Most affordable buy/build options for Iso Booth?

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:09 am

Greetings,
Just moved my project studio into a new space that is pretty quiet - relatively, for NYC that is - but still not quiet enough for serious vocal tracking, or acoustic instruments. I also want to get into voiceovers. What is the most affordable option for buying or building a 6' x 6' (big enough for acoustic guitar) iso booth? Where could I find specs for building such a room, and would I save enough money doing it that way to make it worth the time and hassle? I assume pre-built "Iso Booth" rooms would have a pretty decent resale value?

Thanks a lot! - Steve

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 7:09 pm

Steve,

> What is the most affordable option for buying or building a 6' x 6' (big enough for acoustic guitar) iso booth? <

Building is certainly cheaper than buying! This is a little outside my area of expertise. I guess you'll make a box, seal it airtight but have a door, and probably sit it all on top of 703 fiberglass to isolate it from the floor. But I have no idea how you'll vent fresh air into it.

Anyone else have any ideas?

> I assume pre-built "Iso Booth" rooms would have a pretty decent resale value? <

Maybe, in which case you might be able to find one used.

--Ethan

Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2003 8:02 pm

Ethan,
Thanks for the input. I'm sure building would be cheaper than buying, but definitely more of a pain in the butt.

Anyone else have any thoughts? Bueller? Anyone...?

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2003 12:46 pm

I have built several studios for myself and others. Most of what I have done was “poke and hope technology” but with a little common sense, I have come up with some things that worked quite well. I built an iso room for an employer of mine once that was kick ass! I used thick Masonite peg board for the inside, non perforated Masonite for the outside and pine board ¼” x 6" for the frame. I built a frame that was 4 X 8 feet and screwed and glued the masonite to it. Stuffed it full of R 16 pink fiberglass. Rock wool would probably work even better. A center post of a 6” piece of 2 X 4 helped keep the panels from bowing in the center. This makes a 4 X 8 foot panel. Several of these may be placed side by side and secured together to create walls. One may be built with an inexpensive pre hung door installed. A small window may also be used in any number of panels. All of this takes only the most basic of carpentry skills and some basic tools. Once the walls are up you may take additional panels and place them over the top to form the ceiling. If this doesn’t provide enough isolation drape moving blankets over the structure. If you want to get totally fixated on this whole process you may take a ¼” drill and enlarge all the holes in the pegboard. This will make the whole thing an absorber. I built one of these that was 12 X 6 X 8 feet and threw down a carpet in it and it sounded great without any extra treatments on the interior walls. Hope that gives you some ideas. ………… Fats
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Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's Very Happy

, Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
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Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2003 1:09 pm

as far as isolating it from the floor of the room it is in-
a) how much does decoupling it matter overall?
b) HomeDept (and others) have large 4x4 foot antifatigue matts made of soft rubber. Many perforations in it. Is this a simple way to decouple the structure, or are there issues you'd want to address like rubbercompression, weight to rubber ratios, and crap like that?
---I'm wondering because a while ago I asked if I could use that stuff for decoupling walls, and I was told (not here) that I had to factor in all the weights, compression, vibration level, square root of the sum total of the average means denominated by the amperage of my guitar stack Very Happy

...

Jeff

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2003 1:24 pm

Jeff,
Any type of lossy material will bring a decoupling factor to the table. I have used soundboard with success. This is a wood fiber material that is available at any roofing supply that is made to deaden the sound of rain hitting a roof. It is usually applied under roof sheeting. I have used it on walls and under carpet or plywood sub floors. It really helps deaden vibration. A 4 X 8 sheet is about 7 bucks. The only problem with it is it can introduce a lot of fibers into the air and it stinks like chemicals so you need to cover it with material if you want to use it for a wall treatment. Fats
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tannoy, Dynaudio, Blue Sky, JBL, Earthworks, Westlake, NS 10's Very Happy

, Genelec, Hafler, KRK, and PMC
Those are good. …………………….. Pick one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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