Building a Singing Room or Vocal Booth at Home (Without Upsetting the Neighbours)

Pick the right spot

• Away from the shared wall if you can. Building in a corner on the opposite side of the room gives you two rooms' worth of separation for free.
• On a solid floor where possible. Ground floors on concrete are easiest. Upper timber floors need more care to stop sound travelling through the joists.
• Room for a door to open and a little space around the booth for ventilation ducting.

Room-within-a-room construction

The principle is the same as any serious soundproofing: mass, decoupling and sealing. The booth is built as its own small structure, so the existing walls and floor can't carry vibration straight out:

1. 1A timber or metal stud frame stands just off the existing walls, never fixed rigidly to them.
2. 2The frame is filled with dense acoustic mineral wool.
3. 3Two layers of acoustic plasterboard go on the outside faces, joints staggered and every edge sealed with acoustic sealant.
4. 4The booth's ceiling is built the same way and sits on the booth walls, not hung from the room ceiling.
5. 5The floor gets a resilient layer, or a floating deck, so the booth doesn't sit hard on the floor structure.

The door is the weak point

A hollow internal door undoes everything else. Use a solid-core door with perimeter acoustic seals and an automatic drop seal at the bottom, so it closes tight onto the threshold. A small glazed vision panel with laminated glass is fine and makes the booth feel less enclosed.

Don't forget fresh air

A properly sealed booth gets stuffy within minutes, especially when you're singing. Ventilation has to get air in and out without letting sound out with it:

• A quiet in-line fan in a duct that bends at least twice before reaching the room. Sound doesn't turn corners well.
• Lined ducts or silencer boxes on the intake and exhaust.
• A simple plug-in fan on its own switch, so you can turn it off for a take.

Making it sound good inside

Once the booth is isolated, a small room with hard walls sounds boxy. That's where acoustic treatment comes in: absorbent panels on the walls and ceiling at mouth height and behind you. This is the one place foam or fabric panels are exactly the right tool. Our studio acoustics guide covers it in more depth.

Keeping costs down

• Use the room's corner. Two existing walls mean only two new walls to build, although they still need lining off the existing walls.
• Keep it compact. A booth just big enough for you, a mic stand and a chair is often all that's needed.
• Do the decorating yourself. Having us build and board the shell, then lining and painting it yourself, can save a meaningful amount.
• Plug-in power. A plug-in fan and light can avoid new electrical circuits altogether.