VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Chuck Davis · Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:48 pm Post subject: Booths anyone?

Besides Whisperroom...who is making VO booths these days? I've Googled around and found a few. Looking for recommendations though.

Since the flooding here in SE Conn and a bridge wash-out I have trucks rolling past the studio all day. I'm thinking that a small booth could help with the noise issues. Small size with ventilation is important. 2.5 x 3.5 would be perfect.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 4:58 pm Post subject:

Save 000's, build your own.

Chuck Davis · Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 5:17 pm Post subject:

That's absolutley a consideration Phillip, but a very full plate these days has me exploring other avenues.
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sounddguy · Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 6:21 pm Post subject: Re: Booths anyone?

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 1:11 am Post subject:

The problem you're trying to solve will not be solved by an off the shelf booth, they're not up to the job.

Darren Altman · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:01 am Post subject:

Hey Chuck,

I have recently moved house and as coincidence would have it, the last owner played keyboards and built himself a "soundproofed cupboard" with acoustic tiles in it. I could not believe it and was so thrilled when I saw it!

When I went to record a voiceover in it, I found the sound to be horrible and boxy, not only that but even though the room was dead, I could still hear the traffic going past - and the cupboard was in the middle of the house.

Today my builder has knocked this booth down in preparation of building a new vocal booth. Phillip is right, you need to consider soundproofing from ALL noises and the way you do it is by creating a room within a room:

Wooden frame
Plasterboard
Felt underlay
2-3' air gap - VERY important
Acoustic barrier mat
Compressed Rockwool
Cotton fabric to finish off
Foam tiles on the wall if necessary

The reason that foam tiles for example are not sufficient on thier own is that the room will end up sounding 'boxy' and will still allow sound to enter the room. The different materials have an effect on the different frequencies:

"There are those who line the entire thing with Rockwool, but unless this is very thick it still doesn't deal with low-frequency problems adequately and can leave the room sounding very dead and oppressive. The same is often true of thin acoustic foam, which mops up everything above 300-400Hz but leaves the low end to run riot. What we needed was a mixture of absorption and reflection with enough low-frequency trapping to keep the room behaving evenly down to the lowest vocal frequencies and beyond"

This should answer some of your questions

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar06/articles/studiosos.htm

And this is how we're building my booth

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul00/articles/faqacoustic.htm

Hope this helps.
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:08 am Post subject:

Thanks guys for all of the input and advise!

The room I'm in actually sounds fine...it's just the extra traffic through our little village that's a result of a bridge washing out last spring that's prompting my search for solutions. The traffic used to either pass my house or divert over the bridge. These days everything passes below my window.

The noise issue, since I'm on the third floor is mostly just street noise...not much low freq rumble makes it up this high.

I'm going to look into doing a build myself..with the help of my carpenter nephew. Space is very limited however as the studio itself is only 10x12.
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sounddguy · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 10:23 am Post subject:

Dan-O · The Gates of Troy Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 1638

Mike Sommer · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:04 am Post subject:

Decoupling would be the main objective where low end rumble is concerned, along with increasing your distance from the road or highway is best.

Many homes are built elevated off the ground, with either a crawl space or a basement, this kind of construction amplifies low frequencies, where the floor behaves like a diaphragm.

Homes built on the ground with a concrete pad, are less susceptible to these low frequencies.

Eliminating this low end noise energy is not easy- it's a very powerful force.

You can PM me and we can start a dialog about finding a solution. But adding or building a booth may not be the best solution.
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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.

Mike Sommer · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:41 am Post subject:

Since I stated my reply last night and did not post until this morning-- a lot o bad information is being batted around here. Have now posted and read through this thread, it has come to light that the location is on the third floor with the road below.

Well there is a lot more we need to know, before a solution can be even considered let alone tossed out as a possible solution.

Since I can not stand in the room to understand the problem I'm going to need a lot more information, along with pictures.

What kind of construction is the building- Brick, wood frame, steel construction?

What is the floor system- wood, concrete?

Where are the windows how big are they what is their construction?

This is just the tip of the iceberg. so get this information together, along with pictures of the entire room, a sample of the sound and lets start form there.

Darren:
You have just enough information to build yourself a clusterfuck. The SOS articles are treating a specific problem, they do not even begin deal with the problems of mitigating the problems of outside noise. You should stop whatever you are doing and run it by me. YOu will save yourself a lot of headaches if you do.
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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.

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 5:44 am Post subject:

After looking at plans, consulting with my carpenter nephew (who's just finishing my kitchen remodel) and mulling seriously over wheather I want to really soundproof a room in an antique house that I may want to sell someday...I decided to look at the ready-made solution again,

Just picked up a small/second hand (2.5x3.5) whisperroom with the casterplate which, according to a VO freind out west with whom I do sessions on a regular basis, makes all the difference in de-coupling the booth from the floor. Since she uses a shotgun mic very similar to mine (she a 416, me an NTG-3) it seems I can expect a similar result soundwise too, Her audio is always spot on....and even with LA traffic outside there's never been a problem.

It should arrive in a little over a week. I'll post some feedback once I get things set up and working properly.
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georgethetech · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 1:28 am Post subject:

Put a high-pass filter at 100hz on that NTG3 and you'll be in business!
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Chuck Davis · Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:18 am Post subject:

Cool. Thanks George!
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Rob Ellis · M&M Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 2385 Location: Detroit

Hey George, can you recommend a good stand-alone HPF?

BTW how does that differ from the 70 HZ low cut on my Mackie?