VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[Bailey]

We recently downsized to a “smaller” house. There is a room off the side of the garage that I’ve staked a claim to. It is 12 feet wide, and 7 ½ feet deep. I want to convert it into 2 rooms… one to use as a small tool room / workshop… and I’d like to make the other one a computer / sound room. I’m open to suggestions as to what would be the best layout / design for a small sound room. Is a room 6’ x 7 ½’ too small? Should it be larger? Is a sound booth necessary in a room that small? Should the room have its own circuit breaker? Other than necessary equipment, phone line, electrical, cable, soundproofing and ventilation, is there anything else I should consider?
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"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 .gif" alt="W00T" border="0" />
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."

[Deirdre]

Hey Bailey-- I think Kevin recently posted something about the science behind sound room design-- how 4X6 seems to be the Golden Mean for sound quality.


Try searching for "booth" or studio" and see what pops up.
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[Bailey]

I've been searching "sound"... "booth"... "studio", and so on for the past 20 minutes. I only found Kevin's reference to portable sound booth sizes. I haven't found a reference to how 4X6 seems to be the Golden Mean for sound quality.

_________________
"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 .gif" alt="W00T" border="0" />
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."

[Deirdre]

Well, crap.

I think he posted a link to an article.

When he pops in here, I hop he'll be able to re-reference it.
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DBCooperVO.com

[mcm]

It's http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=506, but the whys and wherefores aren't included.

Kevin, whereja get that info?

[Deirdre]

Some info from Kevin:

Steven Klein's website had it, but it's essentially take a good room and put up doors: http://www.soundcontrolroom.com/vocal_booth.htm

The book, "Sound Studio Construction On a Budget" by F. Alton Everest is a real gem (and budgets go from $10 to $10M). There are 8 designs in the book, one being a vocal booth. They say keep the ratios to 4x5

Also, http://www.acoustics101.com (hosted by Auralex) will take a design, given some research by the individual, and build out the design and components required. A VERY GOOD resource.

Hope that helps!

Kevin
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[kgenus]

Voice-over Recording Studio
"VOICE-OVER" RECORDING IS THAT PROCESS BY WHICH A narration is recorded to later be used alone, or mixed with background music and/or sound effects. It can also be applied to the simple recording of voice alone. The studio for doing this is called a "voice" studio, with its particular acoustical characteristics, even as a "music" studio has its own acostical requirements. At first glance it might seem that the acoustical requirements for a voice studio would be simpler than those fo a music studio. This is not necessarily true. Voice sounds are subject to colorations (such as those caused by modal resonances and comb-filter effects), which can also affect music, but which are less audible in music.

What size should the voice studio be?
Although economic factors can outweigh the acoustical, there is a penalty in having a too-small studio. The modal resonances of the room are the acoustics of the room (see chapter 18). If the room is too small, modal resonance frequencies will be too few, with too-great spacing between them. This becomes a permanent flaw of the room, with no satisfactory correction. The smaller the room, the higher the low-frequency limit; that is, the lowest frequency with resonance support. For example, a room ten feet long will have a bass limit of 56Hz, but a 20-foot room will have a bass limit of 28Hz. Above 300 Hz the modal frequencies are so close together that problems associated with the lower frequencies tend to disappear.

The acoustical engineers of teh British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), with their hunders of studios, have (on the basis of voice coloration studies) decided that it is impractical to build voice studios smaller than 1,500 Ft(cubed).

What shape should the voice studio be?
In this rectilinear world a rectangular shape is assumed, but what dimensional proportions should be selected? Scores of papers have been written presenting arguments about why certain room proportions give the most uniform distribution of room modes. All have strong and weak points; none result in the perfect distribution of modal frequencies. Here are three proportions that have stood the test of time:

A. 1.00 H 1.14 W 1.39 L
B. 1.00 H 1.28 W 1.54 L
C. 1.00 H 1.60 W 2.33 L

Assuming a ceiling height of ten feet, these three proportions offer the following:

A. 10.0 H 11.4 W 13.9 L 1,585 ft c
B. 10.0 H 12.8 W 15.4 L 1,971 ft c
C. 10.0 H 16.0 W 23.3 L 3,728 ft c

Proportion A gives a volume that has been classed as marginal in size for a room to be used for a voice studio. Proportion B is a bit better, but proportion C is selected as the most promising.


-"Sound Studio Construction on a Budget" F. Alton Everest, McGraw-Hill 1997, ISBN 0-07-021382-8
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Genus

[kgenus]

Most vocal booths do not follow those dimensions as the height is usually 8 feet which completely throws it off, as a result you have some minor eqing changes, but you get the picture....

Dah room is airytin' mahn.

Kevin
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Genus

[Bailey]

I guess my first step will be number crunching. And I think I fit somewhere in that 10 to 10M price range. Thanks.
:wink:
_________________
"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 .gif" alt="W00T" border="0" />
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."

[nick reed]

I build speakers for a hobby and the same rules apply to the interior dimensions of the cabinet, so I am quite familiar with them.

To put some perspective on these magic ratios, here are a few things to remember.

1. These ratios are the "ideal" so to speak and they do not have to be so exact as they may appear to demand.

2. The reason for these ratios is to avoid multiples, which reinforce certain frequencies.

3. Acoustically, the worst possible dimensions for a room would be a box, e.g. a room that was 8x8x8 or 10x10x10.

4. Also, avoid multiples, e.g. 4x8x12 or 4x8x16. 12 and 8 can be divided by 4, and so on.

5. Use numbers which cannot be divided by another, like 5x8x9

6. Ideally, none of the walls would be parallel to another but this is rarely done. Slanting one wall is often done. This could be any wall or the ceiling. One could also "cut off a corner". Something like this... (ignore the dots, just look at the lines, I tried it without the dots and it didn't work, some kind of HTML problem or something, sorry)

___________
l.................l
l.................l
l.................l
l............... /
l.............. /
l________/


The above drawing could be a wall, as if you are looking at a floor plan and half of a wall is slanted in. Or this could be a side view of a room with a sheet of 4x8 plywood sitting on the floor and leaning against a wall.

Wall treatment...

Bare, hard walls would be the worst case senario. The absolute worst would be a room with all concrete walls, ceiling and floor. This would be far too reflective. Somewhat surprisingly, the second worst would be a room with carpet on all of the walls, ceiling and floor. This would be far too absorptive. Go for a mix of reflective and absorptive surfaces.

You may have heard that a bookcase full of different sized books and objects is great for the acoustics of a room because it randomizes reflections and this is true. If you have large sections of bare wall, hang a tapestry or a blanket on it. Put some pillows or cushions in the room too.

HTH,
Nick

[Deirdre]

I got yards of felt and tacked it up in pleats on the wall that I face in Mission Control. Looks like an old-fashioned movie theater.
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[Bailey]

Thanks to all for the informative input. As soon as we get completely unpacked from the move... and I finish all of the "prioritized" honey do's... I just might be able to get started on that room by the holidays.
_________________
"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 .gif" alt="W00T" border="0" />
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."