Built vocal booth...now need HELP!!

E

elove

New member
Hello all…I just got done building my first vocal booth. The booth is 4 X 6 and 10 ft. high. I only built two walls because I used the corner of the room as my other two walls. I covered the exterior of the booth with carpet. I built the booth using plywood and 2 X 4’s. For the door, I just cut out 2ft from one of the sides and made that the door. Yeah I know, not the best thing to do..but hey! Now I don’t know what to do about the treatment on the inside of the booth. Can you all tell me what type of foam or insulation to use for the interior? I need something cost effective. I was thinking of maybe putting some type of insulation on the inside wall and covering it with plywood on the inside of the booth. And then putting some type of foam on top of that to complete it. But as you can see, I am a newbie. I mean, is it necessary to close in the walls from the inside or is it best to just put the foam up on the walls in the inside. So can some of you give me some cost effective ways to treat the inside of the booth. Also, I need to know how to treat the roof of the booth and what to do about ventilation. So help!!!!! Asap. I want to take care of this immediately. Thanks a lot my fellow musicians…peace.
 
well .. as far as ya soundproofing, ya **** is gonna sound to the exterior damn near no matta what chu do .. u have no mass around it. but besides that, talking acoustics, i would suggest buyin some acousitcal foam .. i have some Sonex foam and it works great .. i payed about 230 for a decent amount and its 1 of the best investments i made..
 
Yeah I know I was going to need the acoustical foam on the inside. But I wanted to put some type of insulation in the walls and cover with plywood. Then put in the foam. Just not sure what type of insulation I would need.
 
^^ Soundproofing insulation.

Acoustical Mineral Wool is one of them, or if you want to be real ghetto just use regular exterior wall insulation. I doubt your gonna get it fully sound proof the way you described the construction, so I would just go with the regular insulation.
 
My outside noise is not that major, so I just want to soundproof it as best I can. Can I use regular wall insulation and just enclose it in with plywood? If so, what type of foam do you think I should use ontop of the plywood in the interior of the booth?
 
elove said:
Can I use regular wall insulation and just enclose it in with plywood?
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I just answered that with "...so I would just go with the regular insulation."

If so, what type of foam do you think I should use ontop of the plywood in the interior of the booth?
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I like the pyramid foam but it is a bit costly, I heard some people recommend that matress pyramid foam but I dont know its sound absorbant qualities. I have seen people paste floor carpeting on the walls and that seems to work rather well.
 
I dont know if this would work or not but try perforating the ply wood so the sound can enter where the insulation is and be absorbed better rather than hit the ply wood and bounce back at the singer. Even if the foam is there it still might bounce back.

You dont have to perforate every square inch of the ply wood but only where the mic is going to be placed.
 
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so am i correct in assuming that you have not finished the inside wall yet???


If you have not, then you would be best to line the whole room with insulation, stretch fabric over the wall and staple it to the studs (only necessary if you want it to look nice) and then put up wood slats to ocver the fabric/insulation. Any more treatment in that small a room is overkill.


when you're done it should look similar to this
studioTwo_2.jpg


and yes, you do have to do the whole room. Audio is omnipresent.

Just one more thing to note. I would HIGHLY recommend putting a door on the booth
 
well what I did is put the insulation in the wall and covered it with another piece of plywood. Next I was thinking I would cover all the walls of the booth with eggcrate foam. But what should I do about the floor and the ceiling? Again, I used a piece of plywood for the door....how can I make the best of this?
 
elove said:
Next I was thinking I would cover all the walls of the booth with eggcrate foam.
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Dont use any egg carton's! They bounce sound more than they absorb and that is not good. Either using foam is probably the best bet, but you can buy some cheap 1" foam from an Arts & Crafts store and then cover it with fabric.

But what should I do about the floor and the ceiling? Again, I used a piece of plywood for the door....how can I make the best of this?
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You can use ply wood for a floor and use a throw rug to help absorb reflections, and the door should be sound proof also.
 
I dont know if we are talking about the same thing. But I was speaking about some 2" thick foam that is eggcrate shaped. Not the actual egg cartons. Is that what you are talking about? Also, any suggestions on how I can attempt to soundproof the door. It is just a piece of plywood. let me know.
 
elove said:
I dont know if we are talking about the same thing. But I was speaking about some 2" thick foam that is eggcrate shaped. Not the actual egg cartons. Is that what you are talking about?
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I thought you were referring to the actual egg cartons. The real name for the foam you speak about is called Pyramid Foam.


Also, any suggestions on how I can attempt to soundproof the door. It is just a piece of plywood. let me know.
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I dont have any suggestions on building an actual sound proof door from the ground up but I have seen someone use those outside deck sliding doors as an entrance to a booth. You can also use a single solid outside door that has a high R value, they tend to keep outside noises from entering your house so they may be good for a half a$$ed sound proof door.
 
i think spending the money to soundproof your room might kinda be a waste. As i understand it, your room shares a wall with the room you built it in, so true soundproofing in that room is not going to happen, no matter what you do.

It would be more benifical to you to focus on treating the inside of the room so that your booth sounds the best it possibly can.


I would suggest to you (or anyone interested in acousics) to read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...103-8348895-7995821?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
 
its really tough to say without seeing and hearing the room. To be able to treat the room properly, it is necessary to perform an acoustical audit of the room, which is a fairly complex process.

What i have done in the past is just set up a mic in the room and recorded some vocals without any treatment in the room, and then listened to the vocals and see how they sound. and then put some treatment up and then see if you think it sounds better, and then try moving the treatment around. keep doing this until you're satisfied with the results.

one neat thing that was done at the studio i work at, is we have moveable foam. which was just a piece of foam with a few pieces of velcro attached to it. the wall is covered in fabric, so we can just press the foam against the wall, and it sticks. its quite handy
 
elove said:
well what I did is put the insulation in the wall and covered it with another piece of plywood. Next I was thinking I would cover all the walls of the booth with eggcrate foam. But what should I do about the floor and the ceiling? Again, I used a piece of plywood for the door....how can I make the best of this?
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Oh boy, that's gonna be a distaster! Read more about acoustic treatment, e.g. on this web site:

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
 
Disaster? hum, maybe. But you do what you have to do when working with limited funds. Hopefully what you call a disaster will lead up to something good. Thanks for the site though. By the way, how many CDs have you sold with your nice set up? Peace.
 
elove said:
By the way, how many CDs have you sold with your nice set up? Peace.
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None *LOL*. I was offered a record deal from a French label in Paris a few months ago, but decided that I need more time to get a killer CD out. But I'm not in a rush though. A commercial sale of a CD is not important to me at the moment.

Hey, have you checked out the Markertek acoustic foam?

http://www.markertek.com/Product.as...S&subcat=&prodClass=ACFOAM&mfg=&search=0&off=

54" x 54" acoustic foam for $20.-! It comes in blue or gray, with 2 inch or 3 inch thickness. Dirt cheap, but really good. I put that foam inside my vocal booth to have a dry signal. Works really well. In my tracking room I only have self-made acoustic panels and bass traps, nothing fancy.

Good luck!
 
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