Material Advice For Sound Booth

Felixmaster

New member
Booth Desk Design.png

Edit: Excuse the terrible "paint job" of a design i did with rough measurements above.. but this is the general idea and space i'm working with. In my latest reply to this post as well, i've explained a little extra information in relation to this image.. (the orange is brickwork wall xD)

Edit 2: Just so there is no confusing, i'm looking to create a "booth" or space to absorb the sound from my recordings (vocal mostly).. that will surround and or be apart of my desk itself (desk apart of one of the "walls" possibly.. detachable etc) So with that in mind, there wouldn't be much standing being done in the space itself.. unless it's really necessary lol

So I know that sound-proofing is an expensive and time-consuming endeavour.. and when my wife and I eventually build our new home (next couple years or so).. i'll have my own room specifically sound-proofed and all the works~!

But in the meantime, as i'm doing voice acting and singing, i'm looking for something to at least do something about the majority of the sound. I know it'll leak, I know it won't be perfect.. and for now, that's fine. (especially if it can at least dull the sound of these stupid planes flying over)

I've got a general idea of what i'm wanting.. i've currently looking at a 2.4m by 2.4m by.. i'd say 2m height.. space.. one side is against a solid brick wall (so i'm not worried so much about that).. but i'll be having about 3 walls (with a smaller section that'll swing open to enter and exit through) and a ceiling which i'm looking to build to absorb most of this sound.

The walls themselves i'm planning to be semi-portable (i.e either not super heavy to move.. which i doubt.. or divided further into smaller, manageable pieces..). and connected via door hinges (so you can just pop them off and move them).. possibly with the inner "stuffing" exposed so it'll "mesh" together.. on where they connect and then caulk up the spaces between in the meantime (not sure if that's a good idea at this point lol).. It'll have a ceiling which will be the same style as the walls (except bolted into the top of the "walls").. additionally i've got a number of heavy moving blankets that i'll most likely hang from the walls to make it "quieter" in the room itself for recordings..

I've got a basic design down which I can provide, once i've drawn it up a little better than the scribbles i've currently got lol, But i'm more-so interested in the materials, which ones would be both cheap, yet somewhat effective (I say "cheap" but if something is far better material wise for sound absorption/proofing and only costs a few bucks more, i'm willing to fork it out)..

We've got a number of different types of wood in the garage that might be suitable for the framework for the walls, but i'm looking to get a better "opinion" based on what i'm after. (so might not need to go out and specifically buy certain parts? so woo! if that's the case haha)

Again, I know that sound proofing itself is expensive, but i'm more after a sound-booth that will help to absorb most of the sound coming into my recordings, as well as sounds going out. It won't be perfect, and it doesn't need to be for the moment.. because it's only going to be used for a few years before I get a properly sound proofed room.

So any and all advice would be great!

I know i'll need more details and specifics so that you guys can properly help me in regards to what would be best performance vs cost wise.

But thought it'd be good to get this up and out there so that I can be enlightened so to speak lol.
 
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I looked and looked and looked and discovered there is no easy or cheap way regardless of how many duvets you suffocate yourself with.
 
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eh, 2 m height? Are you a dwarf or pygmy? That's not going to give much room for standing up in. If you didn't have at least 2.3 m of space to build this booth in I wouldn't even bother. Just the sheer logistics of trying to put a modular roof on top of standing walls, especially if it has any heft to it (which it needs if it is going to do ANY sound blocking at all)
 
If it needs to be disassembled - google theatrical pin hinges. Scenery and set people use them for everything. You match the pieces up and drop a pin into them - so they can do exactly what you want. Amazing and so simple and cheap.

The biggest problem is cupboard sized rooms sound really horrible and boxy, unless you really line all the surfaces with absorbers, and probably 2" foam is the deepest - this means your inside dimensions shrink even more. The other killer is air - shut the door and you heat up amazingly quickly. A timber frame with plasterboard could be quite easily built and pretty effective at sound insulation. Foam will mop up much of the HF, but the room will be quite Bassy - and traps to cure this rather big. if you try to add vents, then you need to move air quite slowly - 8' ducts can work OK, but 4' ducts make quite a noise. I bit one of these into a project and it was hardly used. Stuffy, smelly and unpleasant to be in - like a big coffin/casket? 2m is ok if you stick in a high stool, but standing it's too low. 2.4m is nicer, 2.2 at a push but with some foam on the ceiling, a 6ft person is very close!

Esmono booths start at 1.2 x 1.2 x 1.9m and that size is a bit claustrophobic but common in Europe. A quick google will provide useful info.
 
Orson - Appreciate that you're so enthusiastic about my well being, cheers mate.. much helpful.

Bluesfordan - That's my bad, i should have said 2m minimum lol, and any extra "padding" would be built outside of that range so as not to remove inner space, so that's my poor wording choice, i've got probably a extra meter in one direction that i can make use of, and atleast another 2m above, though this might not be the case when it comes to moving house (as the current room was the previous "lounge" space.. so for some reason has a really high ceiling).. But appreciate the opinion and insight.

Rob Aylestone - That makes sense, and is the idea my dad gave me when he suggested the door hinges, and the disassembly is just to make moving it from house to house easier, or moving from one room to another (if need be) so theatrical pin hinges sound like they would be perfect, and that makes sense for scenery people to use it.

Seeing the replies, i suppose my wording was a little poor looking back now, i AM looking to add some absorbent foam to the inside, so that would limit the inside just a little.. I really appreciate your somewhat detailed information about what i might run into, and has made me re-think a few things.. I do have another metre or so that i can make use off in one direction, though the other will probably be constant at 2.4 so it's not like it's a small space per-say.. but i will need to think of some ventilation solutions.. As i mentioned in my reply above, there is plenty of space to go up, and 2m was merely a minimum (again, poor wording).. so with the absorption it would need to be more.. i'll get some proper measurements soon, just work has been kicking my ass!

But appreciate all the comments so far, without having enough detail (which is my fault lol)
 
If you use foam (and maybe some rockwool for low frequencies), it is going to sound boxy as hell. Close miking would be ok for voiceover work. The ventilation issue is real.
You may get a decent dB reduction - enough to mask out some environmental noise, but it won't be "soundproof" - you will still be heard outside the booth. How are you going to run cables into for the mic and headphones? Every gap/joint is a place where noise will leak in/out.
 
Booth Desk Design.png

So i've attached an example of the area i'm working with after measuring.. it's going to be surrounding a desk which i'll be building into one of the walls (or since i'm having it near the brick in the design.. standing by itself instead of what i've currently got).. So hopefully this gives a bit better understanding of what i've been (poorly) portraying..

I'm not fussed too much about my voice so much being heard outside of the "booth".. as long as most of what is trying to be recorded is absorbed or blocked (which i understand to provide ventilation etc for this small space, won't be much)..

As i said it's only meant to be a temporary usage and solution for the moment until i've got an actual sound proofed room to work with. I understand this might be seen as something that's being done "half assed".. and usually i much prefer to do things the "right" way from the start.. but this is simply a small area and project i'm trying to work with, and looking to get some experience with, of course with help from you guys! before i work with a bigger space and spend more money to develop in the future.

Note: the reason why it's only 2.3m one side is because of stairs that go from the floor i'm on, to a slightly elevated one in the same "room".. i can always have the left hand side wall where part of the desk would be sitting, where there is a bannister of sorts, sitting ontop of the solid tile work that's there (for the raised area) to give that LITTLE bit more space to pad for sound absorption.. so that's always an option to give a bit more room.. The right hand side is towards the room window, so i'm happy to completely block that off lol
 
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