VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[cyclometh]

I'm in the process of trying to make some plans for my next steps with my home studio. For background, I have a fairly small basement room that is an office as well as my recording space. Dimensions are approximately 12'x12'x8', and the room is essentially cubical.

I had considered treating the room, but that would be not only expensive, but possibly impractical.

So I'm looking at making a booth- I could easily build a booth about 4'x6' with a door, and treat *that* to be a great recording environment. The booth wouldn't be a permanent fixture, but a standalone affair that could be disassembled if it became necessary to remove it.

What are some practical means to soundproof such an assembly to eliminate external noise as much as practical? Assuming the external walls of the booth are about 3" thick, I have a few options, including filling the space with rock wool or rigid acoustic insulation panels.

Thoughts? I'm not worrying about the interior treatment just yet, just trying to get a handle on how the box would best be assembled.
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[Mike Sommer]

Yes it is a cube, but why would it be impractical to treat?

Whatever you build it may not be that effective, especially if you're not a details oriented craftsman that has never built a booth before. Plus you'll still need to treat the inside, so by the time you're said and done you'll end up with a 3x5 room and even less room in the office.

You could go the Whisper Room route, base price $4000, plus shipping. Plus treatment, and quiet ventilation.

If I remember correctly you've gotten your noise floor pretty low. It maybe just a matter of sealing the room and adding another layer of drywall to the room.

For a your size room you'll need about 17 sheets of drywall (about $170) drywall screws mud and tape (another $75). Some handy friends with screw guns and a good day (cost: about two cases of beer and lunch) (Or a crew at about $1200).
Change out the door to a prehung 1 hour fire door, about $450, plus labor to install it (about $250- $350).
Plus some odds and ends you could be in the $2950 zone. ~That's if you even need to add another layer.

If you build the rooms acoustical treatment yourself, material could cost you around $2700 (this would be with Guilford of Maine fr701 fabric).

So you really need to evaluate your room, and crunch the numbers.
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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]

So Mike, thinking of possible future needs, if the room is essentially quiet, adding a layer of drywall and a solid door can bring it a lot closer--one layer is enough? So there's no need for those resilient channel clips? What about Green Glue? Putting that between the exisitng drywall and the new drywall would help even more, is that correct?

As far as the whisper room and silent ventilation, ie ventilation that can actually be running while recording, what do you use? Is there a good way to run AC into a Whisperoom? And/or fresh air?

Thanks

[Mike Sommer]

[Dan-O]

...

[ballenberg]

Good idea Dan--

And thanks Mike.

[Mike Sommer]

[Dayo]

From my limited experience I would always go for the largest space you can muster to record in.