Vocal Booth... or not?

[RedWallStudio]

Im in the process of converting a standard two-car garage into a live room for my home project studio. I'm in the layout & design phase right now, and am planning on including a closet to be used as an iso-booth for guitar amps. Right now, the booth is about 4 feet x 3 feet with 8 foot ceilings (basically, its a closet). Now Im considering making it bigger to become a vocal booth as well. My question is, at what point is a vocal booth "too small" where it is just pointless to record vocals in it? Does anyone have a small booth that is treated properly, laid out properly, that sounds good? I think the max size I can get away with would be 4 feet x 6 feet with 8 foot ceilings.

I know I may get pointed to the John L Sayer site, which I do visit reguarly. But, and I hope I don't piss anone offer here, it seems that alot of the pros there are not entirely helpful when you say you are building a studio in a garage... anyhow, thats just been my experience.

Thanks for any and all input!

[majortom]

I'm not an acoustics expert, but I have a vocal booth roughly 5x5 with the ceilings and 3/4" plywood walls covered in 4" acoustic cotton with a GIK tritraps in the corners (when I can get away with them spacewise).

It sounds good, dry, but good and not boxey as long as you stay more than a foot from the walls. Put a mic too close to one of the walls or ceiling and you get a boxey sound from reflecting low-mid frequencies, I'm guessing.

So, depending on the materials I'd say 4x3 would leave you a very small sweet spot for mic placement. 5x5ish would be the smallest I'd go. 4x6 would be quite usable, IMO, and you might even get borderline claustrophobics to go in there :-) The bigger the better though.

It may not matter at these small sizes, but I would ask for some advice as to the proper ratios for the sides of the booth. Exactly 5x5, or 4x6 probably would not yield optimal results. But, like I said I'm no acoustics expert.

[RedWallStudio]

Thanks for the input.

Yeah, Im going to stay away from the parallel walls as much as possible. But I think that begs the question; If its is only a 5 x 6 booth, am I better off just treating all sides with absorption (ie: dead room) and making it a square room which is easier to build, vs having non-parallel surfaces... but its a room that is still too small to sound good anyhow?

[Sigma]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

Im in the process of converting a standard two-car garage into a live room for my home project studio. I'm in the layout & design phase right now, and am planning on including a closet to be used as an iso-booth for guitar amps. Right now, the booth is about 4 feet x 3 feet with 8 foot ceilings (basically, its a closet). Now Im considering making it bigger to become a vocal booth as well. My question is, at what point is a vocal booth "too small" where it is just pointless to record vocals in it? Does anyone have a small booth that is treated properly, laid out properly, that sounds good? I think the max size I can get away with would be 4 feet x 6 feet with 8 foot ceilings.

I know I may get pointed to the John L Sayer site, which I do visit reguarly. But, and I hope I don't piss anone offer here, it seems that alot of the pros there are not entirely helpful when you say you are building a studio in a garage... anyhow, thats just been my experience.

Thanks for any and all input!

i did a roughly 4x5 iso [5 walls] with 7.5 foot ceilings ..treat it right acousticlly and it will treat you right ..

ehh try to cut vox in a 2000 sq foor tracking room with 18 foot ceilings and your problems will be worse without gobos and coverlets

i bowed the biggest wall..made all walls askew..angled the ceiling and am now doing a ballon pop test[ sending it to an acoustician buddy] to to make trap and diffuser fittiments

if ya need help PM me

[cajonezzz]

as big as you can afford to burn in the room IMO. Cajonezzz builds a Voc/drum/amp booth.

I've been having great luck with ours... not much of a room tone at all to fight with, but we trapped the shit out of it. Definitely helps to have the hardwood floor. Buddy is cutting cello down there now.

Air co looming large now with it heating up here in Cali.

It's helped workflow alot for me, we're getting a ton of work done with this booth, late nites etc.... I've even been cutting some mini kit with good results.

MAP OUT YOUR AIR FLOW STRATEGY. That will be your most important hurdle..

[RedWallStudio]

Thats a great thread Craig, thanks! Ironically, Im doing almost the exact same thing; building a studio in a townhome. My garage will be the live room and I have an adjacent room for the control room. Its been getting old having people telling me "ain't gonna happen dude".. so its good to see someone who is having success.

I found a room air conditioner that vents through a 4" flexible duct (like a dryer vent) so Im going to use that to keep the room cool. LED lighting seems to also be the way to go too.

Excellent, there is hope!

[YoungBo]

Originally Posted by RedWallStudio

Thanks for the input.

Yeah, Im going to stay away from the parallel walls as much as possible. But I think that begs the question; If its is only a 5 x 6 booth, am I better off just treating all sides with absorption (ie: dead room) and making it a square room which is easier to build, vs having non-parallel surfaces... but its a room that is still too small to sound good anyhow?

I second that