Another trip to the foam retailer, this time to purchase some acoustic foam. I decided to get the 25/20 thickness, simply because the space was already very small and I wasn’t concerned with soundproofing. The piece of foam was 2.4m x 2.4m and cost $89 retail and I cut it into 500mm x 500mm squares.
Attaching it took a little trial and error. I initially tried double-sided tape, however it was doing damage to the paintwork so I had to find another option. Returning from a trip to the hardware store, I began using standard PVC woodworking glue, which worked perfectly.
I encased the surrounding sides of the microphone as I did with the off-cut pieces I experimented with. The wall directly behind the microphone was covered as well and a ceiling piece was added also. I quickly tested the outcome and found the space to sound very dead and seem to achieve the expectation.
I added a shelf to support my laptop, as this is what I use for recording and mixing. Every studio (or ‘play studio’) should include a U2 poster, and it also doubles to cover up my really bad patching job I noticed after it was finished.
The outcome is the cupboard works great. It has definitely turned out to be the most inexpensive and practical solution to fit my requirements. Considering I already had the paint and the shelf, it only cost me $89 for the foam and $7.95 for PVC glue.
One downside is ventilation, I can only spend about 15minutes in there before I need to open the door and get some air. I am planning to install a ducted exhaust system. You can buy these for under $100 from a hardware store. The reason I chose this particular product is because it has a 6m of ducting between the fan for the intake and outlet, meaning no motor noise in the booth.
Adam Purcell: new media junky, podcaster, content creator, designer, entrepreneur, dreamer, and most importantly a husband and a father. Founder of Hungry Dog Media, plus many other projects. 