VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[JTVG]

Hi friends,

Hoping to make a move soon and I'm eying a small walk in closet as a new booth area (4 x 6 ft) It'll take some work to do it right and I'm not in any hurry, but carpet for both the outer room/closet will be on the fast track.

What preliminary work do you think should be done on the floor, before the carpet gets laid? Eventually, I want to extend the outer wall a few more feet and install some sort of door to the closet. That's down the road, but the floor will need to be done soon.

Here's a visual:


Thanks!
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Mike Sommer]

Why just the closet and not the whole room?

You'll be more comfortable, and will more likely have a better overall sound.

As for the floor; what is the subfloor, is it wood or cement slab?

Where is the room in conjunction with the rest of the house and its utilities and services?

And how high is the ceiling?
_________________
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.

[JTVG]

The room is pretty big comparatively and I would have to frame it into two sections to isolate the equipment from the mic. It's something to think about but this sounds like a much more manageable project. Maybe it's not though in the grand scheme of things?

The closet is on the second floor, so we have a wood floor with perhaps some insulation below above the first floor ceiling. Not sure. The room is in a small guest house which I'll be the only one occupying. Thus I don't expect any real noise at all from utilities. Have to check on the AC and how loud it is. The utility room is in the front left corner and the closet in the middle right side. No real overlap.

Didn't measure the ceiling (duh!) but my guess is 8 feet.
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Mike Sommer]

If you need to isolate the equipment, make the closet the "Machine Room," all your noisy gear can go in there, and you'll still have a storage space. Since you're moving in the direction of installing a door for the closet anyway, you're not really going out of your way. You'll just need to pull Power into the closet, and if you can pull two clean lines from the service box, that would be even better.


You should really get a good idea of the ambient noise of the house and the neighborhood. So as long as this area is away from bathrooms and AC units you'll have half a chance of a quiet recording space.

One of the first things I would do is pull, up the carpeting, and check the wood subfloors for squeaks. All the sub flooring in the areas of this room should be screwed down with decking screws. Then caulk all the gaps between the floor and the bottom of the drywall with Sikaflex -1A. This should include the closet and the gap of any wall on the other side of this room. Doing this will provide an air tight seal. (Be sure to caulk at leas 72 hours before you install any finish flooring, or you'll have a lot of messed up carpet. )

If you're installing a door for the closet, you'll want to change the door leading into the room also. Here I would install fire rated exterior doors and jambs that have kerfed in weather striping. Such doors will give you the most isolation for the money.

Isolation is your friend, so if had the budget I would add a layer of 5/8" drywall to the ceiling and walls, and if you add green glue, this would all be for the better. Be sure to check the windows in this room for noise isolation too.


Also I would not rely on the houses AC unit to keep this room comfortable. Ultimately this room and the house will have their own needs. Installing a Mitsubishi Mr Slim will be your best option. Then you can simply close off the duct to this room, in the attic, and have whisper quite heat and air conditioning.


If you need details, PM me and I'll be glad to provide you with my services.
_________________
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.

[JTVG]

Great info, Mike. Thanks. I'm sure we'll talk together more seriously in the future.

I'll give it all some thought on future placement and take care of the sub-floor first. I've had the Mr. Slim in mind for awhile when the time is right. If I go through with putting a booth in the closet, ventilation will need to be sorted out.

If I decide to make the room itself the recording area, would the Mr Slim be quiet enough to run during sessions? Honestly, I don't think I'd put the money toward treating the whole room, but I might consider halving it and make one side the recording area and one side the mixing area. I don't have dimensions but we're talking medium to slightly large sized bedroom here. Vague, I know.
_________________
Joe Szymanski
http://www.joethevoiceguy.com

[Mike Sommer]