Building a soundproof vocal booth

 

 Building a sound control vocal booth is much like building  a complete recording studio except on a much smaller scale. Basically you would start out by framing out the vocal booth. You can use either wood or steel  studs. When installing soundproofing materials to the walls and ceiling of a vocal booth it is easiest to use wooden studs. With wood you are able to staple or nail up the soundproofing materials. With steel studs you will need to use sheet metal self tapping screws.

Once you have framed out your vocal booth it’s time to start the soundproofing. Generally with a vocal booth you are not looking at a lot of space to soundproof. The first of order of business is to add either drywall or plywood to the outside of the vocal booth. You can use any type of outer sheathing such as OSB (oriented strand board) or MDF (medium density fiberboard)  Now that you have the booth framed and the outer sheathing installed it is time to get down to some serious soundproofing. The next step is to get a good sound absorbing batt insulation such as the Ultra Touch cotton insulation or Rockwool  (Roxul Safe and sound or Roxul AFB) Either one of these insulations will work fine. After you have installed the batt insulation between the wall studs and the  ceiling joists, your next step would be to staple or nail up a layer of the 1# per sq ft mass loaded vinyl (MLV for short) The MLV is a high grade vinyl that is impregnated with barium and silica to give it mass. It is designed to emulate lead sheeting.  When installing MLV you want to overlap the seams by at least 1 inch and then you will want to caulk the overlap as well as around the entire perimeter of the MLV membrane. Sealing the vinyl is key to obtaining the ultimate soundproofing for your vocal booth. As soon as you have sealed the MLV with caulk and have taped the overlapped seam you will be ready to install your drywall  on the inside. Once again it is not essential to use drywall, you can use any kind of board such as plywood, OSB or MDF. Before installing the wall and ceiling board you must seal all electrical outlets and light switcheswith our fire stop acoustical putty pads, The putty pads would seal the electrical boxes and light shich enclosures so that sound does not escape through these areas. After sealing all electrical switches and outlets it is time to install the wallboard to the walls and the ceiling of the vocal booth. You will install the wallboard just lake you would in an ordinary room. It is a good idea to caulk all seams with acoustical caulk and then you  would simply finish or paint the wall just like any other type of wall. Needless to say you would use the same procedure for the ceiling of the booth as well. Finally you will need to deal with the floor. What I would recommend if your vocal booth has a floor joist system would be to add a barrier directly to the top of the subfloor which will help to block sound transmission through the floor itself/ You can use the same method for the floor as you did for the walls and ceiling of your vocal booth.  You will need to have a solid core door with a door seal kit for entering and exiting the vocal booth. That’s pretty much it for building a soundproof vocal booth. If you have question, please feel free to post here on this blog or call me direct at (877) 530-0139 this is Bob O. Adios!

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