There are numerous guides on how to build sound insulation walls available on the market, as well as some prefabricated solutions and DIY skills. In this video, we will explore some basic strategies and options for setting up isolation booth rooms from the outset. The first is to choose whether to use the isolation room.
If it is not in a noisy environment, using a smaller room for recording may lead to more problems than the isolation booth room can solve. A smaller room means that the first reflection will be louder and happen faster, so you are more likely to get comb filtering and smearing.
Smaller rooms also have less space for treatment, so it will be more difficult to treat lower frequencies, and there is no room for thicker panels.
Setting up a recording area in a big room may be an easier strategy for you and bring you better results. You can refer to our live video to learn more about how to record in a larger room.
If you are trapped by external noise, it is worthwhile to isolate yourself from those unwanted sounds and record them in a small room.
The size is the first consideration when setting the isolation booth compartment. Many people may start with a booth that is 4 feet by 4 feet high and the ceiling is 8 feet high. Although having four walls of the same size may make the construction easier, the more symmetrical the size, some frequencies will be established, resulting in unnecessary peaks and zeros in the frequency response. Changing the size so that no two measurements are the same or multiples of other measurements will greatly improve the room, even before we reach the absorption. So instead of 4 × 4 × 8, we can try 5 × 7 × 8.
Remember, the main purpose of the isolation booth compartment is to isolate the recording from the sound outside the compartment, so a good isolation compartment should be sealed as much as possible. Wherever air can freely enter a room, so can sound. Please keep this in mind when you figure out how to run cables and install doors to the booth. If you don't want your genius to faint from lack of oxygen or heatstroke, a closed room also needs ventilation.
For absorption, you need a low enough processing level to absorb all human voices and can resonate below 100hz. Isolation booth rooms for human voices can use our 244 bass trap to arrange walls and ceilings. If you plan to use your room to record bass-heavy instruments, you will want to see something thicker.
The more we absorb and cover the room, the better because we won't get any beneficial effects from the natural characteristics of the room. Even the floor should be carpeted.
Isolation booth cubicles are not just for human voices, nor are they always small closet-sized rooms as we see in home theaters. For recording acoustic instruments in cubicles, we can also consider some types of mixed diffusion.