John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

Steve,

While you're doing your plans, I have a suggestion for an option to it (OK, the price is now $25...). Is there a way to make a booth that can be easily dismantled when not in use, then re-assembled as needed? I'm envisioning something like an encloseable gobo. I think this would be a hit for the home recording crowd (myself included). currently I'm using a niche in the basement with curtains hung across it, but I also haven't yet purchased a decent vocal condenser, so my 57 has done OK with this. Once I get a "real" vocal mic, though, I expect my temporary solution will need to be re-visited with something that provides more isolation.

Anyway, just a thought for your overworked mind to ponder.

Thanks,
Darryl.....

Darryl, I did briefly look at that concept, even downloaded all the drawings that were available at Whisperroom - the main thing it accomplished was to help me understand why they charge $3-$8000 for their booths...

The problem with that concept is that decent isolation can only be had with hermetic construction and serious amounts of mass. Neither of these are easy even when doing permanent construction, much less "takedown" style.

One problem is maintaining two SEPARATE shells of mass that don't have hard contact with each other - another is getting doors to fit right when things aren't rigidly tied to each other - a third problem is glass, both from a sealing standpoint and from possible breakage.

All in all, when you consider all that must go into an EFFECTIVE booth, Whisperroom is almost a bargain.

If you check their site, look at the "enhanced" versions to see what I mean - the standard ones don't give all that good isolation, although they are definitely better than gobos or moving blankets.

Doesn't mean I'm not going to try, just means that if I succeed, I really WON'T need to "know where the rocks are" ... Steve

Scot - I believe that the main reason for the 3' width was/is convienence. I can tell you from mine: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=867
that it is big and heavy and a pain to move around to some degree. Since its the depth and not total volume of the airspace, I wouldn't think there would be an acoustic difference.
As far as finding 703, I didn't have much luck either so I went with mineral wool, which measures about the same on the absorption charts.

Steve - as far as the iso booth thing, I agree. I think that would be a hit. I started trying to come up with something and decided that I didn't want to work that hard since I'll be starting on my studio within 8 or 10 months. I was going to build two 3'x6 1/2' walls and two 5' x 6 1/2' walls. Use rubber straps from the insides with one rubber seal and one weather stripping. Then make a lid about the same way. Something like this. <see below> The main reason I didn't was because I realized I would have to breath and I couldnt think of a way to vent it without screwing up all the seals and so forth.

Just thought I would share.

Ron

Venting is doable, Ron - now, if you could just get yours to stay together built like this, you could get rid of all that flanking...

DDev wrote:Is there a way to make a booth that can be easily dismantled when not in use, then re-assembled as needed? I'm envisioning something like an encloseable gobo. I think this would be a

How about a vocal booth over a stairwell

http://longsoughtfor.org/albums/album20/aaa.jpg

Sorry, couldn't resist