Vocal Booth Build vs Buy.

Am considering adding a practice room/self-recording vocal booth in my garage. In other words a place where my daughter can practice her singing in peace and where I can go to record clean voiceover tracks using something like a Fostex MR8. I figure about 4x4 feet or maybe 3x5 feet. Now there are places that will sell freestanding vocal booth kits for about 2k. Or I could build it myself, ideally saving money. That is the choice. So, could I build such a booth for well less than 2K in materials? If so, where would you scrimp and where would you spend? Would the end result sound better than the kit unit?

You can build one for less, depending on what features or how much isolation you require. Do you need or want a window, will you be floating the floor, etc.?

Do I need a window? No. Ventillation? I am guessing yes. Some of what I would be recording would be narrations, maybe even audioboods, that might require long sessions. Floating the floor? Not really, although I am considering the benefits of building it as a freestanding unit not attached to the house itself in any way. The reason is that I might then be able to justify it as 'furniture and equipment' which would not require a building permit or increase in the property tax assesment. Thus the booth might very well have its own floor. Degree of Isolation...That is a tough question, since who would not want more? Since sealing up the garage is unfeasable the room will be pretty open to outside noises like birds and cars going by on the street (fortunately it is a cul-de-sac so infrequent traffic) would need to be silenced and maybe stuff like the neighbor's dog barking or his playing his car radio while washing the car...stuff that I have no control over but would be a pain if I had to wait on doing a job for. The garage also has a furnace that I would rather not have to turn off in order to record (as I do now). It aslo has a washer and dryer but I have more control over when those get used so I could live with not being able to record and do laundry at the same time. As a practical matter what does that translate to in terms of necessary STC or construction?

Innovations, I'm outta time at the moment to find the links, but do a search through the forum on iso booths. Several people here have done exactly what you're wanting to do, and have pictures and/or material lists and designs of what they have done. I'll try and follow up next week when hopefully I'm available. Aaron

Thanks, I look forward to it. I did indeed do a seach, and I guess that beyond the basic build vs. buy decision I am looking for advice regarding priorities. There are lots of specialty products out there for improving isolation: foams, coatings, pads, specialty sheetrock and plywood to name a few. Most are not cheap. For example Quietrock QR450 seems like fantastic stuff, but at 200 bucks a sheet putting it on both sides of the stud wall and ceiling is $1700 at least in sheetrock alone! I know from the other threads that if I don't seal the door I might as well be leaving a two inch hole in the wall. But do I get the $200 specialty door seal kit with the automatic drop-down threshold or some good weatherstripping and threshold from Home Depot and maybe spend the money on adding a layer of Auralex Sheetblok Speaking of two inch holes in the door, is it wortht he trouble to avoid any hardware that passes through the door or just fill the extra space up with foam? Caulking is a necessity, but is 'accoustic' caulk worth the extra money over good quality elastomeric caulk from Home Depot? I am pretty sure I could design a good booth if cost were no question, but where is the best bang-for-the-buck (or I guess non-bang for the buck) when cost is a question?