As a renter priced out of the housing market, I live in close proximity to others which makes it difficult to practice music without disturbing others.
While there are off-the-shelf solutions, they're either cost-prohibitive or of questional effectiveness (like having a big hole at the back). Since I live on the ground floor, I'm only worried about noise from the window and the ceiling.
Above the dropped ceiling are big pipes, blocking access to the floor joists above, so I can't attach an isolation system like this there.
Since I can't isolate the existing room, I'd need to set up an area within that room that can be isolated.
Some of the cost-prohibitive solutions are actually affordable if filing as a business and using a section 179 deduction to write off the expense. However, recent changes to the tax code have made filing as a business more risky when it's not your primary income.
This leaves the best option as DIY, and luckily Rod Gervais' excellent Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros book details exactly how to build a home studio. But, since renters can't rip out the existing Sheetrock, the advise kind of fizzles out into treat your room for sound reflection problems but "coordinate with your neighbors" for isolation, which isn't ideal.
However, it should be possible to fashion a booth out of fire-code Sheetrock, studs and Safe 'n Sound. Taking a page from isolation booth makers like Studio Bricks and WhisperRoom, if this booth could be comprised of modular sections that are bolted together to form a free-standing assembly, then the result would be no different than a booth ordered from an off-the-shelf provider.
The remainder of this blog will detail the design, resources, materials, and decisions of how to build DIY isolation booth as a renter.
While there are off-the-shelf solutions, they're either cost-prohibitive or of questional effectiveness (like having a big hole at the back). Since I live on the ground floor, I'm only worried about noise from the window and the ceiling.
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Above the dropped ceiling are big pipes, blocking access to the floor joists above, so I can't attach an isolation system like this there.
Since I can't isolate the existing room, I'd need to set up an area within that room that can be isolated.
Some of the cost-prohibitive solutions are actually affordable if filing as a business and using a section 179 deduction to write off the expense. However, recent changes to the tax code have made filing as a business more risky when it's not your primary income.
This leaves the best option as DIY, and luckily Rod Gervais' excellent Home Recording Studio: Build It Like the Pros book details exactly how to build a home studio. But, since renters can't rip out the existing Sheetrock, the advise kind of fizzles out into treat your room for sound reflection problems but "coordinate with your neighbors" for isolation, which isn't ideal.
However, it should be possible to fashion a booth out of fire-code Sheetrock, studs and Safe 'n Sound. Taking a page from isolation booth makers like Studio Bricks and WhisperRoom, if this booth could be comprised of modular sections that are bolted together to form a free-standing assembly, then the result would be no different than a booth ordered from an off-the-shelf provider.
The remainder of this blog will detail the design, resources, materials, and decisions of how to build DIY isolation booth as a renter.
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