Home Vocal Booth

A closet full of clothes.

Just put your mic in there and sing into the clothes. It'll keep it dead. Add your own ambience (delay/reverb whatever) and it should be muffled enough the neighbors will be fine.

If they flip ya any grief...just tell them you hunt bear with a plunger.

:D
 
If the neighbors have a problem with you tracking vocals - I can't imagine what they will say when you track drums.....or slap a mic in front of a Marshall cab.

Seriously, most basic room treatment is simply designed to prevent reflections - not to prevent sound from escaping. You could try to put thick layers of carpet down. I know someone who lived in an upper who poured about 6 inches of sand on the floor and then built a second floor - but that is an extreme.

The suggestion from Dogbreath may help....a little - tbut a cloths closet is more about recording a "dead sound" (no room reflections) vs. isloating the sound.
 
There is sound-treatment and there is sound-PROOFING.

Proofing involves lots of mass (concrete, sheet rubber and wood) with double walls and floors insulated from each other.

.....ain't gonna happen in an apartment.
 
dotlw said:
any good ideas for a home vocal booth that doesn't upset my downstairs neighbours
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Short of having only Aretha Franklin sing in it and asking your downstairs neighbors to sit in on the sessions, or moving to an apartment building built with Flexicore floors, there's probably not much you can do.

The closet idea might help if you laid down 1/2" steel plate on the whole closet floor and covered that with a "floating floor" made of hardwood or other stiff material that "floated" on rubber pads between it and the steel. Problem is unless you also float or de-couple the stud walls of the closet/booth from the floor, you'll still get transferrence that way. Whether it'll still be enough to bug your neighbors depends on how sensitive they are and how good your voice is.

if you want to find out more about floating floors, vocal booths or acoustic design in general, check out these books. But you're probably better off either killing your neighbors and renting their apartment yourself, or finding a bandmate's house or a rehersal space to do you recording in.

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
Short of having only Aretha Franklin sing in it and asking your downstairs neighbors to sit in on the sessions, or moving to an apartment building built with Flexicore floors, there's probably not much you can do.

The closet idea might help if you laid down 1/2" steel plate on the whole closet floor and covered that with a "floating floor" made of hardwood or other stiff material that "floated" on rubber pads between it and the steel. Problem is unless you also float or de-couple the stud walls of the closet/booth from the floor, you'll still get transferrence that way. Whether it'll still be enough to bug your neighbors depends on how sensitive they are and how good your voice is.

if you want to find out more about floating floors, vocal booths or acoustic design in general, check out these books. But you're probably better off either killing your neighbors and renting their apartment yourself, or finding a bandmate's house or a rehersal space to do you recording in.

G.
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Nice to see Rod´s book in your recommendations! :)
 
JuliánFernández said:
Nice to see Rod´s book in your recommendations! :)
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I assume you mean Rod Gervais' book (any relation to Ricky Gervais? :confused:)? Yeah that guy knows his stuff when it comes to construction and acoustics. Good book to have in the studio library, for sure.

That particular book might be a bit of overkill for this particular thread; not a whole lot of budget DIY or small-scale focus to that book, but one can always apply the larger principles and name-brand info to more generic and coloquial purposes. Glad you liked it too :).

G.
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
I assume you mean Rod Gervais' book (any relation to Ricky Gervais? :confused:)? Yeah that guy knows his stuff when it comes to construction and acoustics. Good book to have in the studio library, for sure.

That particular book might be a bit of overkill for this particular thread; not a whole lot of budget DIY or small-scale focus to that book, but one can always apply the larger principles and name-brand info to more generic and coloquial purposes. Glad you liked it too :).

G.
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Indeed! :)

I wish I had that book when I constructed my homestudio..!
 
Keep in mind that sound treatment such as foam is only going to deaden the environment (ie. reduce echo, delay, slapback), not supress it.

I turned our pantry into a recording booth utilizing the Auralex products and it works out rather well in regards to a completely dry recording environment. I still have to shut doors and listen for refrigerators, air conditioners, cars, planes, etc. before hitting the record button.
 
Stephen Hawking = Fairly smart
Richard Feynman = Genius
Ricky Gervais = Makes Steve Carell seem about as funny as George Will.

I'm not sayin'...I'm just sayin.

:D

G.
 
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