Cheap sound booth

billisa

New member
I'm almost done constructing my PVC pipe/movers blankets sound booth! I finished the frame in about 2 hours (including cutting and assembly. I'll be using fine, stiff wire to attach the movers blankets. The booth is about 77" tall, 60"long and 40" deep. I don't expect it to be sound proof, but I do expect it to knock down any residual background noise when I'm recording with my condensors... The blankets are 70"X76" and cost $15 each, new.
 
:cool: One may need to make a " roof " for it, depending on how noisey the room is the booth is located, Also is the floor treated too, in some way?
Do let us know how this works out.......



da MUTT
 
I do like the blanket booth on a low budget. I've got something similar myself.

However, without bursting your bubble, some of the things I was wishing for didn't come true. Your blanket booth is going to cut down on reflections, so that your 'room' will have a flatter sound. (Reducing the reflection of high frequencies.) This I like, seeing how I record in a garage.

Where I was disappointed, was it didn't help with shielding myself from the outside noises. Car traffic(lows), boom boxes(lows), screaming kids (Absolutely no amount of soundproofing can tame the frequencies of an excited 4 year old girl), etc...

If your looking to dampen the sound, then if your a guitarist or vocalist, (Hi - Mid Fq.) then you'll put it to good use. If your a drummer or bass player, then you're fighting a hard battle.

Blind Cowboy...
 
Actually, I'm looking to shield out light background noise, not heavy-duty stuff. For instance, I can faintly hear the HD whine on my DAW when using a condensor. If I can block this I'll be in great shape. I usually record late at night, so as to avoid neighborhood lawnmowers, etc...
 
Awesome. Looks like we're two of a kind. 1am and tryin to remember music theory enough to pair something with a Dm5.

My brother came over w/ my nephew and we went out to my studio. I had my "Booth" set up, and I was showing my brother my new guitar. Behind me, I hear a 4 yr old voice.

"Whoa!! Cool Fort! Can I play!?!"

Apparently, a blanket booth is the ultimate tool in protection from fire breathing dragons and invading indians. I should know. We ended up playing in my booth for about 4 hours.

Blind Cowboy...
 
:D " Absolutely no amount of soundproofing can tame the frequencies of an excited 4 year old girl "

Only the grandparents can do this.......


da MUTT
 
I use heavy duty draperies (rather than packing blankets) simply because it is cosmetically more attractive (I found drapes that worked with the colors or my studio (blue/red/grey) This setup was able to cut out low level background noise (computer fan, air conditioning noise, etc).
 
Sound suppression

Freq <30Hz are sesmic and require mass damping. These are the hardest to kill as they require mass and structure. Tackle these FIRST. The freq >30Hz, <3KHz are killers and require the most attention and materials mainly because the ear is most sensitive to these freq. The freq >3KHz are typically air borne acoustic and easy to eliminate so don't worry about them if you get rid of the others. Don't spend a lot of money on egg crates, a flannel blanket draped (not flat) on the wall would give you 30dB.

I have't seen many notes of the sesmic isolation although this is costly to an effective acoustice chamber. A concrete floor is actaully sesmic speaker into your room. The acoustic chamber should be built on a sesmic base. The mass damping of being below grade is helpful, but sesmic means the ground is moving so you'll need more than that below 30Hz. Build a room (large mass) on a rubber suspension. I used a layer of 2" building / packing foam in one application, but I knew the structural weight and damping requirements...
 
billisa said:
Actually, I'm looking to shield out light background noise, not heavy-duty stuff. For instance, I can faintly hear the HD whine on my DAW when using a condensor. If I can block this I'll be in great shape. I usually record late at night, so as to avoid neighborhood lawnmowers, etc...
You can isolate the noise from the DAW by building an insulated box around it. If it's a computer you can turn off the fans while recording. You need to keep aware of ventilation and overheating.
 
Rocket Boy said:
the blanket booth wont deaden my vocals?

Well, in a sense it does... A blanket booth, or blankets draped on the walls (like on the back cover of Johnny Cash's latest), takes wall reflections out of the picture. This means you just get the voice and no odd reverberations you may not want, and cannot be gotten rid of. So, you add reverb later (or via a plug-in or external reverb unit) to a dry vocal.

Now, if you have a recording space that has desirable reverb then you'd not want to drape blankets around.
 
dejacky said:

yeah, maybe later today i'll take a few and see if i can attach...

basically all it is is a PVC pipe rectangle frame with mover's blankets draped and wrapped around it, with an entry/exit flap.
 
billisa said:
Well, in a sense it does... A blanket booth, or blankets draped on the walls (like on the back cover of Johnny Cash's latest), takes wall reflections out of the picture. This means you just get the voice and no odd reverberations you may not want, and cannot be gotten rid of. So, you add reverb later (or via a plug-in or external reverb unit) to a dry vocal.

Now, if you have a recording space that has desirable reverb then you'd not want to drape blankets around.

but it wont attentuate the highs or make the lows boomy, or whatever?
 
Rocket Boy said:
but it wont attentuate the highs or make the lows boomy, or whatever?

it basically just makes things as clean as possible. it cuts reflections and room reverb to near zero. that's essentially it.
 
GENIUS! SHEER GENIUS BILLISA!!!! ..man i cant wait to see some pics... billisa .. please give me some requirements so i can build one myself... like what size PVC pipe and what type of blankees ?thats just what i need is one of these things..... this pretty much answers my other thread ..thanks! - Kyle


www.veilingiris.com - Veiling Iris
 
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