Vocal booth design help needed.... bad

I am wanting to add a vocal booth to my studio room located in the basement and i was thinking of using the 2 concrete walls and just covering them with foam, auralex, etc as part of the vocal booth. The other two walls would be made out of wood studs, sheetrock, etc. The area is only 3'2" wide X 6' long X 7' high. I can make it smaller if need be, but can i have a great vocal booth in that kind of space? If not, what would be the best measurements to have? If this is confusing, i can definetly explain more and send pictures. I desperately need help, and the more i read, the more confused i get. ANY help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Moved to the Design forum, as this seems to be more along the lines of dimensions and shape, rather than how to build. 8) --Keith :mrgreen:

Aloha and welcome to the forum, Here are a few quotes & links from John and Steve on vocal booths: Vocal Booth Acoustic Treatment - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... booth+jpeg Venting a Vocal Booth - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... booth+jpeg Vocal Booths - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ?p=443#443 Building a Vocal Booth - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... booth+jpeg Iso Booth Ideas - http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... booth+jpeg How I built my vocal booth (step-by-step w/pics) by John Shryock A very workable booth, lot of pix http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=51632

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... ?p=443#443 A vocal booth need to be quite dead with no apparent room sound if you want a tight vocal sound. When I say dead I mean right across the frequency spectrum which requires various absorbers aimed at different frequency ranges. Have you been to the SAE site? check out absorbers. http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html cheers, john

http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=948&highlight=vocal+booth+jpeg Mode-wise, a 5 x 6 x 7 (inside) booth looks very good. It will also fit into an 8 foot ceilinged area if necessary, and is big enough for 3 (very) friendly vocalists or 1-2 with a guitar, so that's what I'm going to start with. Once I finish (don't stop breathing while you wait, I have 'way too many projects still open) you could change dimensions to suit, just do NOT make any two dimensions the same, or more than one dimension in even # of feet. Steve

Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

Thanks kendale... I checked those links out and they helped out a little. I will fill in some more detail and hopefully this will clarify some issues, problems and dilemas. In the picture i can expand into the control room if needed, but i dont really want to unless absolutely necessary. I want to put a window(green X) and a door(red X) in the control room leading into the vocal booth. Again this is located in the basement, so i didnt know if i could use the bare basement wall and just put acoustical material on the concrete or if i had to wall it in. Hope this clears more things up.

Any ideas guys?? Also, would it be better to swing the mixing desk 90 degrees to the right, i thought this may help with sound a little better.

audio-tracks wrote:

Also, would it be better to swing the mixing desk 90 degrees to the right, i thought this may help with sound a little better.

Yes Also, your plan seems fine. That size booth will work out, it'll just be a little tight. Those plans that were posted earier should work out fine for ya.

Can you tell me what the advantages would be on moving the desk? Also, are you referring to the plans up above with the cloth? What is the cloth, just cloth hung up? Thanks, Matt

Aloha,

Can you tell me what the advantages would be on moving the desk?

From the SAE website - http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

because you don't want rear reflections to interfere it is better to start with a longer front to back dimension than the side to side dimension. John Sayers

Aloha 8)

Ahh.. good point. Here is a pic of my desk a little bit of the room. There is an overhang on the ceiling of about 10" due to the a/c ducting. In the drawn pic, you can see the end the door is on.. its the openening in the wall. Any ideas?

Aloha, Perhaps something like this? DIY Wall Units - http://www.johnlsayers.com/HR/index1.htm Aloha 8)

Aloha, Here are a few bits of information I’ve collected along the way that you may find interesting: • Monitors should NOT sit on the console but behind, placed on heavy decoupled stands - console placement causes early reflection problems in most cases, unless the console is slanted down in front a LOT. • Distance to wall behind speakers will change response drastically - there is a wall bounce calculator on the Acoustics forum that's fun to play with (needs Excel) • Moving either speakers or your head by as little as an inch or two can sometimes make drastic changes in response, due to modal peaks and dips. • Left/right room symmetry (at least within a foot or two of ear height) is important for good stereo imaging. • Roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall • Equilateral triangle formed by left, right mix position • Monitor angles 60 degrees • Monitor height – woofer at ear level (avoid mid point of floor to ceiling measurement – either sit higher or lower if necessary) • Angled side absorption panels – left/right of mix position Hope this helps, Aloha 8)

WOW... thats awesome!!! I couldnt ask for anything better than that :) I do have a couple of questions... as you can see in my picture i have 3 sets of monitors...1)Should i put only the best pair on seperate stands or all 3 sets on stands? 2)Should i put the window in the wall any only have a booth of like 3'2 wide or move the wall back some and make a bigger booth? 3)What about a door to get into the booth? Thanks again, and great job on all of that!!

Aloha, One other thought...you could use a sliding glass door that would address both the window and door issues for your vocal booth. Aloha 8)

Aloha (again!) :wink:

i have 3 sets of monitors...1)Should i put only the best pair on seperate stands or all 3 sets on stands?

Perhaps you could consider soffit mounting your best pair, and then using stands for a 2nd set, and swap them out for the 3rd as needed?

2)Should i put the window in the wall any only have a booth of like 3'2 wide or move the wall back some and make a bigger booth?

That may depend on your needs: how many vocalists/instruments do you find yourself recording at any given time?

3)What about a door to get into the booth?

Would a sliding glass door address both your visual and access requirements? Aloha 8)

Those pictures look great!!The sliding door would be a great idea.. but would i use a regular sliding door or do i have to do some custom stuff to it? Also, would there be a problem with reflection or anything like that? I also like the material on the back of the door.. thats a great idea!! Also could you explain Roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall a little more depth please... Thanks for all the help, and all of those drawings helps a TON!!

Aloha,

could you explain Roughly 38% of total room length from the front wall

As I understand it, 38% of 15' 7" would be roughly about 5' 9", so that would a good starting point to position your ears/seat/mix position from your front wall. This will place you in a postion that will help to minimize any peaks, nulls and standing waves occuring in your room from adversely distorting your perception of your monitors. One should note that positioning alone will not free you from room anomolies, hence the need for acoustic treatments to help further treat your room response. Set your monitor height (center of woofer) at ear level (avoid mid point of floor to ceiling measurement – either sit higher or lower if necessary) If monitors are more than 3’ in height off the floor, they must be angled down. There is so much more involved than I could ever hope to know and understand, much less communicate. Perhaps there are others more learned that will offer more insight.

would i use a regular sliding door or do i have to do some custom stuff to it?

Here's a few links for windows/doors (courtesy of Steve [Knightfly]) to get an idea of what's available. A forewarning: these are not cheap :shock: but, it will give you an idea of your "best case scenario" and then work downward from there as your budget dictates. http://www.overly.com/doorCo/Education/Acoustical.cfm http://www.doors-ambico.com/s_acoustic.html http://www.overly.com/doorCo/Products/index.cfm http://www.silentsource.com/adoors-overly.htm http://www.soundcontrolroom.com/door_details.htm http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/prod ... l_kits.asp

would there be a problem with reflection or anything like that?

Hard to say, as there's always some amount of reflection whenever doors/windows are, but John has used sliding doors in several of his designs successfully. http://www.johnlsayers.com/Pages/Studios.htm Aloha 8)