Hellfire's Dual Wall Iso Booth Build. Updated 6/20/11 Traps

xSpace wrote:

DJ Hellfire wrote:

Days 26-27 added to first post.

Help me/us out here...what are you doing? You make a post that talks about "Day 26-27 added to first post" What does that mean...where is the first post...why can you not just post the update chronologically instead of making me have to ask questions about where it is or what it is I am looking for... Jezz Louis...

You ever followed Lou's build thread, for example? It's like a 1 year build with updates randomly spread across like 40 pages. Some people wanna just see the entire build on one page without having to click through all of those pages. So I'm keeping all of my updates in order in my first post of this thread. Being that I am the topic starter, first post means the post that starts this whole thread. You are like the first person I've come across that was confused by this out of the 3 forums I posted this on. Lol. :mrgreen:

It isn't confusion, it is an unwillingness to deal with a convoluted process that is essentially you trying to reinvent the wheel. No one else does it because it is a leapfrog process...those that do not reply are not interested,.,.my interest is what made me speak up.

xSpace wrote:

It isn't confusion, it is an unwillingness to deal with a convoluted process that is essentially you trying to reinvent the wheel. No one else does it because it is a leapfrog process...those that do not reply are not interested,.,.my interest is what made me speak up.

Think about what the point of me posting like that is instead of worrying about what everyone else does. A year from now when this build is well done and a member comes along and finds this thread, all the info/process will be nicely consolidated into a single post on a single page, which is WAY easier and much less time consuming in the end for the readers and people seeking help. This also gives them the choice of whether or not they want to read through the thread and see several of topic posts about a persons rose garden or something useless in between updates. This also helps return viewers easily catch up by not having to remember what page they left off on the last time and find the last update they saw. No one is trying to reinvent the wheel. Now you're just sounding stupid and making a fuss over nothing. I'm keeping my information organized instead of having it spread randomly all over cyberspace. If you're to lazy to click the page one button and scroll down a bit, or it's just too difficult for you to do, stay out of the thread. :roll:

Not only that, but let's say I did post my updates in a new post everytime. Let's say when you were researching your build, you saw more door build update and let's just say I posted that on page 23. A few months go by and you start your build. You want to take a quick look at my door section to cross check with what you're doing. Now you remember you saw my door setup and you found the thread but you just don't remember exactly what page it was on. Do you really wanna click through 23 pages until you find it or would you rather just scroll through the first post of the topic??? :roll:

The only problem I see is that to view page 1 you have to load all the images in one go that blows my data budget to hell. And DJ - don't speak to one of my moderators like that again or I'll delete the whole thread!

John Sayers wrote:

1. The only problem I see is that to view page 1 you have to load all the images in one go that blows my data budget to hell. 2. And DJ - don't speak to one of my moderators like that again or I'll delete the whole thread!

1. That's fine and is a perfectly valid gripe with my post style. However, Brien didn't explain it that way. He just seemed to me to be basing his gripe off of his personal taste. I lowered the upload resolution on all of my photos specifically for this thread. I didn't realize it would still take a toll on bandwidth. 2. If that's what you want to do then go ahead John. It's really not my lost; and obviously you guys feel the same way. It's the community that will suffer in the end. But if your moderators don't explain issues properly (as you just did) instead of making the issue sound like a personal pet-peeve, then send me PM's asking me if I'm 12, then that's how I will respond. I didn't respond to him any way in this thread to be called a 12 year old in PM.

I have no idea of what he posted in a PM.

John Sayers wrote:

I have no idea of what he posted in a PM.

Oh, the bit where I called him lazy? Listen, it's nothing personal against him. Just seemed he was attacking me from an illogical viewpoint and that's how I felt about it, which I felt I had the right to voice. In the end, I'm just trying to make it easier for people seeking information to find it as quickly as possible, as I was one of those people just two months ago. But from the bandwidth standpoint you mention, it does make sense (although I don't see how that same amount of pics spread across the whole 2 pages of this thread instead of just the first would make much difference). So if this thread is still here when I wake up tomorrow, I will post the rest of the door update in a new post. If not, then farewell. Much respect to you John and everything you've done. Your work is impeccable. But I refuse to not have the right to challenge a members comments/actions if I feel the need to just because they are a moderator. If I'm wrong, I will gladly admit. But as far as I am aware of, nothing in this thread has violated the user agreement policy in anyway. If it has then show me and I will correct it!

your post will be here in the morning.

Here's day's 28-29. First I pre-drilled all the holes for the pull plates/handles, push plates, and door closures. Then taped off the stock door seals, scuffed the doors a bit and painted the doors and jambs. I stuffed the door knob bores with roxul. Also use a little construction adhesive on the plates. I plan on swapping out the door hinges with some nice stainless steel ones as well. For now, I just painted them black because they were primered.

nice work. i like the stainless on the handle. not sure you need to replace the hinges -- the black works. thanks for the individual postings, if your text is complete enough in each post, people search for it (and related pictures) will find it easily.

gullfo wrote:

nice work. i like the stainless on the handle. not sure you need to replace the hinges -- the black works. thanks for the individual postings, if your text is complete enough in each post, people search for it (and related pictures) will find it easily.

True. I get what you're saying. Thanks bro. Can you also comment on this question? Must have gotten overlooked with the ot stuff the other day. What are you guys' thoughts on the 16x48 panels? Inside the booth, I planned on having 3 16x48's on the back wall, 1 24x48 on each of the side walls, 1 16x42 laterally on the wall under the window, 3 16x36 on the ceiling (with the left and right ones possibly mounted across the top wall corner instead of flat on the ceiling), and a 16x70 on the door. All 2" panels. And possibly 2 16x48 4" bass traps in the two back corners depending on how much room the others take up. Thoughts? Interior is 4'x8' with 32"x80 door and a 24"x30" window. Lastly, between the two doors, should I put a 4" bass trap or just a 2" absorption panel?

Looking good ! And Thanks for changing your posting method. I wanted to follow your building as you went, but the single post idea was getting quite cumbersome. Now, at least, I can read everyone comments/instructions in a realtime progression. Wishing you the best! :)

RJHollins wrote:

Looking good ! And Thanks for changing your posting method. I wanted to follow your building as you went, but the single post idea was getting quite cumbersome. Now, at least, I can read everyone comments/instructions in a realtime progression. Wishing you the best! :)

Thanks! No prob! :mrgreen:

Soundman2020 wrote:

...marked and cut out the openings from the bottom...

Whoa!!!! You cut great big gaping huge enormous gigantic HOLES in your ceiling???? You won't get much isolation like that! :shock: Especially as the ceiling is coupled to the other room, and to the walls. I think you just made created a major sound leak between your rooms... You might want to re-think your lighting plan, and your ceiling too. Like Brien already pointed out, with your walls coupled to the ceiling and the ceiling coupling the rooms, you already have a pretty big flanking path there. You might want to consider taking out the ceiling on one or the other room, cutting the flanking paths, and doing another kind of ceiling. It's not too late to do that, and doesn't involve too much demo, hopefully. It seems a bit overkill to have great 2-leaf walls with two layers of sheetrock on each side over a 10" air gap, but then coupled ceilings with massive holes in them... That's like my aquarium analogy: you are using glass on three sides and tissue paper on the fourth... Just saying... - Stuart -

To back track to this point for a second. Turns out that the beams holding the ceiling up are also supporting the walls. So there was no way to safely decouple the ceiling without building a more shallow booth interior. My garage is two sided, one side being finished/livable, which is the studio half, and the other half is just your standard garage where years of junk accumulate. Directly over the booth, the ceiling has 3 huge beams that go from the side outside wall of the studio side, all the way through the middle of the garage to the other half's side outside wall. These beams are placed at each 1/4th section of the structures length. One of these happens to go right over the booth. Here's the garage: So to compensate for the recessed lighting, I double layered 5/8" drywall around the housings, and then double layered some pieces over top of the housings. So basically, the holes are completely sealed now. All joints have been staggered. Not the prettiest, but it'll have to do!

Day 30 was laminate floor install day! Got some decent looking cheap laminate from Home Depot. Came out nice for my first time ever doing flooring. The gap around the perimeter of the floor is actually under the drywall. The drywall is actually sitting about 1/4" off of the floor. Also, decided to install some ball catch latches that I saw another guy use in another build thread. Anyway, since this was a spur of the moment addition, I decided to install it on the side of the door instead of the top so that I didn't have to take the doors off the hinges. However, turns out they don't hold the door closed any tighter than the door closers so I ditched installing the second one. Installed a door stop on the CR door. Issue with the booth door is that the floor is too low for the door stop to reach it. So I have to see if I can find a taller one. Also, finished up the door closer paint. They were a nasty bronze color. Now they are black. The inside one barely clears the ceiling. It was scraping the ceiling a bit at first, but with a minor adjustment, it JUST clears.

the ball latches are nice for keeping things closed.

Day 31-32 was spent building, wrapping, and mounting acoustic panels inside the booth. These came out looking great considering I stuffed 2" Roxul in a 1.5" frame to keep them as low profile as possible. For the backs of the panels I used some cheap muslin. For the fronts I used some good stuff made of cotton. It was slightly expensive. It's no acoustic suede by any means, but it's strong enough that I was able to wrap the fabric REALLY tight, even around the sharp edges and corners of the frame without the fabric ripping. Depending on how much room is left over once the mic is in, I may space the panels an inch or two off the wall. All in all, not bad at all for my first time building these things. I still have one small ceiling panel to make, but I ran out of 1x2. Ceiling panels

very nice! are you going to put a small section of carpet on the floor?

gullfo wrote:

very nice! are you going to put a small section of carpet on the floor?

Yes sir. The foot steps are very noticeable. I was checking out some 3x5 area rugs last night. They have some really decent looking ones for a nice price on eBay.

Day 33-34. Interior of the booth is just about done. Got the third ceiling panel done. Got the talk-back mic wired and installed. Got all the door, floor and corner moldings done. Got a small carpet coming in on Monday. And still have to put some treatments on the actual doors. Also, going to paint the ceiling lights back to white. But right now it's just about record ready. Me and Surg did a test recording a couple days ago and it came out great! Here's a few pics.

just as a note on the other post regarding the MDF - you will have to check the hinges to determine if they can support the added mass - if you haven't, you might find adding another hinge and some long steel screws are necessary to support it. or maybe a single MDF panel on each door with an absorber inside on one of the doors to dampen that cavity will suffice.

gullfo wrote:

just as a note on the other post regarding the MDF - you will have to check the hinges to determine if they can support the added mass - if you haven't, you might find adding another hinge and some long steel screws are necessary to support it. or maybe a single MDF panel on each door with an absorber inside on one of the doors to dampen that cavity will suffice.

Gotcha! Thanks a lot bro! 8)

Days 35-42. Been a productive week. Got my area rug from eBay. $30 and has a cool music theme. Also, fixed the inner booth door stop. Extended the rubber using a stack of rubber anti-slip pads. Painted the control room walls, ceiling, floor molding, window molding, and entry door. Finished the new molding for the entry door as well as the molding for the control room side booth wall. Got some new Faux Wood blinds in black. And based on Gulfo's advice, I built some floor to ceiling corner bass traps for the rear wall. And I covered up the gap between the two booth doors with fabric. Also bought a new black leather sofa that's coming in on Wednesday. Still have to build a bunch more panels and beef up the booth doors! But it's about 90% done. Traps are 24x78.5 at 4" thick.

looking good!

Thanks. Gonna start on a desk some time this summer. Can't wait to get that knocked out.