John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

I need youre advice, is it good to just foam the vocal room for hip hop use & maybe once in a while singing

Got your PM about foam, etc - for rap, especially male rap, it would be good to have more even absorption to lower frequencies than typical foam gives; generally, it takes about 4" of QUALITY foam such as Auralex Pro Panels to give the same absorption at lower frequencies as 2" of rockwool or semi-rigid fiberglass insulation - the foam will cost more, but is easier and quicker to find, get and apply. 4" thick panels is what I'd use for a booth in this case.

One thing to watch; do NOT put your booth ceiling at 8 feet if one dimension is 4 feet, or you probably won't like the sounds you get. You never want any two of the three dimensions of a room to be the same or evenly divisible by any OTHER dimension. For a 4x5 booth, 7 foot high ceilings will do fine and minimise any "colorations" the booth might add... Steve

thanks for the reply I was a bit confused about absorption & defussion but not no more. Gracias mi amigo
~SinnerSaved~

Hip hop, Rnb using a small booth with foam is useable, my friend built a booth using foam and the recording can become a bit boxy depending on the singer and mic techniques and because the room is small and enough to only fit a singer comfortably. The main purpose of the booth was to stop outside noise. He compensates the deadness and boominess by using eq and fx, something you may consider if you want to take that alley.

So can I have a 4X5 or even a 4X6 vocal room & not make it sound boxy, any tricks that I might need to know
~SinnerSaved~

Inside dimensions of 4 x 6 x 7 feet work out fine modally; for treatment, I'd contact these guys

http://www.spi-co.com/servicecenterdire ... m?detail=2

SPI reportedly sells to individuals, and different branches carry different types of rigid insulation.

I would ask them about 4 PCF 2" thick, either mineral wool or rigid fiberglass, brand is NOT important so shop price and availability instead.

Get enough to cover at least the top half of ALL walls and ALL the ceiling - they may have a "minimum order", so you may not be able to get this; if not, you will probably need to check with your local Guitar Center/Musician's Friend, etc, about getting Auralex PRo Panels. Same coverage applies; at least the upper half of the booth, plus ceiling.

In either case, I would use spacers (Auralex comes with them I believe) to put the absorbent about 2" away from the surfaces. It doesn't matter acoustically HOW you do this spacing, as long as you don't put any solid panels behind the absorbent, other than the actual walls of the booth... Steve