VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Mike Sommer · Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject: Voice Over Booth Build

Early in September Marc Cashman approached me about building a Voice Over booth in his home.

His first idea was to simply purchase a Whisper Room, but with further research on his part, he discovered
that the end effect is not worth the cost. It was also not much of a step up from his present booth, located
in a closet under the stairs. His wife also wants the the space back.

My original booth design started small, about 6x8 feet, and would be located in his garage, adjacent to
his existing office, that would be connected via a double door system. A rough concept was drawn up and
a reasonable budget for the structure was estimated.

The one factor that came into play early on was ventilation. Since Marc does a great deal of long form
narration, the ability to remain in the booth for long periods of time was of the upmost importance. His
homes HAVC system was located fairly close to the booth, with the ability to tap into the return duct just
15 feet away. I surmised that this would a possible alternative, but I also pointed out that the house
would have it's own set of needs and the booth another, and since one would suffer over the other it should
be a last ditch consideration. Also the cost of taping into the system and isolating the duct work from
sound would cost as much as the booth.

The AC problems were set aside when Marc decided to make the booth as large as possible, within the
existing space of the his garage, which was an adjacent signal car port, of a 3 car garage. This opened up
a whole world of possibilities that would allow for better sound, and the use of a stand alone AC system.

Here are the original concepts for the booth

© Mike Sommer

After a few weeks of acoustical design, Marc then decided he would like to be able to have a
director to come in for punching in dialog, or to be able to do one-on-one coaching in his booth. So it was
decided to divide the space into two, with a VO booth on one side and a production area on the other.

I told him that it would be possible, but the space and the sound would suffer, and that I would need a little more room to make it all work. With permission granted a 3rd redesign was started.

Here are the concept designs for the both project:

© Mike Sommer
The booth AC problem was solved with a Mitsubishi Mr Slim Heat Pump. The units are ultra quite and very simple to install.

© Mike Sommer

The booth is comprised of a standard two leaf wall system on the perimeter
for Isolation, with double doors and a floating floor.

Over the next few weeks I'll update this post with build photos.

Enjoy~
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

bobsouer · Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:23 pm Post subject:

Mike,

This looks really fabulous. I look forward to seeing the photos as you go.
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Deirdre · Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:24 pm Post subject:

It's jolly interesting to see the plans as they morph. I'm looking forward to seeing the pix.
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KaraEdwards · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 8:43 am Post subject:

Very interesting- thank you for posting!!
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audio'connell · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 10:47 am Post subject:

very timely for me, thanks
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mcm · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:54 pm Post subject:

Mike, this is great information.

The Mitsubishi split-ductless unit is of particular interest. In getting an estimate recently on various heating and cooling systems for our house, a Mitsubishi split-ductless system was among those we were considering. We were told that it would probably be eligible for a rebate under the Cool Smart program in MA and RI and there may be similar programs in other states, which would help offset the >$3K price tag.

Mike Sommer · Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 9:59 pm Post subject:

Thanks everyone.

The build started in early December and it has been moving along quite well, despite a few snags here and there. Basically it's been long 15 hour days before we knocked off for the holidays, and then I came down with a small bug or something and I'm just starting to feel right.

MCM
The Mitsubishi AC unit comes highly rated and recommended. When the unit is on low it's nary a whisper.
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

Lizden · Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:00 am Post subject:

This is really cool.
Thanks!
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ballenberg · Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 10:22 pm Post subject:

So Mike, there's no air-conditioning in the actual recording booth, just in control room?

Mike Sommer · Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 9:52 am Post subject:

@ ballenberg

This is a problem that Marc and I have had to address.

Let me point out first that we have a 20,000 B.T.U. AC unit in a room/area
that only requires 2000.

The wall is more of a "partition" than it is providing Isolation -If you note
there is no door on the partition wall; 95% of the time it will just be Marc
recording in this studio. Even if there is another person or two in the
studio, it would be another professional, not Snoop Dogg's entourage yucking
it up over a case of "Cristal".

With these thoughts in mind, we felt it was safe to not have a door on the
partition wall. Though, we can install a door if needed later on.

It's not the best case scenario, but adding another 20,000 B.T.U. unit to
the "booth area" is not going to help either; especially since there is
another studio that I know of has the exact same AC units in there studio,
and they have hardly ever turned the AC pump on in their Iso booth.

Though I'm not a big fan of dicing the room up, it is giving Marc two rooms
with two different voicings - The Booth area, that will be mostly dead, and
the Production area that will have a little more live sound to it.
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The Blog:
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

ballenberg · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 6:53 am Post subject:

Thanks for that, Mike---All those BTUs are for the heating aspect? Since that sounds like an AC number that could be problematic (I'll explain what I mean if those numbers aren't about heating)

Mike Sommer · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 8:18 am Post subject:

I went and checked the site regarding the exact unit we are using for the
booth. The 20,000 number is for the double heat pump -my bad. Since we
are only using a single heat pump unit at this time the numbers stand at
9,000 B.T.U. cooling and 10,000 B.T.U. heating.

I know where you are going to go with the High BTU's, particularly with the
efficiency of the unit, in that it is better and more efficient for the AC to
run continually than it is for it to stop and start.

With such a small room there is not much of a choice when it comes to
quiet efficient cooling. Ideally it would be better to have a unit with B.T.U.'s
that just keep up with the needs of the room so as to provide continuous
flow of air to the space. Since the rooms head unit has fan speed
adjustments, keeping this unit at the slowest speed along with proper room
temperature adjustment should keep the space very comfortable at a
continuous rate. (This has been found to be true by others as well with this unit)
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The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

ballenberg · Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2010 9:09 am Post subject:

You are right, I was going to go there, but clearly you're already there---I found out the hard way; had an apartment with a big AC unit that never quite cooled it right-----Hey,your design looks great!

georgethetech · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:40 am Post subject:

Mike:

Looks like it's going to come out great, can't wait to see the finished product at his launch party. This will certainly serve as an excellent showcase for your future projects.
I love that Google Sketchup desk model you used, I used the same one for another project.
Who does your HVAC installation?
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Hart · Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 6:04 am Post subject:

We just had a that Mitsubishi unit installed in a family's bonus room that we are turning into a home theater (similar concepts to recording spaces). That sucker is really quiet and man it works.
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