Vocal Isolation booth under stairs??

[clevodrummer]

I am thinking of building a vocal iso room under my basement stairs.The stairs are about a 45 degree angle. Not a lot of room, but I figgered it might be cool.

Anyone ever do this, and what do you supposed the acoustic properties of basically a 45 degree angled ceiling might sound like?

I finished the rest of my studio and will post pics soon.

thanks all.

[mtx records]

Originally Posted by clevodrummer

I am thinking of building a vocal iso room under my basement stairs.The stairs are about a 45 degree angle. Not a lot of room, but I figgered it might be cool.

Anyone ever do this, and what do you supposed the acoustic properties of basically a 45 degree angled ceiling might sound like?

I finished the rest of my studio and will post pics soon.

thanks all.

my friend did this in his homestudio and it sounded pretty good with a few bass traps, i say go for it, but just make sure you have enough room for the vocalist to move around.

[breeeeza]

Originally Posted by mtx records

my friend did this in his homestudio and it sounded pretty good with a few bass traps, i say go for it, but just make sure you have enough room for the vocalist to move around.

why bass traps?
Just treat it with egg crate foam if your going to at all.

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by breeeeza

why bass traps?
Just treat it with egg crate foam if your going to at all.

Don't listen to that!! You don't need bass traps, but you may decide later on to use the booth for recording amps etc so bass traps would be good, and for vocals, the vocal range can go down to 300Hz so At least 2-4" rigid fiberglass would be your best choice.

[Shout It Out]

i dunno bout vocals casue my understairs is very small, however ive been a nice big understaircase before...if there is room to breathe/move/and have some ventalation, I say go for it, if its smaller, def would be nice for Amps, anything that makes noise that you dont want to be heard liek a computer. It's up to the size i guess..

[mtx records]

Originally Posted by pandamonk

Don't listen to that!! You don't need bass traps, but you may decide later on to use the booth for recording amps etc so bass traps would be good, and for vocals, the vocal range can go down to 300Hz so At least 2-4" rigid fiberglass would be your best choice.

thats what i meant by bass traps, sorry for confusion

[Innovations]

please no egg crate foam. The 45 degree angle is fine because in fact you want as few parallel walls as possible. Put all the absorbtive material (703 fiberlgass) on the parallel surfaces.

[breeeeza]

who the fuck neg repped me cause of the egg crate foam. He is putting it under the stairs. Not next to shit loads of power supplys. He will occasionaly have a condensor mic and a stand in there. thats all. And i said DONT use bass traps. if he was going to use anything to treat it use egg crate (CHEAPER THAN FIBREGLASS AND MOST OF US ARE ON A BUDGET CAUSE ITS A HOME RECORDING STUDIO). I also said 'If your going to treat it all...' which means 'If you feel the need to' But in this case i dont think you need to treat it anyway!!! And what is it going to catch fire on anyway. Who has a recording studio with loads of electronics and overloaded plugs etc.... in the cupboard under the stairs???
However i know what you mean by egg crate foam being a fire hazard however it is the cheap option to treatment and keeping it away from electronics is a must. But in a vocal booth for a homerecording studio it should be fine cause its not going to come into contact with any electronics etc..

[daav]

Originally Posted by breeeeza

who the fuck neg repped me cause of the egg crate foam. He is putting it under the stairs. Not next to shit loads of power supplys. He will occasionaly have a condensor mic and a stand in there. thats all. And i said DONT use bass traps. if he was going to use anything to treat it use egg crate (CHEAPER THAN FIBREGLASS AND MOST OF US ARE ON A BUDGET CAUSE ITS A HOME RECORDING STUDIO). I also said 'If your going to treat it all...' which means 'If you feel the need to' But in this case i dont think you need to treat it anyway!!! And what is it going to catch fire on anyway. Who has a recording studio with loads of electronics and overloaded plugs etc.... in the cupboard under the stairs???
However i know what you mean by egg crate foam being a fire hazard however it is the cheap option to treatment and keeping it away from electronics is a must. But in a vocal booth for a homerecording studio it should be fine cause its not going to come into contact with any electronics etc..

not me!
But everyone here who hears "egg crate foam" assumes it means the stuff you buy to put on your bed for cushion that has no real acoustic properties at all (and thus would be poor advice) if you meant acoustical foam (like auralex) then you should say it specfically or people will go out and buy the useless stuff.

Daav

[breeeeza]

Originally Posted by daav

not me!
But everyone here who hears "egg crate foam" assumes it means the stuff you buy to put on your bed for cushion that has no real acoustic properties at all (and thus would be poor advice) if you meant acoustical foam (like auralex) then you should say it specfically or people will go out and buy the useless stuff.

Daav

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Acoustic-Room-...QQcmdZViewItem
Stuff like that. Cheaper than most studio treatments, And so that it meets flammability tests.
Quote: "The foam meets the FMVSS302 flammability test."
This stuff is better for acoustics than bass traps anyday!

By the way mate you dont need any treatment for your vocal booth under your stairs. And it would be fine to use it as a vocal booth!!!

[pandamonk]

Originally Posted by breeeeza

This stuff is better for acoustics than bass traps anyday!

Maybe saying that kinda stuff is the reason you got neg rep(wasn't me by the way). That stuff is 1-2" thick so will absorb only high-mid and high frequencies. Which leave the lower frequencies of the voice to still reverb around the room. Ok you could buy that stuff, it does seem quite cheap, but I'd still suggest buying a bass trap, i notice that ebay site sells those too. Only thing i don't like/trust about that site is, if they are proper acoustic treatment panels designed specially for studios, they should include coefficients.

[breeeeza]

That was an example. you can get that from 1" to 4" deep.

[chestwick91]

my opinion, if your going to buy egg crate foam...you might as well buy some damn bass traps. I know where all on a budget here, but you must have enough money to have some sort of studio...If you cant afford 703 or something like it. Then don't buy egg crate foam...if you have it use it. but i would say use a comforter or some damn pillows... that will work better

[clevodrummer]

Thanks for all the responses, and I will go forward with my plan. This site is great for getting ideas. I already have it all framed in from a previous project which was an African jungle mural we made for our 5 year old.

I was just sittin on my ass thinking about where to put an iso booth for vocals and I was starin blankly at the stairs and thought: perfect!

Ive got some ceiling insulation left over I will probably just hang and see how that works. If not, I like the response about the egg crate idea.

thanks all.

[breeeeza]

if you are going to get egg crate foam make sure they have passed the flammability test or whatever it is called. thanks

[breeeeza]

SIGN IT AND TELL ME WHY ITS FUCKING BAD ADVICE THEN! i wont neg rep you back cause im not sad i just want to know why you think its bad advice. Reply and say why. otherwise none of us will know what you think? thanks

[OhSh1rt]

Originally Posted by chestwick91

my opinion, if your going to buy egg crate foam...you might as well buy some damn bass traps. I know where all on a budget here, but you must have enough money to have some sort of studio...If you cant afford 703 or something like it. Then don't buy egg crate foam...if you have it use it. but i would say use a comforter or some damn pillows... that will work better

The eggcrate will stop the reflections, the bass traps will trap the low end, and last time I checked, the human voice shouldn't be that low.



-jeffrey

[guitarboi89]

okay im going to chime in the foam you linked doesnt show any absorbtion coeffecients, you would be best off with some neat diy broadband absorbers 4 inches thick. It will work out cheaper than proper acoustic foam (auralex) and looks tidy. Also if you ever need to record somewhere else you can take them out of the vocal booth and use them as portable absorbers.

Check out this article:
http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html -it is pretty deep

And these are the panels i am talking about:
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4581

[breeeeza]

Those egg crates one off e bay was just an example of the price and what you get. I have seen others on there showing the coefficients of it. Okay that wasnt the best example. But in most cases egg crate foam IS cheaper than fibreglass and works perfectly well. In a room of that size i dont think you need diffusors and you also have a slanted ceiling so there shouldnt be any need for them. what is the floor in this room, carpet of wood?

[breeeeza]

you just need to stop the reflections. In a room so small you wont really notice a differnt between supposed absorbers. You just need some soft wall there somewhere. If there are four walls and a ceiling all with out treatment then it will be completely 'live' with the high and mid frequencies short echoing.you just need some hard and soft surfaces to deaden the sound. "I suggest applying absorbent material to the walls using stripes or a checkerboard pattern to alternate between hard and soft surfaces every two feet or so. This makes the room uniformly neutral everywhere."
However i just went back to some notes i printed ages ago and i found this:
"The only time you might consider making a room entirely dead is when treating a small vocal booth or a very small studio or control room - smaller than, say, ten by ten feet."

I got both of those quotes from something i printed off ages ago. If you want the link it is a very useful page i will try and find it