Isolation botth

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pkmusic

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I would like to better my vocal recordings by making an isolation booth inside my bedroom. What is a cheap way of doing this? I was going to place the isolation booth in a corner. Build two walls out of two double sheetrocks with isolation in the middle ( Ex: || [] || ). Ofcourse a window and a door also. What else could I use? foam? heavy curtains? Something simple (not complicated) to build that would be cheap.
 
If you haven't already done this, try jumping into your closet (leave the clothes, just push 'em aside some) Close the door (or add one if there isn't one) and sing. If that works for you, youve just saved the space/time/money of building. If not, the next step is more $$$/space/time.

You're on the right track for the double-wall thing - check out this site

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

click on STC chart in the index column, and you'll find Sound Transmission Class figures on several types of walls. Higher is better, anything over 50 is great for 95% of recording. In fact, unless you improve the other two walls (the existing ones the booth will be sharing) anything over 40 would probably be overkill.

Look around the SAE site a LOT, there's bags of great info there... Steve
 
Great info

Wow, that is great info!! Thanks!! Now, where could I go to get this material (sorry if this sounds stupid)? Where could I get steel studs and plasterboard, at Lowes or Home Depot???
 
Yeah, the steel studs are just the standard kind used in office partitions, etc - plasterboard is another word for sheet rock. About $4 or $5 a sheet for 4 x 8, slightly higher for the 5/8" stuff.

Unless you plan on taking great pains with a sealed door, I wouldn't go beyond 2 layers each side. Also, just in case you've read about Resilient Channel, forget it with the steel studs. They flex enough to accomplish the same decoupling effect between inner and outer wall layers.

Ask the Lowes or Home Depot guy about Butyl caulk - make sure he knows you want non-hardening. Caulk everything, don't make the seams between sheets of sheet rock coincide with each other (each layer should have seams in a different place) - the end goal is to come as close as you can to a room that, if you connected a vacuum cleaner to an intentional hole in the wall, you could literally suck the walls into each other. Then, and only then, will the STC rating you see in the charts actually be there... Steve
 
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