Bass Trap Wall Construction: Home Voiceover Audio Booth Construction - Part 2
My bass trap walls are inspired by the bass traps described in the following video series from SOS Magazine. The videos explain how to turn a closet or small room into an audio booth. I highly recommend watching them in their entirety.
Please check out their design since they consulted with a very experienced audio engineer and created a very nice vocal booth in a large closet. In fact, you may be able to turn your closet into a booth and avoid all the mess and chaos of building a stand-alone booth. Somehow I think the sound barrier I got was much different than the one they used. If anyone determines what they used please message me.
In addition to insulating the booth from outside noise, the end walls of the booth function as bass traps. We didn’t put a piece of plywood on the inside surface of the end wall. We used 2x6’s and created additional space and layers.These bass traps, in conjunction with the diffusion panels on the side walls, trap unwanted bass hum and reduce sibilance. My audio engineer was very impressed by the low noise floor and low sibilance in my recordings.
A model showing the layers of the bass trap walls.
The sound to pass through a sheet of moving blanket material, air, sound barrier, air, moving blanket, air, Roxul Safe n’ Sound Insulation, and sound barrier. At this point sound is reflected by the plywood back through the layers and is diffused in the process. (The plastic covering the insulation isn’t part of the design. I just did that so I wouldn’t breath in loose insulation fibers.
If you have the space, make yours bigger than mine.
MATERIALS LIST:
Below is the materials list for the entire booth. Bold items are implicated in the wall and roof build.
(8) Sheets of 4’x8’ 5/8ths plywood
(12) 2x3’s - 8 feet long
Acoustical Caulk
Box of screws
(4) 1x6’s - 8 feet long
(2) 2x6’s - 8 feet long
Roxul Safe n Sound
Roxul Comfortboard 80
8 moving blankets
Interior door
Floor Sound Barrier Material
4” Insulated flex tube
TOOLS:
Tape measure
Pencil
Drill - screw bit and drill bit
Breadcutter knife
Circular Saw
Jig saw
Caulk Gun
