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Small booth - as live as possible

Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 9:55 am
by Allbread
Hi All,

Ryan from Colorado here again. I finally have my booth constructed in my basement and I'm getting some ideas for treatment. I tried to isolate it as much as I can from the rest of the house so all the wall dividing the booth from the mix room (it's the wall with windows in it) has a double stud wall with 3 layers of 5/8th drywall on each side and layers of green glue in between. The other walls I just added one addition layer of drywall with a layer of green glue in between the existing drywall (2x4 studs filled with insulation behind that).

Ceiling is 3 layers of drywall with green glue attached to floor joists - all the channels of which are packed with insulation.

As you can see from the scale of the person and the drumset, it's a small booth (77 square feet) and irregularly shaped.

I will use the booth primarily for guitar amps, acoustic instruments, vocals, and the occasion drummer (as long as he/she isn't claustrophobic.

Ceiling height is currently 7'10 and hardwood flooring is going in directly on top of the slab on the floor.

I would like for the room to sound bigger than it is and be as live as possible without standing waves. As you can see in my mock-up I plan to start with bass traps in the 3 main corners and I have some prebuilt panels to hang on the wall (that's a mirror hanging between the panels to give me more sight lines through the small windows).

My question is in regards to the ceiling. In a booth this size is it best to go totally dead or will I be able to get away with just breaking up the standing waves by hanging pieces of MDF at different angles to the floor. Perhaps a combination of the two?

What would you all do with the ceiling in this space? I don't want to loose too much height but I'll do whatever it takes to get it sounding good. Is it worth trying any diffusors in a space this small?

If I try to deaden it it will be tricky with the weird shape if I just hand 2x4 panels - is it worth framing out a structure across the whole ceiling that can be stuffed with insulation and then covered with fabric?

Thanks for you input,
Ryan

Re: Small booth - as live as possible

Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 1:24 pm
by gullfo
scatter 100mm absorbers on the ceiling - it will break up the reflections and provide some absorption.