Making 10 ft tall portable iso panels.

[Josh Rose]

I bought 12 cubicle partitions for $50 at a 2nd hand shop the other day. They are about 5ft tall each. My room is about 12ft tall. What I want to do is stack them in two's, so I have portable panels that reach nearly to the ceiling. With 12 of these, I could easily create 3 iso booths in my room, at any time.

It's going to be a bit precarious, and will require a very large base being installed. But the floor is wood, so I should be able to slide them around easily.

If they were like, 7ft tall, I would leave them as singles. But they just aren't tall enough to do a little vocal booth or anything. But at 10ft they would be amazing.

Has anybody ever used office partitions like this? Any advice or ideas?

[jwl]

I built some 2x6 gobos several years back. They work well, but if I had it to do over again I'd make them 4x4. Don't forget about eye contact.

I'd keep them at 5', and possibly find a piece of recycled glass to attach to the top to make them taller. I'd only do this for one or two panels for the singer, the rest of the panels can be 5' tall no problem.

[Glenn Kuras]

and possibly find a piece of recycled glass to attach to the top to make them taller.

Have you ever done it that way? I would think you would get some pretty nasty reflections from the glass.

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Have you ever done it that way? I would think you would get some pretty nasty reflections from the glass.

Yep..those type of gobos are meant for a couple of guitar players or something who need to maintain eye contact with each other or the rest of the band. I would *not* stick a vocal mic in front of one.

Frank

[jwl]

Yeah, you should definitely minimize the amount of glass. If you use it with a vocalist, then you should use a cardioid mic and point the null point of the mic toward the glass.

Using glass at the top layer of a gobo is quite common, you see big studios with units like this all the time, and commercially available units like this:



Using glass is only really important when eye contact is needed between performers. It's not acoustically ideal to have glass that close, but if giving them eye contact results in a better performance, then I'll live with it, and use good engineering techniques to minimize the problems the glass imposes.

[Weasel9992]

Man...I was talking about a little window or something. That's a heck of a lot of glass. I think it'd be better at that point to simply dispose of the glass at the top altogether...the cure is worse than the disease.

Frank

[Ethan Winer]

Large glass in a gobo is very common in professional studios, though maybe a little less so in small project studios. See photos below. More to the point, we offer this as an option for customers that want it. As Jim said, if you put the reflecting surface in the mic's null you avoid any problems. Also, our window is made of plexiglass, not glass, so it reflects much less than regular glass.

--Ethan

Abbey Road:


Motown Hitsville:


Random found on web:

[jwl]

Agreed, in a small studio I probably wouldn't use glass gobos. But it can be useful in big live rooms.

And again, it's all about making the artists comfortable. If dealing with a few glass reflections gets me a better performance to record, then I'll do it every time.

[Glenn Kuras]

Needless to say there are options so go with what works best for you. If you don't mind a little comb filtering coming off the singers mic then hey there you go.

or

[Weasel9992]

Okay...point taken. If you'll notice though, the glass covers much less area in the gobos in the first and second pictures and it's slanted in the gobos in the third picture. I'm used to dealing with the gobos in the second picture. Plus, I'm still not convinced that putting a singer a foot away from a big plexi plate is good move...sure, if you're 5' away on a drum kit like all but one of the pics show it's much less of an issue.

Frank

[badhorsie777]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Needless to say there are options so go with what works best for you. If you don't mind a little comb filtering coming off the singers mic then hey there you go.

or

Glenn - that picture is pretty much EXACTLY what I'm needing... is that a product you guys offer? The hinged, tall absorbing-gobo-thing?

...and before someone asks, I'm sort of carpentry-deficient... rather have em made than make em myself... my time's worth something, too

[Weasel9992]

Sure is...check it out: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-p...ml#post4336911.

Frank

[jwl]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Needless to say there are options so go with what works best for you. If you don't mind a little comb filtering coming off the singers mic then hey there you go.

Well, a good engineer will do whatever it takes to get the best performance. After all, the performance is the most important thing, even for a hardcore acoustics geek.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

If you don't mind a little comb filtering coming off the singers mic then hey there you go.

Am I the only person who finds this comment pointless and even insulting?

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Am I the only person who finds this comment pointless and even insulting?

Ethan, wow yea reading back on it I guess it IS!!! Which I am sorry. I don't mean that against your product in anyway shape or form. Really your products are great which I have said in the past. I really was not aiming my comment at your products at all.

Guys lets move on. I think we have beaten this horse.

Glenn

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by jwl

Well, a good engineer will do whatever it takes to get the best performance. After all, the performance is the most important thing, even for a hardcore acoustics geek.

Sure

[Berolzheimer]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

Large glass in a gobo is very common in professional studios, though maybe a little less so in small project studios. See photos below. More to the point, we offer this as an option for customers that want it. As Jim said, if you put the reflecting surface in the mic's null you avoid any problems. Also, our window is made of plexiglass, not glass, so it reflects much less than regular glass.

--Ethan

Ethan have you ever thought about making those with curved plexiglass? I'd think that a convex curve ( you could use 2 sheets so both sides are convex) would produce much less problematic reflections than a flat sheet of plexi or glass.

[jwl]

Making the panel curved is an interesting idea... but honestly I don't think it's much of a problem. We've never gotten one single complaint about reflections coming off the glass top. I've never heard it in a recording, either.

Furthermore, if we made it curved, then one side would be concave and the other convex. The concave (I think that's it, I always get these 2 terms mixed up) side would then have even more reflections, as they would be focused. It would make things even worse.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by jwl

you should use a cardioid mic and point the null point of the mic toward the glass.

LOL, sorry, I can't help myself. Watch this video of an amazing performance recorded by George Massenburg in his control room. Look at the part around 55 seconds in.

YouTube - Mother's Child - Dawn

And don't forget to click the HD button to see it in high-def.

--Ethan

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by jwl

Making the panel curved is an interesting idea... but honestly I don't think it's much of a problem. We've never gotten one single complaint about reflections coming off the glass top. I've never heard it in a recording, either.

Furthermore, if we made it curved, then one side would be concave and the other convex. The concave (I think that's it, I always get these 2 terms mixed up) side would then have even more reflections, as they would be focused. It would make things even worse.

You could always offer 2 different kinds I guess.

[kraskland]

Originally Posted by Ethan Winer

YouTube - Mother's Child - Dawn

And don't forget to click the HD button to see it in high-def.

--Ethan

Nice video. From the photos I've seen of the space I expected it to be much larger. With the band in there it actually looks quite small.