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Make an isolation chamber?

R

ric1312

Inactive
Apr 16, 2006
1,496
1
chicago, IL.
#1
I have to make some sort of isolation chamber for recording both vocals and to mic my bass.

the only I idea I have is to buy some partitions and make a circle and drape some heavy wool blankets over them.

anyone else have any Ideas?

P.S. all of my closet space is taken up or just not large enough.
 
#2
Depends on what you have going on and your price range.

You could go so far as to have a room made with thicker and insulated walls and carpet the inside of the room and possilby get that sound absorbing foam material.

You could buy cubicle walls and carpet them some more and throw the foam noise absorber in them. Do something for the ceiling of it etc...

You just want it to reduce as much outside noise as possible. and keep what you want inside and not escape.

If you have a house and a basement, maybe convert the basement into something and have the vocal room be under the stairs or stuff of that nature.
 
#3
No basement. The room I record in is not bad acoustically but with the condenser mic I have it will pick up my dog licking its but across the room.

I wanted to set up something I could break down and put away and that wouldn't break the bank.

I doesn't have to be perfect, just enough to cut out reflections and outside noise so the vocal can sit right in the mix, and I can get the miced sound of my bass.
 
#5
For bass recording, I bought one piece of 1/2" ply wood and cut the wood to the size of the outer length, width and height of my bass cabinet. I carpeted the 2 pieces for the side, 1 piece for the top and 1 piece for the front. I used the "reject" or "scraps" of carpet that hardware stores have left. It is the kind you get for a discount but have to deal with the fact that it is whatever is left off the huge roll when they cut the carpet for you. My local Valu stores in Buffalo, NY have this.

Anyways, I nailed the pieces together and had it made so the bottom and the back of my "speaker enclosure" were non-existant. From there I took my mic and stand, set it up to the speaker and slid the enclosure over it all.

You don't have to make the depth the exact size of the speaker, you can make it longer. What I did was slid the enclosure so it was about 1/2" over the top of my cab and so there was a lot of room between the speaker and the inside front of the enclosure. This left me with some room for the sound to go out.
 
#6
absolutely do not cover the entire walls with carpeting or any other absorbant material. THis stuff only absorbs highs & high mids at best & leaves all other freqs intact. What you and up with is a very boxy sound... it's like eq-ing all the highs & high mids out of a sound... this is death for vocals sounds.

leave about 1/2 of the space uncarpeted, or only do 2 or 3 sides.
 

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