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If you search the web for "vocal recording booth" you'll find build plans and diy guides by the dozen.

Thing is... I am not looking for a recording booth... I share a house with two families with kids that should sleep at night and adults working night shifts that need to sleep during the day.

What I am looking for is a "sound-proof" human sized box design to practice singing (and shouting) without worrying that I annoy my house mates.

My current idea is to get some cheap wood, add some rock-wool on the inside and some cloth to make it bearable. Put this together with a roof of the same design and put it in the cellar.

Would this be soundproof?

Tim Burnett - Bassist
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fho
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    Or jump in the car, and drive somewhere secluded? – Tim Nov 16 '16 at 15:27
  • Funfact: The vocalist of my band _Arcsign_ does exactly that... His name is Tim :-) Thing is, I want to use my microphone, amplification, etc and I would not want to have to set it up time and time again whenever I decide to practice ... and I would not want to leave it in the car. – fho Nov 16 '16 at 15:33
  • Sound-proofing requires **mass**. Rockwool is nowhere near massive enough, by many factors. Brick walls are considerably better at it than wooden, but would you can still hear the neighbours' hifi through 2 layers with insulation between. – Tetsujin Nov 16 '16 at 15:51
  • But the hifi is producing a lot of bass. My voice is quite low, but I suspect I can't compete with a medium sized bass speaker. – fho Nov 16 '16 at 15:57
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    Believe me - I can hear my idiot neighbours shouting, through two layers of brick & insulation... – Tetsujin Nov 16 '16 at 16:54
  • Not sure, I would suspect that a ceiling/floor is thicker than a wall. And rock-wool is pretty heavy. I think people actually use it for soundproofing on the cheap. – fho Nov 16 '16 at 16:58
  • Why do you need amplification to practice singing? Use headphones, just deafen yourself! – Laurence Nov 16 '16 at 17:59
  • I am specifically trying to train singing "loud"... Metall stuff... PA in the rehearsal room is cranked up to just below feedback and it's still hard to get heard above the drums. And the drummer is actually not that loud. – fho Nov 16 '16 at 18:03
  • A ceiling/floor may be thicker than a wall, but unless it's concrete, it will be nowhere near as good as brick at stopping sound. Rockwooll is a waste of time for proper soundproofing, on its own or in combination with just wood. You need mass.. – Tetsujin Nov 16 '16 at 20:24
  • A college/university/school local to you might have soundproof practice rooms (with PA systems etc.) available. Many will let you use them... sometimes for a price. – ChristopheLynch Nov 16 '16 at 22:50
  • @ChristopheLynch we have a 120€/month practice room. I am looking for a solution at home. – fho Nov 17 '16 at 06:07
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    Possible duplicate of [Making a Soundproof Room](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/9609/making-a-soundproof-room) – PiedPiper Nov 12 '19 at 12:38

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In the end I bought a booth from a German company called Desone which I am very happy with. It wasn't cheap but it gives enough isolation that I can play baritone sax at 3am if I want. Outside (next to) the booth it sounds as if someone next door is listening to music a bit loudly. So my neighbours hear almost nothing. I also use it for recording as it is also quiet inside. It's pro-quality product. I'll give you an idea how it is constructed.

Basically it is a room within a room, with a double layer of fibreglass insulation. There is a heavy soundproof double door and each shell has a heavy double-glazed window. There is a ventilation duct between the two shells (I have the impression that most sound gets out through this). You can stay in there about 30 mins then you need to open the door and take a break.

The whole thing sits on rubber bumpers which isolate vibration going downwards. The two layers of fibreglass insulation are arranged so that seams always cross at right angles.

It took a couple of days (and a large van) to collect from Berlin, and about 3 or 4 days with two of us to build. Another day to clean everything top to bottom because of all the fibreglass. But now it's done, I love it - it has changed my life. I won't be moving in a hurry though.

It cost quite a bit but having built it and used it, I can see why. The components themselves are serious, and there is a lot of design. It was worth it.

danmcb
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"Soundproofing" is a bit of a misnomer in the sense that it is any attempt at noise reduction by definition. And, it is not realistically possible to completely soundproof a room (meaning to cancel 100% of sound entering into or escaping from a chamber,) at least not on any pocket-friendly budget or with non-professional design and labor.

For example, Orfield Labs' anechoic chamber and Microsoft's 'quietest place on Earth' have a background noise measured in negative decibels. Each took years to design and a LOT of $$$ to ultimately realize... And, they are technically still around 99.99% soundproof, or something like this.

That said, there are a few things you can try if this is still an issue 3 years later... I'd start by searching the web for 'DIY Soundproofing' or 'soundproof closet,' instead of searching for any form of 'vocal booth;' which is going to assume that you are more concerned with keeping noise from entering the booth than you are of noise escaping the chamber (though the same result is achieved either way, arguably.)

Firstly, sound travels upward much more efficiently than downward; so, you are better off if you can get above your neighbors. Secondly, you want to try to reduce noise through absorption as much as possible (since you cannot increase distance from your neighbors...) If you go the route of soundproofing a closet, you will need to add a lot of absorbent material to the floors, walls, door(s), and ceiling. From there, you can, and should, build your 'human-sized box' inside this closet and add even more absorbent material to the inside and outside of that.

Finally, and unfortunately, you are not likely to find a very efficient or cost-effective solution to your problem...Unless you have a big budget, you are much better off to find a solution that is away from the property. It is simply not realistic to think that you can soundproof a room enough in order to avoid disturbing a sleeping child inside a house in which you are shouting... If you absolutely cannot find an off-property solution, then you are better-off building your soundproof closet in some sort of outbuilding like a shed or garage or bomb-shelter. :)

Tim Burnett - Bassist
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