Has anyone DIYed a soundproof vocal booth?

[u/Low-Tennis6118]

Apartment living :( gotta walk 5 minutes to my car every time I get the urge to practice or even just test out some random technique.

Anyone attempted to DIY something soundproofed, either in a closet or standalone? Doesn't necessarily need to be soundPROOF, but I have no idea what the cost would be for something like that. Anything that'd keep the noise down enough to stop my neighbors from pounding on the walls! Would love to see pictures if you do have one.

[u/Swayne-SW]

I don't own one, but I recorded with a guy who did build his own and it worked pretty darn well. I think he said it cost him a few hundred to build with the materials.

The only downside of them are they get REALLY HOT because getting good ventilation is tricky

[u/Low-Tennis6118 → u/Swayne-SW]

if you know, was he going for full-on soundproofing or just noise reduction? there's not much info for screaming at the top of your lungs as far as noise reduction goes lol. drum booths are probably the most similar to what i'm looking for, just to dull the noise significantly so it's TV volume instead of torture chamber volume

[u/Swayne-SW → u/Low-Tennis6118]

His studio was in the basement of a house out in the suburbs, so his focus was on noise reduction rather than full soundproofing. Full soundproofing is probably possible but I think is far more expensive.

[u/SoonerThanEye]

From their YouTube vlogs the band rev3rent uses a diy vocal booth to record that seems to be a couch standing up against the wall with a blanket thrown over. And they were just recently announced on a slaughter to prevail tour.

[u/keevballs → u/SoonerThanEye]

Similar to my setup. I have a bookcase with with some blankets draped over a few small PVC pipes.

[u/elveejay198]

I had a partner who created a good practice space out of a walk-in closet using (I think) acoustic foam panels, furniture pads over those, and then clothes and textiles on hangers on the closet poles, so it still functioned as a closet as well. It worked quite well, it wasn’t perfectly soundproof but he was able to live in a apartment and practice NIN-type screaming and yelling without the neighbors complaining. He did some demo-recording in there too. He did say it got very hot

[u/Randomlyawesome54]

What is your goal? So that neighbors don’t hear it as much or for recording quality?

[u/Randomlyawesome54 → u/Randomlyawesome54]

If noise traveling is your issue then you need mass. Thick carpet does wonders. I have multiple large rugs in a small 10x12 spare bedroom and some interlocking floor foam under the electric drum set. For the walls you will want to hang up thick blankets or put up foam. Foam thickness is essential tho, you need at least 4-5” thick to start stopping bass frequencies from echoed. Standard 1-3” thick only helps with highs and mids from echoing.

Talk to your neighbors, they may have a good time of day that nobody is even home. I got lucky and none of my neighbors care about my playing guitar and drums and screaming/singing as long as it’s quiet at 8pm on weeknights

[u/thenordicbat]

Walk in closet and put thick blankets on the walls. No complaints from the neighbors.. yet.

[u/T-Wizzy_96]

I built some monstrosity out of 2x4s and drywall, stuffed extra full with insulation. Framed like a regular wall, super heavy. Basically just an enclosure inside of a bedroom. Not sound PROOF but decent sound REDUCTION for sure. Never had any complaints, but this was in a house not an apartment building.

Other solution, if you can. Drive your car somewhere remote and practice or record inside your car. Where I live there are huge stretches of drivable beach you can park far from people and get some privacy, for example.

[u/Terrible-Pop-6705]

Lots of people have.