VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jen Gosnell

Hi you guys,

We are under contract to buy a new house, and I will get to claim one of two main floor bedrooms as my VO office/recording space. I thought I would toss some info out here and see if my thoughts on which one to pick are sound, or whether it matters that much.

At this time my thought is that I will not want to put in a booth, but treat the chosen room as best I can when I eventually am ready to make that investment. I don't expect that to be soon, but want to make the right room choice now so as to avoid the hassle of major rearrangement of furniture later, when I'm ready.

Here are the only pix I currently have (ignore the furniture pictured; it will be gone):

Room 1 is 11 x 11, has 2 windows right next to one another
Room 2 is 12 x 13, has 2 windows on adjoining walls (a corner room)

I don't have all room details, and can't get any more till the house inspection next week, but you can see that both currently have hardwood floors, and average height ceilings. The two rooms are next to one another. This is a 1942 house.

Ideally I would pick the room that would be easiest to treat acoustically in the future. My knowledge of acoustics issues is limited, but from what I have read it is undesirable to record in a square space. That plus the idea that bigger is better would steer me toward picking Room 2. But I am not sure if there is any impact of the different window configurations. I had the thought that maybe adjoining windows would be simpler to handle, but I'd guess that would not trump the square room size consideration. (In any case, I'd like to have the option of letting light/air in when I'm not recording.)

Thoughts on which room would work better for me? Is there a significant difference? I'd be glad to take any suggestions you all can provide. Or if there are questions I can try to find the answers during the inspection.

Thanks!!
Jen
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Bruce · Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:21 am Post subject:

My biggest advice at this early stage as far as selecting which room, is what kind of noise are you likely to get coming from above, below, and from each of the four walls? Pick the room that will have the least incoming noise from children, TV sets, stereos, kitchen, neighbors, and the street.

B
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todd ellis · Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:56 am Post subject:

what bruce said - AND if you can work it - place your computer & equipment with fans in the adjoining room & cable to them.
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Eddie Eagle · M&M Joined: 23 Apr 2008 Posts: 2393

Or put the computer in a closet to block the noise. I'd think some carpet and acoustic panels would definitely help to dampen the sound. You can play with that stuff when the time comes.

Jen Gosnell · Posted: Tue May 31, 2011 4:22 pm Post subject:

Thanks you guys, these are good considerations. I'll have to prowl around the house and maybe get my husband to walk around upstairs and flush toilets, run the dishwasher, etc while I lurk about the 2 rooms. Hehe Rolls Eyes

Eddie, there is a closet in each room, so distancing myself from computer sounds shouldn't be too tough. I probably will be running my MacBook Pro which I hear a soft fan sound coming from at the moment, so putting it behind a door ought to be sufficient. I don't have any fancy audio chain and probably won't anytime soon! Wink

It's just me, my laptop, MicPort Pro, a cable and the mic. And I just realized that I'll probably need to get a new mic stand for the new space - ah well, one step at a time. Smile

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Lee Gordon · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 1:41 am Post subject:

It's a little warm this time of year, but you might also want to briefly crank up the thermostat to see what kind of noise you can expect from the furnace.
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Steve Knight · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:18 am Post subject:

Very true Lee...I thought I had a nice quiet recording space here in the basement,..until this past winter when the furnace kicked in..even if you're in a spare bedroom you can still have some furnace/AC noise to deal with,..

mcm · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 5:22 am Post subject:

Jen, no chance of a basement location for your studio? Concrete walls are rather helpful, and it's cool in the summer.

Side note: I've been switching off our big old boiler during recording sessions for years. We replaced the old boiler with a Viessmann this past winter and it is so quiet I can actually record with it running. Luxury!

Jen Gosnell · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 4:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks for more suggestions of things to consider!

The basement is the family room and is pretty much an open space. It will be a media/play room. There is also a utility/storage area as well as what seems to be a shop-type room. I haven't looked much at the latter but IIRC the walls aren't particularly finished, etc, and it's rather long & skinny. Will have another look next week.

The furnace was new a few years ago, so I'm hoping relatively quiet - I'm sure the inspector will fire it up and we'll see!

Jen
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Mike Sommer · Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:06 pm Post subject:

One of the first things you need to do is listen to the room for noise from the outside of the house and the inside of the house.

You won't know how the house will perform on the inside until you fully move in. The obvious choice of rooms would be to take the room that is furthest form the street and or the furthest from interior household noise. In terms of size it's almost six of one and half a dozen of another, they are both going to require a good amount of treatment.

Your biggest problem might be the windows. They look original, and so they may leak air as well as sound. Adding heavy glass storm windows to the outside may help a great deal.

I'll guess the walls are not insulated, so blowing in cellulose or cotton insulation into the walls will help dampen high frequency noise, and noise transference. This will be very important to these rooms because this house is a complete wood frame structure. Had this been a poured concrete pad for the floor, you may have had a better chance of isolating sound.

If isolation becomes a big factor in either of these rooms, you can very easily add a layer of drywall to the walls and ceiling, and well as add a floating floor to reduce footfall and bass frequencies. through the floor (This can be done without harming the wood floor).

You may be able to deal with the furnace and AC noise, especially of you do not do a lot of long form VO. But if that is your bread and butter, then you may need to seal off the Ducts and add a separate system for this room.

And lastly you'll probably want to add a heavy, air tight door.

I'm not saying you will need to do any or all of these things, but some may be a requirement depending on how busy you are, and noisy the neighborhood and house is.
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:22 pm Post subject:

Mike, thank you for your comments. You're right that it's a wood frame house, and I'm sure you're also right about not fully knowing till I get in there how the house will perform! You have given me some peace of mind about the impact of the size and shape of the rooms though.

I'm sure that each room will have pluses and minuses re: location and things that will possibly contribute noise, e.g. one closer to the kitchen, one to the bathroom. One a bit closer to the driveway/street, one with a window to the back yard where kids could be playing. Etc.

Fortunately we aren't in the airport flight path, and noise ratings for the address appear normal according to the city's maps. It's 3.5 blocks away from the nearest street with retail that could be called busy (still only 2 lanes). Quite a residential neighborhood. No hospital nearby or anything like that. So I'm hoping that normal neighborhood noises like lawn mowers and normal house noises will be the worst of my worries. And you're certainly right that I'll just have to wait and see how much noise is transmitted through the house into the room when, for example, we get that Wii for the basement and my kids and husband decide to play it when Mommy's recording. Sticking out Tongue

I guess it seems reasonable to just try to assess the two rooms for how much noise is transmitted to them from the various potential sources and see if there's a clear winner. If not, simply choose the room that I like best and know that down the road, as expected I'll have a fair amount of mitigation of one type or another to do.

Thanks again for all the feedback!

Jen
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Yoda117 · Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject:

Bill Campbell · DC Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 621

JEN:

Look at Craigslist and buy a couple cheap fluffy sofas and/or chairs for your room. Good for acoustics and lounging.
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Jen Gosnell · Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:50 pm Post subject:

Many thanks, Greg and Bill. I appreciate your taking the time to reply!

We're heading down tomorrow and will have the inspection on Monday, so presuming all goes well, I'll be able to more carefully consider a lot of this good advice sometime in August. Smile

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danhughes · Joined: 07 Dec 2008 Posts: 6 Location: Champaign, IL

My studio cost me two dollars. I don't know why more people don't do this - at least at first. Check it out:

http://danhughes.net/podcasting/micbox.htm

---Dan