Advice on a Vocal Booth Design

[Devan]

Hello, My Name is Devan

this is my first post on this forum.
i will try to provide as much detail as i can regarding my intended project.

I am currently in planning stages of constructing a vocal booth. As always there are limitations, being:

- I live in a 2nd floor flat, and therefore have limited floor space, so this booth design entails assembling the booth for use,
and dissasembling it afterwards.

- i have no garage, or work area, therefore all construction tools will be basic hand tools.


The main use for this booth will be to record Spoken Word and Rap Vocals only.

The idea is to build a floor base in which all four walls slot in, then the roof slots in over the walls.
essentially like a "lid"

The inner dimentions of the booth will end up being 1200mmx1000mmx2000mm . (i would love for it to be bigger as i understand
the quality would increase, but as i said i have restrictions)

The wall and roof framework will house 75mm thick rw3 Rockwool 60Kg/m3 covered in a breathable accoustic fabric.
There will also be a bass trap using the same rockwool in each corner (except the door corner)

Specs For Rockwool:

RW.png

Please see my sketchup screenshot images below, this is the first attempt i have ever made to use sketchup so mind the errors you may notice if any.

frame, door.png

top.png

final.png

floor.png

My question is, this booth will have a budget of roughly 300 Pounds Sterling,
would it produce an increased recording environment good enough to warrant spending the money and time on this design?

or would a basic "Gobo" set up as seen below, be a just as good for a fraction of the cost.

gobo.png

I dont mind spending the money, just want to know if its worth it to construct the booth, or would the gobo design
produce similar results negating the effort, time and money required.

i would greatly appreciate your constructive critisism and advice.

Thank you for your time.
Devan.

[Soundman2020]

Hi Devan, and Welcome to the forum!

The idea is to build a floor base in which all four walls slot in,

You could make the booth free-standing (no base unit) and save yourself some money on materials.

The inner dimentions of the booth will end up being 1200mmx1000mmx2000mm

Try to avoid dimensions that are exact multiples of each other, or within 5% of being exact multiples. That creates acoustic problems that can easily be avoided.

The wall and roof framework will house 75mm thick rw3 Rockwool 60Kg/m3 covered in a breathable accoustic fabric.

OK; fine, but what will you use for isolation? You do want this to be "sound-proof" to a certain extent, I imagine, so you'll need something to accomplish that! There's also no point in having "bass traps" if you don't have any walls on the booth (isolation). You only need bass traps in actual corners between actual walls, but your plan doesn't show any....

There will also be a bass trap using the same rockwool in each corner (except the door corner)

That's probably too much for a small booth like that which will only be used for vocals. I would do only one or two corners like that. Even better would be to angle one wall, and also angle the insulation on that wall.

Please see my sketchup screenshot images below, this is the first attempt i have ever made to use sketchup

Good job! But the model does not show the isolation element, only the insulation. You need to add that, so we can see the full plan.

would it produce an increased recording environment good enough to warrant spending the money and time on this design?

Not unless you add some isolation to it! Without that, it's just a bunch of porous absorber panels, which won't do a lot.

or would a basic "Gobo" set up as seen below, be a just as good for a fraction of the cost.

Gobos would cost you much more than what you are showing, because gobos do have solid, rigid, massive, reflective elements on one side. Your all panels don't... but they should!

I dont mind spending the money, just want to know if its worth it to construct the booth, or would the gobo design
produce similar results negating the effort, time and money required.

A set of three gobos will not isolate anything. It will help to reduce reflections and some room effects, but it won't isolate. Your booth could isolate, provided that you add some isolation to the outside of that framework.

You might find this thread interesting: http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewt ... =1&t=14147




- Stuart -

[Devan]

Hi Stuart

Thank you for such a swift and detailed response, it is very much appreciated.
I have taken into account all your comments and also had a look at the thread you suggested.
I've decided to adopt the same booth design in that thread just smaller in scale.

My Updated idea is as follows:

The walls will now be the following lengths and angles:

Top Angles Length.png

I will then add two smaller bass traps and 75mm 60kg/m3 rockwool inside the frames:

Rockwool.png

Bass Traps.png

Then Cover it in acoustic fabric:

fabric.png

Furthermore after reading your reply i have added an outer layer of drywall on the outside to provide isolation to the entire booth:

isolation.png

Would this design be an improved idea as opposed to my initial idea i presented?

I also have a few questions i would like to ask at the same time.

Q: i do not want this booth to be extremely dead or boxy, i am aware the small size is not ideal, so would it be a good idea to add a few Sound Diffusers along the inner walls? if so, where would you suggest i place them?

Q: Should this design be acceptable for recording, which location within the booth should i place my mic for optimal results?

Q: there will be a 5mm gap between the door and door frame, what would you recommend in order to close this air gap off, without affecting door movement.

Q: Would Doubling the layer of rockwool on Roof of the booth provide improved results?

Q: Would Doubling the layer of Drywall increase the isolation significantly?


I appreciate your time and expertise Stuart, your advice is much appreciated.

Devan.

[Soundman2020]

Would this design be an improved idea as opposed to my initial idea i presented?

It's bigger, so yes, it's better! The bigger you make it, the better it will sound inside.

Q: i do not want this booth to be extremely dead or boxy, i am aware the small size is not ideal, so would it be a good idea to add a few Sound Diffusers along the inner walls? if so, where would you suggest i place them?

I would suggest making at least two of the walls into "slot walls", following John's normal pattern and spacing. You can find that in his "Recording Manual".

Q: Should this design be acceptable for recording, which location within the booth should i place my mic for optimal results?

Stay away from mid points! In other words, don't put your mic half way between two walls, or half way between the floor and ceiling. The same applies to "quarters". Somewhere around 1/3 of the distance between walls would be about right, but you don't need to go crazy about measuring that! Also, keep it a different distance from the walls. So if it is 20cm from one wall, make it NOT 20cm from any other wall.

Q: there will be a 5mm gap between the door and door frame, what would you recommend in order to close this air gap off, without affecting door movement.

Rubber. Since you are on a tight budget, I'd suggest going to your local hardware store and getting a roll of the soft rubber strips that they sell for "weatherproofing" doors. Do not get the foam type: Get the rubber type. The foam type is usually "open cell", meaning that you can blow through it. So get rubber, or closed-cell foam. Those usually have adhesive backing on them, making it simple to attach. You need to go all around all fours edges of the door: Both sides, top, and also the bottom. It must be completely sealed.

Q: Would Doubling the layer of rockwool on Roof of the booth provide improved results?

Not really.

Q: Would Doubling the layer of Drywall increase the isolation significantly?

Yes. It would give you about an extra 5 dB of isolation. Also, using thicker drywall would help too.


- Stuart -