hopeless. Even carpet on the floor will do very little.

OK....so you need to know that Green Glue is NOT a "glue". It will not HOLD anything to anything else. And sound proofing materials are made USELESS if they are pierced with metal: as in the plan you have to nail these foam panels into place. Nails = noise transfer. It is guaranteed to to STRAIGHT UP into your floor above. Guaranteed.

And to be clear there are 5-6 different TYPES of noise infiltration....not just impact or airborne. Noise (or sound) is a vibration. Vibrations are carried through the air and through materials. Metals carry sound WONDERFULLY (ie. telephone WIRES or telegraph WIRES = metal = excellent conductor).

I would guess those foam panels are NOT rigid...but very flexible - Oooops. Which means they will SAG when applied to a ceiling (gravity works). At $5.16/sf, these are expensive panels. Punching holes through them using nails = expensive and almost useless acoustic panels. That is $5/sf wasted. Not to mention the Roxul costs.

To get the "look" you want with the acoustic insulation/isolation you want to create, I would hire a professional sound proofing company/design/build firm and pay them $15 - $20/sf for the design and the implementation of your vision (which is just for the ceiling).

Or you use Acoustic Drywall with Roxul stuffed into the cavities...should work out to be $5/sf and would be MUCH more effective than what your plan is. And you REALLY need to cover the concrete. It will cause sound to bounce around in there - increasing the decibels and wreaking havoc with your ears.

The conundrum you have is this: The "look" you want is not acoustically feasible without a MASSIVE payout (I would say it will double or triple the cost of a full basement renovation done by professionals). The acoustics you want/need can be achieved with DIY - but NOT with the look you have in mind.

You need to choose which is more important: The "look" or the "performance". At a $5 - $7/sf budget, you can't have both. Your vision for a raw looking space is your worst enemy. Sorry....but you need a revision. Either your vision is revised or your expectations are revised.

There is many way to soundproof ceiling basement, you can do something like this, that should be sufficient noise block for what you looking to do and not very expensive.

Thanks Cancork for understanding the issue and providing a detailed answer!!

Are there any alternatives to drywall? I mean, can I cover up the insulation with "something" and achieve similar results? Plywood? Corkboard?

I hate drywalls, and since there is no exit from the basement all of the material has to be carried through my main level and that is something I want to avoid.

You need an egress door or window in the basement, and any flammable substances, like insulation, need to be covered. And not with more flammable items like wood. Otherwise, you don't need to use it for anything but storage. It's not a legally habitable space. And it's not safe for you and your family to use

@Sophie Wheeler - I asked if anyone had any alternative to cover up the insulation. If you do not have any constructive advice please stop commenting. I don't need to know your opinion if my basement will be used for anything but storage and if it is habitable or not.

probably any 4x8 sheet of anything[plywood, luan, corkboard, osb etc, but the cheapest and best would gypsum wallboard or sheetrock sorry.

@CancorkFloorInc has some good ideas. The bottom line is you need mass to stop the sound energy from traveling through the ceiling.

When you get around to designing the home theater equipment and layout, I'd be happy to help.

Brad