Vocal Booth and Dogs Barking

[verbal]

The unit beside me that has been empty for about 2 years has recently been rented out to a pet grooming business . Now there are dogs that are intermittently barking throughout the day. This is really screwing up daytime sessions because my vocal booth is right on the other side of the wall where the main sound is coming from. I need help with solutions that will block out the dogs barking. Moving the vocal booth is a last resort...Heres a picture of our set up


As shown in the diagram above I am thinking of building a wall, leaving an air gap and putting something like owens corning or Roxul on the other side. Are there any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[flail19]

Here's an answer to dogs barking.





























Just kidding

[HIGHENDONLY]

I guess if you were recording DMX they dongs are nice, but damn sorry hear that.

[Jules]

I don't like the sound of this new development.. best of luck with it.. I DREADED a bad new neighbor moving in next door to my studio.. Top of my worry list was a work bench attached to the shared side wall.. Dog barking seems just as bad..

[verbal]

Thanks for the support guys.....on the brighter side it could have been worse...a year ago a Karate instructor was looking at the space for starting a DOJO! Anyways, please keep hitting me up with advice if you have any...

[Unknown03]

Originally Posted by flail19

Here's an answer to dogs barking.

Attachment 37237









Just kidding

"just kidding"...

hes right, too loud

get one of these....it'l phuck shit up -- and its quiet ....of course im "kidding" too.....





















..

























..

























or am i?

[TomiGran]

I kinda feel your pain. I'm on the second floor of an office building located next to a Lowes. Thats fine, but here's the kicker. In addition to holding off until after 5pm to have my bigger more questionable sessions , there's this 18 wheeler that comes a few times a week and parks at the end of Lowes parking lot at about 8 or 9 pm..........like clockwork...........and he leaves the stinkin' motor runnin ALL NIGHT!! EVERYTIME!!!!!!!!

[Unknown03]

btw, have you tried going over there and saying, "I'm trying to record so shut them ****in dogs up!"

same with above,

have u tried saying, "Im trying to record so turn off ur ****ing truck!"

works wonders for me

[NoodlinXavier]

It's amazing how barking dogs are always in an echo chamber like concrete rooms. Just gets progressively louder... UGH!

Try to verify if the sound is coming through the wall or sneaking around through other places. A very directional mic or simply a paper towel tube up to you ear could help verify the sources of noise transfer...

Trying to contain the noise in their space may be more cost effective? At minimum offer to put up some absorbtion panels in their room and verify that doors and windows and other places sound sneaks through (like water) are tightly sealed. At minimum, this dialog with them shows that it's so important to you that you'd spend $$ on it -- that may just make them much more considerate. And some other resolution *might* appear....

[TomiGran]

Originally Posted by Unknown03

have u tried saying, "Im trying to record so turn off ur ****ing truck!"

works wonders for me

Hmmm...........(thinks back to all the trucker/biker movies of the 80's)...........NOT! I eliminated the problem by blocking the window with sound proofing materials. It cost a bit, but well worth it.

[verbal]

All great suggestions guys (and I DO mean ALL)....

btw, have you tried going over there and saying, "I'm trying to record so shut them ****in dogs up!"

same with above,

have u tried saying, "Im trying to record so turn off ur ****ing truck!"

works wonders for me

Thing is...I don't think that she has any control over the dogs because they are all visiting and usually dont seem to like to get baths...how can I make her keep them quite (maybe suggest muzzles hmmmm...) also, shes just a young woman trying to make a living and it's not like I'm trying to intimidate her...for much of the day we have loud music playing (mixing sessions, production sessions etc) that I'm sure she hears as well so I kind of feel like it would be unfair to be like "stop the dogs from barking because I need silence" and then have my music blasting away.

I don't mind adding some extra sound blocking materials...I just want to be somewhat sure that they will actually make a difference.

Trying to contain the noise in their space may be more cost effective? At minimum offer to put up some absorbtion panels in their room and verify that doors and windows and other places sound sneaks through (like water) are tightly sealed. At minimum, this dialog with them shows that it's so important to you that you'd spend $$ on it -- that may just make them much more considerate. And some other resolution *might* appear....

Great suggestion...any products that you can recommend that would suit this purpose? Thanks again.

[NoodlinXavier]

Originally Posted by verbal

Great suggestion...any products that you can recommend that would suit this purpose? Thanks again.

Are the barking dogs right on the other side of the wall? If they are and the room can be rearranged so they aren't right next to the wall, that can make a huge difference.


I'm definitely not an expert at acoustics . I'm not sure how much you know so I'll start with the basic couple of things I've learned...

There are two reasons for acoustical treatment: 1) to make a sound within a room pleasing to our ears for recording and listening (Room Treatment to make a listening room), 2) to decouple sound from leaking in and/or out of a room/space (Soundproofing, or Sound isolation). #1 is considerable easier and doesn't necessarily help with #2, which is your problem.

Sound behaves like water/air when encountering unsealed objects. It flows right through any gap it can.


As far as affordable absorption products I purchased a bunch of rigid fiber glass from a local construction insulation products company and put them in covers (bags) sold by this place:

Ready Acoustics Home

But that is more for making a listening room. I'd think that would help some if placed in the room where the sound originates since it does absorb some of the sound. It's amazing how much just a few of those helps make a room sound better, but on the whole sound isolation thing, I'm not sure how much it would help.

Sealing any air gaps (doors, windows, HVAC, plumbing, etc) from room where the sound originates seems to me to be priority 1. Is the sound mostly coming through the wall or is it coming in from all sides?

It seems to me that the wall you consider building is going in the right direction once all the other paths for sound are taken care of. If that new wall is sealed all the way around but isn't physically attached to the other walls, then it is acoustically decoupled from the other space and therefore doesn't transfer sound as easily as if it was screwed directly to the side walls. However, are the other two walls in your vocal booth directly attached to the wall between you and the dogs? If it is, that might be a problem.

Walls constructed the normal way have serious sound coupling issues for studios: 2 x 4 frames with sheet rock screwed to both sides. Everything is screwed together acting like one unit which just couples sound right through (it obviously does some attenuation, but not enough).

To decouple sound each side of the wall would have sheet rock on it's own complete frame (AKA double wall). Even better each wall would be decoupled from the floor, ceiling and side walls with rubber. But that is probably more than needed in your case.

So the ultimate solution would be a vocal booth that is free standing in a room. It's walls and ceiling are not attached to any of the walls or ceiling of the current room, and the vocal booth is acoustically floating above the floor of the room it sits in. In other words it sits on some heavy rubber or air shocks or something that acoustically decouples it from the floor. This is hopefully overkill for your situation, but proves a point...

My knowledge is exausted . Do some searches here on "Soundproofing" and "Sound isolation".

Here are some other forums for acoustics:

Recording Studio Design :: Index


Acoustics :: Index


This is mostly about room treatment, but still a good primer on acoustics:

Acoustic Treatment and Design for Recording Studios and Listening Rooms

Ethan also has sells some great products and info at RealTraps - Home

[peeder]

move.

[Gravity]

In addition go to your local Home Despot, and instead of building a wall, get some 5/8" Fire rated (we call it X rated board in Canada) drywall, and some resiliant channel (i forget who makes it but don't buy it from an 'accoustics' company like auralex. I think the stuff is called RC-6 but most home depots carry it. it's a steel strip that isolates the drywall from the wall both physically and by leaving an air gap.

This stuff works well for floating a wall and may be a better choice then building a whole other wall. You should also pick up some PL brand Acoustiseal. It's a non-drying sealant that comes in a tube like caulking, and you can use it to seal any air gaps around the room. It helps to decouple as well as seal airtight any gap anywhere. If you DO have to build another wall, I'd use the RC-6 channel on the new wall as well as using Low-E foam (for larger gaps over 3/8"), and the Acoustiseal (for gaps under 3/8") to seal the wall off completely on all sides. Pack the wall with OC703 or Roxul Mineral wool and you should be good (the resiliant channel gives an air gap that is needed for the mineral wool to work effectively)

I did this on my studio build and got better then 40dB of isolation with drywall on only one side of the walls... if you put it up on two sides you should be in even better shape.

[verbal]

Thanks for the new advice guys....NoodlinXavier: I have researched sound isolation (in general) just making sure that the sollution I choose is right for my situation, I will definitely look at the links you posted though (thanks).
Gravity: I'm gonna check out the materials that you mentioned at my local Home Depot real soon...thanks for the detailed list.
Looks like I'm gonna try to build the wall in the same fashion that Gravity outlined...hope it helps. I'll post back later to let you guys know when the constructions done...

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, hopefully I can get my daytime record time back again...

Oh yeah and I can't move for like another 4 months due to a lease agreement that I sighned. But really, I like my spot (minus the barking dogs) and Im gonna try to stay if its possible.

Peace

[drmmrboy]

You don't live next to this guy, do ya..??