I found it locally in Atlanta area for 66 cents per square foot. Get the 3" stuff but the 4" does not add signifigant performance gain so if you are going cheap 3" will do fine. 2" won't absorb bass frequencies, so if you are monitoring close by the 2" stuff won't work.

I installed this stuff in the floor joists (studio is in basement) above and at a high deafening volume in the studio you can hardly hear anything upstairs. And that was just with the Rockwool. This stuff is great!

Next I added Sonex celing tiles. Expensive, but now you can drop a bomb in my front yard and I doubt I would hear it over my mix monitors. And the vocal booth has another layer around it. Like I said, I recoreded in a thunderstorm and hear no storm on my vocal tracks.

ORIGINAL: HammerHead

You won't find it at your local home improvement store but if you go to Rockwool's website you can find a link to locate a dealer near you.

you're right home depot/ lowes wont have it but i found it at a local supply house not listed on rockwools website.

i called around to local construction suppliers & found it. these are the places
where the pros go, usually tucked away in an industrial section of town...look in your phone book & call around. ask for rockwool & they'll know what you're asking for if they have it.

it's reasonably afforable as well.

I checked the specs and there is a product called Roxul that comes in 3" 2'x4' sheets and absorbs well at all frequencies. You won't find it at your local home improvement store but if you go to Rockwool's website you can find a link to locate a dealer near you.

I might have to look into this as well!
Thanks!

Some links for you all regarding sound booth construction and noise control:

http://www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html
NOTE: When he talks about the Owens Corning 705-FRK or 703 product, use Roxul or Rockwool instead. Use 3" or for confined spaces don't go less than 2" thick.

There is a PDF link on this page that has all of the engineering data on it:
http://www.roxul.com/sw34325.asp

For those of you that don't know what STC and NRC ratings are, basically the higher the number the better it is. NRC rating of 90 absorbs 90% of the sound that hits it, or approximately 35 decibels of SPL. Note the installation instruction in the top link. Insulation and ceiling tiles are rated with NRC. STC rating is relevant to solid materials such as sheetrock or particle board. If you have a STC rating of 50 and a 100 decibel sound, 50 db will be transferred to the other side.

With this in mind, you should do the following:
1) absorb as much as you can before the sound hits a solid surface
2) use materials with the highest STC rating (double sheetrock, etc) for your walls.

FYI: A blanket has an NRC rating of about 30, and only applies to high frequencies. Low frequencies will pass straight through the blanket like it isn't even there. Sorry guys. :-)

Hey, wuts up. Your booth sounds like more of what Im looking to do. I was wondering if you could help me out with a few questions.

1. On each wall, you used:

2 layers 5/8 sheetrock---sound barrier---2 layers 5/8' sheetrock?

2. Did you have the sound barrier flush between the sheetrock, or with space between it and the sheetrock?

3. I want this booth to be able to be taken apart fairly easy in case I move, and so I dont want to use caulking or anything like that. Any ideas?

4. How did you join the panels together? How did you make sure they were sealed?

5. How did you put the glass window in and make sure it is sealed?

I know its a lot of info, but you seem to have what I want, an effective booth!

Thanx, Lance

The most effective formula seems to be:
1) absorb sound
2) block sound
3) isolate vibrations
4) block sounds
5) absorb sounds

Or any combinatoin of the above. But if you put two pieces of sheetrock butt up against each other you are wasting your time and materials because it will only drop another 4 dB of sound! You have to isolate, insulate, and absorb by using multiple layers of different materal (every material has a resonant frequency that seeps through).

There are a few ways that you can accomplish this. The simplest way is 5/8" sheetrock, sound barrier, 5/8" sheetrock, 2x4 studs filled with Roxul mineral fiber insulation (3" Roxul works better than the similar OwensCorning product for sound absorbtion). Fill in the gaps in the inner layer of sheetrock with acoustic cauking. Don't bother with the time consuming sheetrock mud in the inner layer because the cauking is more effective. Make sure to cauk around the top and bottom of each sheet so it's absolutly air-tight. For "bonus points" (bonus decibels dropped) try putting some 1 1/2" foam self-stick weatherstripping on the 2/4's before mounting the inner layer of sheetrock to it. (just a thin 1/4" strip will do the job). Use 24" centers on your 2x4's. 16" will only cause more vibrations to get through and make you work more.

If you got the space for it, and the time to do it, the best configuration seems to be two totally seperated walls. I have seen tests where an STC rating of 70 was achieved (70 decibels of sound or less will not transfer through at all and a frieght train on your front porch would not be heard as more than a whisper inside your vocal booth). If you are in the basement of your house, even better because the concrete and several feet of earth will block a lot of sound too. Mine is in my basement, and like I said, a load crack of thunder doesn't even trigger my microphone noise gates adjusted to -50 dbA.

Try to have as little of the vocal booth touching the structure that surrounds it as possible. This may mean that you could build a free-standing booth and put it 1/4" away from the walls in the corner of the room that you are using. Or, even better, place the sound barrier material in between the vocal booth and the walls. Insulate the seams with weatherstripping self-stick foam rubber. Sound vibrates along the surrounding walls and can transfer in if it's not free-standing.

Whether you choose two walls or a single, Be careful to not put the screws of the outer layer of sheetrock all the way through to the studs of the inner layer of sheetrock. The outer layer should be fastened to the inner layer only. The sound barrier is minimally attached with glue, just enough to hold into place while the outer sheetrock layer is applied which sandwiches the sound barrier in between. This 1/8" sound barrier stuff is HEAVY so be prepared to have someone help you handle it. It weighs more per square foot than sheetrock but is flexible.

If you can spare the extra 6" of space, build a wall with 5/8" sheetrock, sound barrier, and 5/8" sheetrock again. Leave the back open, seperate by 1/4", fill both walls with Roxul mineral fiber insulation (3") and if you can afford it put another layer of sound barrier between the two walls. Duplicate the wall in the opposite direction on the other side. There are many discussions about resilient channels but I have heard just as many bad things about them as good things. Resiliant channels are easy to break and defeat by putting in a single screw incorrectly. The time and money is better spent on the sound barrier sandwiched between the sheetrock.

As for windows and doors, if you are brave enough, construct your own door. Otherwise, get yourself a good solid-core door. The heavier the better. Minimal glass exposure is desirable but you need a window because some vocalists are clostophobic. Not to mention the value of visual communication. I sometimes have to sit outside the booth and make funny faces at my vocalists for them to get their act in gear.

I'll have to give you an update when I finish my 10' x 13' sound room this summer, which will be constucted with the double wall/ half inch gap setup. I will also be using a double door. But then again, at this point I'm going professional with it :-) Feel free to ask any other questions. I'd be happy to share my expreriences as a "studio handyman".

you guys, don't waste your hard earned money on that fancy foam and ****.
Go to the big hardware superstore and get some 2x4 sheets of 2" or 4"
"owens corning" 703 rigid fiberglass insulation.
This is all you need in a vocal booth. 4" of It absorbs down to around a 100hz and everything above.

Put on some gloves, cut the stuff to size, wrap it in the thinnest plastic you can get then go to wallmart and get some cheap thin material to wrap around it as panels or a sheet to cover the wall, what ever. You can attach the panels to the wall with long screws with big washers.

Read any good acoustics book and it will recommend the stuff.

Keep in mind if you are dealing with frequencies lower that 100-150 you need to build some traps.

cheers

As a followup to your questions, I think he was saying:

sheetrock/sound barrier/sheetrock/framing(2x4)/sheetrock/barrier/sheetrock

I have the same questions about securing the walls to each other and being able to break it down and move it in a year or two. Not sure you could do it with this type of construction, though...

The other question is - how did you do the door? I'd be willing to nix the window and get a really good door w/ a seal... Maybe something premade with a gasket and compression lock... how did you do yours?

thanks,
pete

ORIGINAL: Lanceindastudio
1. On each wall, you used:

2 layers 5/8 sheetrock---sound barrier---2 layers 5/8' sheetrock?

1 layer sheetrock, 1 layer sound barrier, 1 layer sheetrock, 2x4 stud, sheetrock, soundbarrier, sheetrock, studio foam (inside). Note that outer layers of sheetrock attach to inner layers but NOT to the supporting 2x4 walls.

2. Did you have the sound barrier flush between the sheetrock, or with space between it and the sheetrock?

I have it sandwiched in between, lightly glued with acoustic glue, acoustic cauking around the edges.

3. I want this booth to be able to be taken apart fairly easy in case I move, and so I dont want to use caulking or anything like that. Any ideas?

Make it free standing, as if it were in the middle of the room. Floor, ceiling, everything. Move it into the corner when you are done building it.

4. How did you join the panels together? How did you make sure they were sealed?

More on this in my other recent posting. Resiliant glues, cauking that does not harden. The cauking acutally works better than the sheetrock mud but looks terrible. But since you are going to cover it with studio foam, who cares. The objective is sound control.

5. How did you put the glass window in and make sure it is sealed?

Initially I used an exterier solid core (wood) door from home depot and put it on a good exterier weather-tight frame. The door has a window in it. My current project is to actually constuct a door from two sheets of 3/4" MDF with sound barrer sandwiched in between it. I'm also going to eliminate a traditional door handle because I'm suspeciting a few dB's of sound are seeping through it. All depends on how far you want to take it!

I know its a lot of info, but you seem to have what I want, an effective booth!

- Glad to know that there are people out there that believe as I do that a blanket handing from the ceiling is a poor man's half-*** fix that will work ok sometimes as compared to a real solution that works all the time.

I have the same questions about securing the walls to each other and being able to break it down and move it in a year or two. Not sure you could do it with this type of construction, though...

The other question is - how did you do the door? I'd be willing to nix the window and get a really good door w/ a seal... Maybe something premade with a gasket and compression lock... how did you do yours?

thanks,
pete

As for moving it, see my other recent posts. Basically, buit it as a free standing unit.

Keep in mind that vocalists are performers and need an audience to be good at what they do. Many times I make funny faces and jestures to my singers to make them perform better. They feed off your reactions and if they can't see you it doesn't matter how good yoru soundproofing is cause the singing it's self will be bad. (unless you work with freaks that like to work in closets)
It would be okay to use an exterior door with a window in it but don't get a cheap one. the thicker the glass appears to be, and the more spacing between the two panes the higher the STC rating, which is the sound blockage rating. A rule of thumb for windows: The further apart the glass layers are, the better. This is more important than the actual glass thickness.

ORIGINAL: halljams

you guys, don't waste your hard earned money on that fancy foam and ****.
Go to the big hardware superstore and get some 2x4 sheets of 2" or 4"
"owens corning" 703 rigid fiberglass insulation.
This is all you need in a vocal booth. 4" of It absorbs down to around a 100hz and everything above.

Put on some gloves, cut the stuff to size, wrap it in the thinnest plastic you can get then go to wallmart and get some cheap thin material to wrap around it as panels or a sheet to cover the wall, what ever. You can attach the panels to the wall with long screws with big washers.

Read any good acoustics book and it will recommend the stuff.

Keep in mind if you are dealing with frequencies lower that 100-150 you need to build some traps.

I agree, but be sure to consider that open-face fiberglass is 1) not healty and 2) looks like ****. Make sure you are covering it with cloth. I used studio foam because I am as concerned about appearance as performance.

One more thing though... Roxul mineral fiber insulation is similar to Owens Corning 703 but the engineering specs show that Roxul (Rockwool) has much better acoustical properties. 3" Roxul outperforms the 4" 703 stuff. You can't find it at HD or Lowe's. Go to rockwool's website and do a dealer lookup. Definiately worth your time, and is probably cheaper too. I have singers working with me that have low boomy voices so bass freqs are a concern. Yes, I used coner traps.