Prefab Recording room / Vocalbooth

[K Bartos]

Hi guys !

Instead of rebuilding my rented office space into a decent studio space I'm looking att getting a prefabricated recording room.
My primary application is recording VO, narration, sung vocals and acoustic instruments.
I want to be able to track music at a small scale with good quality
I need to upscale my recording spaces to attract better business and to look serious to clients.

I'm considering these two primarily;
1. The Studiobox Professtional, size 5.
2. Vocalbooth Diamond 14 Carat guesstimate

There's plenty more info on the manufacturers site, the links take you to pages that give a good overall idea.

Have anyone had any experience with prefab rooms like these ?

Pros ? cons ?

Compared to building studios the cost is small.
The flexibility is great, dismantle and move to another location, rearrange panels to change windows etc.
If/when I move my business I don't lose the investment and I don't have to pay to undo the studio build.

I'd appreciate any ideas and experience you might have.

All the best

Kristian

[ghellquist]

In Sweden, Färnqvist Inredning makes something called "Tonfällan". I am saving for one of these to have in my apartment so I can practice playing the trombone and bassoon also late evenings without disturbing.
With a bit of internal sound traps it will work for recording work as well.
Färnqvists Inredning AB, Specialsnickerier, Specialinredningar

Gunnar

[Mats]

Also, there was one second hand at ******//www.blocket.se/vi/13419659.htm?ca=15_s

[K Bartos]

Thanks for the reply guys. Looks OK, had no idea there were such a thing being made in sweden.
I'm really looking for something a bit larger, i wanna be able to fit three people in there.

All the best

Kristian

[tcause]

We have a VocalBooth in the store... its good. Its built like a tank and so the shipping costs are really horrendous but... you get this thing that is built to be able to be assembled, dissassembled, reassembled ad infinitum...

They have a really good, quiet, ventilation system... I would like to see the option of having it more completely isolated but I think you can option them up...

Oh and they sound good especially in the gold and up versions.

[klaukholm]

I would go with the german studiobox premium 480 x 420 x 205.

They are located in southern germany and are more than open to you coming down to try one out.
If the room will allow for it I would get one with extra height as well.

[K Bartos]

Thanks for your responses !
I'm definately leaning towards the Studiobox as the Vocalbooth Diamond isn't quite as large as I would like it to be.
Provided the cost doesn't go overboard (still haven't gotten a quote on shipping) I'm looking at getting a custom sized Studiobox. Unfortunately my place doesn't give me the option to get one with increased ceiling height.
Anyways, seems like a good place to start for a "halfway there"-recording room.

Kristian

[lowfreq33]

I'm not going to say that these aren't good products. But if you have any building skills (saw, hammer, nails) you can build the same thing yourself for a lot less. If you'd rather pay more for the convenience and simplicity go right a head. It's just a question of what you have more of, money or time.

[klaukholm]

The nice thing about the studiobox and a few of the other products out there is that you can encrease or decrease their sizes after the fact due to their modular design.

[K Bartos]

you can build the same thing yourself for a lot less

Agreed, but like you say, it's all a tradeoff between time and money and I don't have the time.
My business keeps growing and I need to get this done with minimal extra workload.
DIY would be OK if I had the time - but I don't.
Hiring a contractor - Would be OK, but due to rental issues (I'm subrenting and needt to transfer the contract to me before I do anything), finding a contractor and then waiting for him to get it done is also a very lenghty process. Right now it's almost impossible to find contractors that do work inside of 6 months. Those who can, you don't wanna do business with.
So - this is indeed a very attractive option, it's faster, it will be a third of the cost of hiring a contractor, probably even cheaper than that.
Granted, it's not AIR Studios. I'm fully aware of the limitations and the slut factor of a "proper" studio that I'll miss out on ;-)
Nevertheless, it's seems a good solution.
Kinda like wanting a Ferrari, but knowing that getting a Volvo really won't limit you all that much. When the studiobox is indeed the bottleneck, finding the funds to build a proper studio won't be an issue.

Remember, I'm doing mostly VO work, vocals and acoustic instruments.

The one thing that bothers me slightly is the fact that my ceiling limits me to 2.05 meters worth of headroom inside the box.
Hehe.. that sounded funny, but you get the idea.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

[DBLR]

Kristian,

Check out Vocal Booths. I have one and love it. I have a 4x6 but I have seen much larger models. From what I understand, they can ship to anywhere in the world. Very well-built, very quiet, and it sounds great.

[klaukholm]

The problem is transatlantic shipping costs of an item that weighs hundreds of pounds.
These things are very heavy.

[DCommand]

Is it possibly for them to make a box for drums?
What dimensions would fit, how small can it be?

THX

[Midiguy]

Be careful with your expectations with these pre-fab boxes. I have a Whisperroom brand booth, which had better noise reduction specs than Vocalbooth and most of the others available. You're probably looking at noise reduction levels of up to 50db. THis may sound high, but it's really not. It's basically silencing the noise level of something like your furnace or air conditioner fan. I for examle cannot have the booth in my control room and record a vocalist inside the booth with the studio monitors playing outside the booth. Tons of sound from the monitors bleed right through the booth. The other issue is acoustics. You're dealing with a very small geometric space. Yes, some are covered with wall to wall foam, but all that does is create a low-end boomy environment. I installed bass traps in the corners which took care of that though. Still needed the wall to wall foam in addition to the bass traps due to the small square size. To my knowledge, one of the best semi-portable units is made by a company called Wenger Corporation. Their units have special sealing process with vacuums or something. I used one in college where it was no problem having the monitors going while tracking - no bleed.

Just a few things to consider.