Iso Box for PC - and vocal booth.

Hi guys, I have a limited control room which I also use for DI guitar/bass and also for vocal and electronic (MIDI) drum tracking. Basically one full room I think its approx 5m long x 3m wide by 3.5 high. I'll get the measure out when I get home so I can provide more accurate info :oops: I have to main things (apart for general acoustic proofing at a later stage) that are causing me issues :- * Computer Noise/Vocal Tracking In fact I guess they are booth intertwined because I don't do any other live recording in this room... My question is, best to create an iso box for the PC or to create a makeshift (which can be moved around and tidied away) and small vocal booth? I guess it is better for me to record my vocals quite dry and apply reverb/delay as neccessary in my DAW so I guess the vocal booth may have more benefits that housing in the PC which would block its access (CD bay for example) and risk the temperature rising - I don't want to spend a fortune, and if I could get a clever design, I can get a carpenter friend to help me make it. Also advice on materials to add to the frame etc. Hope someone can help - Its quite an annoying noise from the PC (no surprise, it's a Prescott P4) and the PC is audio only (not internet etc). Big hi to all and speak soon I hope :D Cheers Gary

First suggestion: Before you try to build a box to isolate the noise, you really should try to take some efforts to stop the problem at it's source. I.e. reduce the noise of the PC. There's a number of sites out there that can give you some good ideas for how to tame the noise, but here's what I did to mine:

1. Get a good (large) case. You need to consider airflow to keep heat down. If you can keep heat down you can turn your fans slower and get less noise. 2. Get a low noise power supply, something with a 120mm fan, and a temperature controlled fan speed. 3. Buy low noise drives...Seagate Baracuda IV with fluid bearings were the quietest drive when I spec'd my system. 4. Buy an efficient heatsink and fan combo. The better your heatsink, the less hard your CPU fan needs to work. 5. Look at the heat dissipation specs for your processor. New AMD 64's are great...low heat, fast processors. Whereas P4's and older AMD's are power/heat hogs. 6. Install case fans...run them off low voltage (7V). Use 120mm fans turning slow. This keeps the noise down yet still moves enough air to keep the computer cool. 7. Install damping material inside the case, and isolate the drives from the case with rubber grommets. This helps keep the case from resonating like a drum. 8. Distance is your friend....remember the inverse square law, and get your computer as far away from your mic as possible. 9. Buy a motherboard that supports automatic fan control...keeps the fans slow when the computer isn't too hot, and speeds them up accordingly

If all that isn't enough, consider building an iso box around the pc with a door in front for optical drive access. You'll want to baffle the exhaust and intake ports (remember that your computer still needs air), but you should be able to reduce the noise appreciably. For vocal tracking, on the cheap I'd say treat the two adjacent walls of a corner of your room with 703 or some other rigid insulation panels, and track facing into the corner. This will deaden the first early reflection, and keep the other wall reflections under control by distance (arrival time). Cheers, Kris

Also, brands like Thermaltake have put out fanless power supplies which make zero noise. They also have fanless cpu coolers with big heatsinks that are supposed to cool the cpu enough by only using the airflow from a case fan. If you really need an isolation box, go to the studios under construction page of John's site, and have a look at update 2 and three of Laptoppop's studio. He made an isolaton box for his computer similar to what you want to do.