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Post by tkaitkai on Nov 14, 2023 15:15:18 GMT -6
Hey all — long time no chat. Been a pretty hectic year for me!
I've been dreading this moment, but I'm in need of a way to record vocals without disturbing the neighbors + housemates.
I still have a bunch of tube traps, rockwool panels, and foam, which are fantastic for room tone, but not so much for isolation.
Booths suck, but I can deal with a little bass buildup if it means I can record quietly. I'm mostly close miking vocals these days anyway (2 - 4" off the mic), so I'm already rolling off most of the low end.
I've been considering an IsoVox, but I've read conflicting info about the dB reduction outside the booth. Some say 35dB, some say 15dB. For $1000, a 15dB reduction doesn't seem quite worth it.
I could buy one of those pre-made booths from Thomann, but man... that's fuckin $2500! More than what I paid for my tube traps and probably sounds worse.
Wouldn't be opposed to a DIY build if it's not too complex.
Any ideas?
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 14, 2023 15:56:52 GMT -6
Good to see you back, problem #1 everyone forgets about booths DIY or prefab: HVAC, keeping it comfortable is $$$$$! If your handy DIY is the way to go, gives you the most control but a couple of often forgotten points; good sound proof doors ain’t cheap. second it isn’t just the walls that leak you have to take into consideration floor and ceiling as well. With those facts in mind budget it out and see what makes sense.
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Post by mythundreamt on Nov 14, 2023 16:02:15 GMT -6
You still rocking the Wunder? Dunno the price but I went to a studio recently that had a Whisper Room just randomly placed in a corridor and were tracking an old Fender amp with just fine.
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Post by mythundreamt on Nov 14, 2023 16:04:20 GMT -6
You still rocking the Wunder? Dunno the price but I went to a studio recently that had a Whisper Room just randomly placed in a corridor and were tracking an old Fender amp with just fine. Oh nm I just looked up what they cost.. |
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Post by drumsound on Nov 14, 2023 16:18:09 GMT -6
If sound transmission is the biggest issue, You need to think in terms of isolation. Is this a home or apartment? Is it a space you own? For keeping sound in and not bothering people in your living space, think about doors. My control room has 2 doors that seal pretty well, and create a couple inches of air insulation. It's kind of amazing how well it works. If there are windows, either get new triple pained or some really thick curtains (or maybe both). You might even thing about where YOU face when singing, if you face away from those points of leakage it may help a tad.
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Post by tkaitkai on Nov 14, 2023 16:36:05 GMT -6
Good to see you back, problem #1 everyone forgets about booths DIY or prefab: HVAC, keeping it comfortable is $$$$$! If your handy DIY is the way to go, gives you the most control but a couple of often forgotten points; good sound proof doors ain’t cheap. second it isn’t just the walls that leak you have to take into consideration floor and ceiling as well. With those facts in mind budget it out and see what makes sense. Yeah this was one appeal of the IsoVox — I saw a demo of it where it did a great job of blocking a loud AC unit. I have a portable AC that I could leave on while recording, which is actually pretty cool. Can't do this with my tube traps... but they do make my room sound amazing. You still rocking the Wunder? Dunno the price but I went to a studio recently that had a Whisper Room just randomly placed in a corridor and were tracking an old Fender amp with just fine. Yessir! The Wunder continues to serve me well. I've actually just started to make real good use of the EQ too. Love that thing to death.  I checked out the Whisper Room products, that would be exactly that I need, but yeah the prices are pretty wild. If sound transmission is the biggest issue, You need to think in terms of isolation. Is this a home or apartment? Is it a space you own? For keeping sound in and not bothering people in your living space, think about doors. My control room has 2 doors that seal pretty well, and create a couple inches of air insulation. It's kind of amazing how well it works. If there are windows, either get new triple pained or some really thick curtains (or maybe both). You might even thing about where YOU face when singing, if you face away from those points of leakage it may help a tad. Great suggestions. It's a small room in a house, been here for a while, but have a new housemate that works from home during the day. I've tried facing away from the door, and it does make a difference, but not enough to tame my obnoxiously loud voice haha. I've definitely been thinking about sealing my door — right now, I'm leaning towards that + an IsoVox. |
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Post by drumsound on Nov 14, 2023 18:11:29 GMT -6
Good to see you back, problem #1 everyone forgets about booths DIY or prefab: HVAC, keeping it comfortable is $$$$$! If your handy DIY is the way to go, gives you the most control but a couple of often forgotten points; good sound proof doors ain’t cheap. second it isn’t just the walls that leak you have to take into consideration floor and ceiling as well. With those facts in mind budget it out and see what makes sense. Yeah this was one appeal of the IsoVox — I saw a demo of it where it did a great job of blocking a loud AC unit. I have a portable AC that I could leave on while recording, which is actually pretty cool. Can't do this with my tube traps... but they do make my room sound amazing. You still rocking the Wunder? Dunno the price but I went to a studio recently that had a Whisper Room just randomly placed in a corridor and were tracking an old Fender amp with just fine. Yessir! The Wunder continues to serve me well. I've actually just started to make real good use of the EQ too. Love that thing to death. I checked out the Whisper Room products, that would be exactly that I need, but yeah the prices are pretty wild. If sound transmission is the biggest issue, You need to think in terms of isolation. Is this a home or apartment? Is it a space you own? For keeping sound in and not bothering people in your living space, think about doors. My control room has 2 doors that seal pretty well, and create a couple inches of air insulation. It's kind of amazing how well it works. If there are windows, either get new triple pained or some really thick curtains (or maybe both). You might even thing about where YOU face when singing, if you face away from those points of leakage it may help a tad. Great suggestions. It's a small room in a house, been here for a while, but have a new housemate that works from home during the day. I've tried facing away from the door, and it does make a difference, but not enough to tame my obnoxiously loud voice haha. I've definitely been thinking about sealing my door — right now, I'm leaning towards that + an IsoVox. If there's a hallway that you can add a door and some space you'd have a useful airlock. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Nov 14, 2023 18:16:17 GMT -6
If your door is the standard hollow core POS in most houses replace it with a solid core wood door, and when you do, remember to remove the casing around the door frame and fill it with insulation/expanding foam etc. Those gaps can be quite large and they’re always hollow.
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Post by tkaitkai on Nov 14, 2023 19:02:39 GMT -6
If your door is the standard hollow core POS in most houses replace it with a solid core wood door, and when you do, remember to remove the casing around the door frame and fill it with insulation/expanding foam etc. Those gaps can be quite large and they’re always hollow. That's a good idea. I can definitely replace the door, not sure about the casing. I'll have to check. I also definitely want to fill in the gaps around the door — they're pretty obnoxious, been bothering me for years. |
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Post by tkaitkai on Nov 14, 2023 19:12:58 GMT -6
Came across this video comparing the IsoVox to others. Pretty interesting, although it's from a competitor with a similar product, so I'm not sure this is totally reliable.
In this comparison, the IsoVox reduces volume by 8dB, but that's when measured with a mic that's close by. I'm more interested in how it would measure in another room.
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 14, 2023 21:13:50 GMT -6
Came across this video comparing the IsoVox to others. Pretty interesting, although it's from a competitor with a similar product, so I'm not sure this is totally reliable. In this comparison, the IsoVox reduces volume by 8dB, but that's when measured with a mic that's close by. I'm more interested in how it would measure in another room. And what frequency. |
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Post by plinker on Nov 15, 2023 8:56:56 GMT -6
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Post by Tbone81 on Nov 15, 2023 9:10:04 GMT -6
I feel like you could easily diy something better than those contraptions. For only 8db of reduction, I’m sure you could make some type of semi enclosed “shell” out of bass traps or other absorption.
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Post by tkaitkai on Nov 15, 2023 17:18:05 GMT -6
This was another option I was considering. I remember looking at these before I bought my tube traps. Much cheaper than an IsoVox for sure. There are also industrial grade soundproofing blankets I’ve seen — I wonder if these would be more effective? |
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Nov 15, 2023 19:00:31 GMT -6
This was another option I was considering. I remember looking at these before I bought my tube traps. Much cheaper than an IsoVox for sure. There are also industrial grade soundproofing blankets I’ve seen — I wonder if these would be more effective? The problem is it really isn’t sound proofing it should be called sound sealing. Blankets will only do so much and again you have to think in 3 dimensions. |
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Post by plinker on Nov 15, 2023 20:32:22 GMT -6
This was another option I was considering. I remember looking at these before I bought my tube traps. Much cheaper than an IsoVox for sure. There are also industrial grade soundproofing blankets I’ve seen — I wonder if these would be more effective? What Eric said -- but, any sound reduction is better than no sound reduction (in your case), and these particular blankets are extremely good at broadband absorption, meaning they sound balanced wherever you put them; see the specifications the company provides. When I record, I take them off my walls, and drape them over objects near the mics. Sometimes, I hang them on a wooden dowel suspended between two mic stands to create an absorbent wall. They are like an acoustic roach motel -- sound goes in, but it doesn't come out! |
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Post by christopher on Nov 16, 2023 0:51:27 GMT -6
The sound company I worked at for a while used blankets sorta like those by the truckload. They help, running some piping and drapes was an everyday setup. 8dB should be an easy hurdle to clear.
One thing I found, the cheap memory foam mattresses eat sound pretty good. I had an idea to make a booth with them, positive being they are safe to sleep on so probably mostly already non toxic.. making a door and ceiling would be tough. I guess.. 2 kings for sides, twins for front and back.. twin for ceiling? Maybe the door would be hanging twin and you crawl under? Then attach to a 2x4 frame. Or even a sheet rock covered frame. Hahaha, seems crazy but I bet it would eat a lot of sound for under $1k
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 16, 2023 4:34:44 GMT -6
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 16, 2023 4:40:51 GMT -6
I made 3 of these mobile gobos from knock down shelving kits, stuff with roxul, make a 3 sided booth and lay sn absorber on top as ceiling, put mike inside near back, step in to sing, if you are facing towards sealed new door, much less sound would pass.
Afterwards, they csn be rolled wherever you want, corner traps, behind monitors, wherever.
Total cost, around $100.
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Post by notneeson on Nov 16, 2023 9:07:41 GMT -6
I made 3 of these mobile gobos from knock down shelving kits, stuff with roxul, make a 3 sided booth and lay sn absorber on top as ceiling, put mike inside near back, step in to sing, if you are facing towards sealed new door, much less sound would pass. Afterwards, they csn be rolled wherever you want, corner traps, behind monitors, wherever. Total cost, around $100. Love it, very cool DIY! |
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Post by kcatthedog on Nov 16, 2023 10:07:14 GMT -6
Nuthins better than cheap !!
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Post by bossanova on Nov 16, 2023 11:40:16 GMT -6
This was another option I was considering. I remember looking at these before I bought my tube traps. Much cheaper than an IsoVox for sure. There are also industrial grade soundproofing blankets I’ve seen — I wonder if these would be more effective? What Eric said -- but, any sound reduction is better than no sound reduction (in your case), and these particular blankets are extremely good at broadband absorption, meaning they sound balanced wherever you put them; see the specifications the company provides. When I record, I take them off my walls, and drape them over objects near the mics. Sometimes, I hang them on a wooden dowel suspended between two mic stands to create an absorbent wall. They are like an acoustic roach motel -- sound goes in, but it doesn't come out! How do you have them hung up normally? I’m trying to deaden the 10 x 10 room that I’m recording instructional videos in (there are 7, 2 to 4 inch thick panels distributed around the room but there’s still audible echo) so I can back off the mic a bit, but I’m also on camera recording video and having them draped on stands behind me isn’t an ideal look. |
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Post by plinker on Nov 16, 2023 12:24:06 GMT -6
What Eric said -- but, any sound reduction is better than no sound reduction (in your case), and these particular blankets are extremely good at broadband absorption, meaning they sound balanced wherever you put them; see the specifications the company provides. When I record, I take them off my walls, and drape them over objects near the mics. Sometimes, I hang them on a wooden dowel suspended between two mic stands to create an absorbent wall. They are like an acoustic roach motel -- sound goes in, but it doesn't come out! How do you have them hung up normally? I’m trying to deaden the 10 x 10 room that I’m recording instructional videos in (there are 7, 2 to 4 inch thick panels distributed around the room but there’s still audible echo) so I can back off the mic a bit, but I’m also on camera recording video and having them draped on stands behind me isn’t an ideal look. I hang them on the walls using anchored screws. It's no problem hanging them in pairs (i.e., double-thick). They cover a lot of space, and I take them down to record on-location. |
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I checked out the Whisper Room products, that would be exactly that I need, but yeah the prices are pretty wild. 
