VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Lee Gordon]

As I sit here listening to the drone of multiple lawnmowers, anticipating the chorus of jackhammers and possible pile drivers as a bridge a few blocks from my house is about to undergo a reconstruction that is slated to last until November, 2014, and I simultaneously admire the Tracking Number AT&T e-mailed me this morning for my pending ISDN installation, I know it is time to create an audio booth that better isolates me from external noise than my present recording environment.

I have Googled all sorts of information about audio booth design and construction, acoustic isolation, sound-proofing materials, etc. The problem is, Google often equals TMI. The results the searches have yielded include anything and everything but with no particular way to sort out what's good advice, better advice, or bullshit. I figure the best way to do that is to come here and ask people whose opinion I have better reason to trust. So I'm starting with a question about wallboard, but I'll probably have a fair few other questions before I start building.

I figure I can function inside a booth that's about 4' per side, so I can get away with one sheet of Quietrock or two sheets of standard wallboard per wall plus another for the ceiling. (And I might as well ask if I'll want to hang the drywall with a resilient channel system and, if so, which one?)

I'm sure I'll have further questions about the entry door, ventilation, lighting, wiring chases, sound insulation between the inner and outer walls, etc., but I figured I'd start with the wallboard. Any wisdom you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[vkuehn]

The first rule is to always take a deep breath before plunging into the topic and remembering that acoustical treatment and sound isolation are two different things. I don't know how much space you can make available, but a "room inside a room" is a good starting point in your planning.

Once of the secrets of creating a wall that isolates is "staggered studs". Use a 2x6 for the plate and header, and then put up one set of studs on the inside edge of the plate (maybe spacing them every 24 inches) and the other set of studs at the outside edge... half-way between the inside studs. Weave your insulation material between the studs, side to side.

[Jason Huggins]

It does definitely depend on the available space. A 2x6 staggered stud wall will end up being almost a foot thick after two layers of drywall and then acoustic treatment inside. If you want 4'x4' for your functional inner dimensions you'll have a footprint of 6'x6'

If you have a smaller space, a prefab booth may be in order. Definitely can't be connected to the existing structure if you want to block outside noise effectively. For soundproofing, mass is the only thing that stops low frequencies. A jackhammer and piledriver are gonna rumble the ground pretty good, so if it is close enough to vibrate the ground, the low frequencies will definitely need to be contended with.

[captain54]

I'll be watching this thread with extreme interest since I'm in the same boat..

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to get straight answers..
_________________
Lee Kanne
www.leekanne.com

[Ben Amos]

Paul Strikwerda's booth construction blog series from about two years ago was pretty explicit in the details. I believe he self-published a booth construction guide that's still available, too. He weighed all the pros and cons of GreenGlue and its competitors IIRC.
_________________
"Man is so made that whenever anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish." - Jean de la Fontaine

[Rob Ellis]

Lee, despite all the naysayers, my Whisper Room has been a lifesaver since 2008, but you have to treat it properly on the inside which adds about $400 to the cost.

You could probably find one used if you search for $2500-$3500, maybe even less.

[Lee Gordon]

I actually found a Whisper Room on Craigslist for around $500 but it got snapped up faster than I could respond. And it was about 50 miles away -- at the outer limit of how far I trust my van to go.

I am also intrigued by the Studiobricks booth that Paul seems pretty high on. But the reasons I want to build my own booth are, I figure I can build a good one for less money (under 2 grand?) than it would cost for even a used Whisper Room, and as long as I have to put a big ugly booth right in the middle of my living space, I might as well make it look the way I want it to look -- in this case, like a Tardis.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[heyguido]

Well, then.... Problem solved!

When the jackhammers start, you can simply jump back in time to when they were quiet.....

And it's bigger on the inside.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Jason Huggins]

[Jason Huggins]

You can definitely build something for cheaper than buying a prefab. Is space not an issue? If that is the case, just build a truly decoupled set of single stud walls. That will give you the best isolation. Just make sure you seal up all the gaps with acoustic caulk and build a platform to decouple the booth from the floor.

I personally built a staggered stud booth with regular drywall and no green glue (just double layer on the inside and singe layer on the outside) in my basement, and I NEVER hear anything outside. The only thing I can hear is when my kids are stomping directly above...which mom stops pretty quickly.

[Lee Gordon]

Space is a huge issue. I think my maximum footprint will be about 4½' X 4½'. And even then I'm going to have to get rid of some furniture to make room. But since the structure does not have to support anything but itself, I was thinking of building a 2x3 inner wall on which to hang the drywall, surrounding it with a small air space and then a 2x3 outer wall on which to hang ½" MDF or some other surface treatment, with insulation between the inner and outer walls.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[ballenberg]

Oooh, that's extremely tiny. Generally that size container has a lily on top and organ music being played nearby.

What about the possibility of not enclosing yourself but instead using an effective gating system like the 528e? ( I know a cool trick using a second mic, that's hard to explain but easy to use) Is there any possibility of adding some heft to the existing walls --maybe a layer of GreenGlue and some sheetrock and a temporary type window plug? Besides, ISDN is lossy and some extraneous noises just won't be heard--Though that probably doesn't include pile drivers--

[todd ellis]

wow .. that's small. honestly i don't think you will be happy with that at all. any chance of treating part/all of the whole room?
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Lee Gordon]

A booth that size isn't significantly smaller than the smallest Whisper Room, is it? I would just go in there to record. All my other work would be done outside the booth.

Not really excited about using a noise gate. I'd rather just start with the cleanest possible audio. I do a little after-the-fact noise removal now, when necessary. But that's not really an option with ISDN. Besides, I'll be using a Roadrunner, which is only going to add to the noise.

In fact, I'm not really concerned so much about pile drivers. They've been building another bridge about a half mile from my house and I can hear the pile drivers (faintly) but they've never shown up in my audio. And so far, I have not heard much noise from the more nearby bridge demolition. And even if there is some, it will be periodic rather than constant.

Actually, I'm more concerned with isolating myself from noise generated inside the house -- mainly from HVAC sources. That's one reason moving the studio to the basement is out of the question. That would just put me closer to the boiler.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Jason Huggins]

The only problem with that is that you don't you don't really have space to have an inner dimension of 4x4 if you can only have a footprint of 4.5x4.5. That is barely enough to just do a regularly framed 2x4 wall will a single layer of drywall on each side. Especially if you want to put any absorption material inside to take care of the bass resonance in that little room, which you absolutely must or it'll sound like an echo chamber.

You'd probably be MUCH happier with a WhisperRoom that can actually isolate you from the stuff in the house. You can knock down the highs and some mids with a regular 2x4 wall, but the low rumble will go right on through a standard wall.

I think the thinnest decoupled wall you can build is a 2x3 wall with channel and a couple layers of drywall inside and out (and either green glue, quiet rock or both). That could be sufficient, but you are still looking at a wall thickness of 7" plus 3-4" for the absorption material. Then double that for both walls and you have 20" minimum lost from your original 54" footprint. That'd give you an inside of less than 3x3.

You'd definitely want to decouple from the floor and not attach to the ceiling, too.

As for the basement, my studio is two feet from my 1984 furnace and water heater. I have zero issue with that stuff being right outside the door. As long as the door is super heavy and sealed well, you might still consider that. Though it is kind of like a dungeon going to the bassement to work.