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Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 29 2009, 08:40 PM

Do you have a closet? Throw you clothes in the garbage and build a floating room-in-a-room instead!

http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?autocom=gallery&req=user&user=2&op=view_album&album=193are some pictures of how I did it. I may seem handier than I actually am on these pictures - I actually got help from a craftsman to build the room.

I decided to build a floating recording room to be able to record my Marshall amp with a microphone (instead of using a line signal) - and to get better control of my recordings and room reverberations. Also this will annoy my neighbors a lot less!

Now that I have got a better recording room - I just need to find some time to record... I haven't even tested the room yet - however just by clapping my hands in this room I hear that there are absolutely no reverberations - which is really cool!

edit - http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/guitar_forum/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=17037is a first sample recording from the room

PS If you are interested in building a studio - don't miss http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/blog/?cat=15 about it.

Posted by: Ramiro Delforte May 29 2009, 08:44 PM

Nice trick!!!

I've never thought of that!

Could be a cheaper solution than building it on a whole room, nice Kris

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 29 2009, 08:47 PM

Hehe yes you have to use your imagination when you don't have lots of space!

Posted by: DeepRoots May 29 2009, 08:53 PM

Weird- at the moment i don't have any permissions to view the galleries

What are you all keeping from me?!?

Posted by: Chris Evans May 29 2009, 09:03 PM

arrrgh! I`m soooo jealous!! awesome, I so want to do this! I just need to find a spare room to actually do this!

Posted by: mba64 May 29 2009, 09:18 PM

Holy cow man I have not think about that, this is the thing to record and play with a real Amp when you live in a renthouse without the cops is coming, great idea now you ruin my next saving I want a Mesa now.
Never thinkt about this great solution.

Edit for language - Chris

Posted by: David Wallimann May 29 2009, 09:37 PM

This is awesome Kris!!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 29 2009, 09:55 PM

Find one...or create one by throwing a family member out... oops no, bad idea

Posted by: Chris Evans May 29 2009, 10:26 PM

hmm... is it?

nah, we actually plan an extension on the house a little later on and I`ve been promised a proper little "rock" room

Posted by: Fran May 29 2009, 10:46 PM

Wow Kris that's awesome!!, can't wait to hear those recordings with that half stack cranked, pretty cool

Posted by: audiopaal May 29 2009, 11:09 PM

I don't like you anymore



I want one too!!!!
Too bad I don't have the space..
Looks awesome Kris

Posted by: sted May 30 2009, 09:24 AM

Pretty cool Kris!

I've been considering a studio but the house is too small, we do have a decent size garden though and i have started pricing some log cabins to go at the bottom of the garden. The project will ideally be two rooms (Soundproof booth and desk area) and will have building regs level of insulation and permanent power.
could you tell me the specs of the insulation and sound proofing you have used to give me some idea of where to start looking? I did build a few anechoic chambers for an engine R and D facility years ago but they were a little large for my needs!

This is the building ive been considering:



Its 6x5m so big enough to divide up into sections.

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl May 30 2009, 10:22 AM

Ok hold on, I barely understand these words in Swedish so it's all Google translated:

The specs are actually pretty easy - the room is built the exact same way as one would build any room - with the following exceptions:

* the room is built within another room to effectively prevent sound from leaking in/out.

* also, to prevent leaking the room should not touch the walls of the bigger room - 2 cm of air in between should do it.

* the tricky part is the floor - the correct way of doing it would be to have the inner room's foundation resting on special rubber material to prevent propagation of sound. I did it the cheap way and used a standard "ground disc" - which is very common to use in construction work (and has a "dampeneing" effect somewhat similar to rubber material)

* the inner walls are covered with soft acoustic dampening material, "egg cartons" should do the trick. (this does not prevent sound from leaking out - but more importantly it kills reverberations. You obviously want to add killer reverb in the mixing process, not use your room's poor sounding natural reverb, which is impossible to get rid of later on). For those who aren't into recording techniques: unwanted natural room reverberations is probably the no1 reason why home recordings sound unprofessional.

* Once the room is done you can dive into bass traps (check Andrew's blog), "angled" sealing etc. I have not done this yet since I don't really know if the room contains any acoustic problems (I should find out pretty soon though!)

edit: My recording room is now just 5 square meters - so I think the building you are thinking of should work!

Posted by: Pedja Simovic May 30 2009, 10:34 AM

Looks great Kristofer !

My roommate from Berklee who was recording major also did very similar thing with his closet. Works perfectly !

Posted by: sted May 30 2009, 11:25 AM

Thanks Kris! sorry about the translation problems!

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic May 31 2009, 04:31 PM

Wow, this looks like a great build! Awesome work Kris, the recording room looks very professional, and the amp is awesome as well DIY Rulez!

Posted by: Emir Hot May 31 2009, 05:09 PM

Great work. I know some famous places for recording and they use improvised rooms with some great results.

Posted by: Alexiaden93 Jun 6 2009, 10:32 AM

Wow ! I should try this, but I still live in my parents' house as I'm just 15 ...

Posted by: djohnneay Jun 10 2009, 10:17 PM

That's cool Kris!

I see you've got a large closet there, I can't sit in mine you know
Been in a dead room once or twice, they used the same material there, only that room was 8x8 meters.

It's strange when sound doesn't reverb AT ALL in a room, but it's excellent for recording

Posted by: TylerT Jun 20 2009, 02:28 AM

sweet! Im moving to a bigger house soon so hopefully ill have a spare closet

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jun 20 2009, 11:09 AM

Hopefully I have inspired some of you to the same!

By the way I haven't been able to test the room for as serious recording yet..! I'll keep you updated though!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 8 2009, 07:51 PM

Ok so finally I have been able to test the room - I'm pretty happy with it. Below is a rough recording with guitars and vocals from the room, the guitar setup is my modded marshall and Ibanez RG with emg81 active pickup.

This sample isn't seriously mixed/mastered (yet at least) - so hopefully a finished production from the recording room will sound a lot better/heavier than this!

 new_room_sample.mp3 ( 1.16MB ) : 232

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 8 2009, 08:23 PM

Great recording, Marshall sounds great!

Posted by: Sergio Dorado Aug 8 2009, 08:23 PM

Sounds really really good, Kris!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 8 2009, 08:27 PM

Thanks guys - yes the bottom end feels a lot better this way!

Posted by: TylerT Aug 8 2009, 08:32 PM

I love it! Sounds so damn clean. My family is moving to a new house and there is a perfect spot in the basement for this, there is a good chance im going to try it out with my half stack. Ill be sure to post!

edit:The link to Andrews blog isn't working (at least for me)

Posted by: Sensible Jones Aug 8 2009, 08:43 PM

Sounds very tight Kris!!! Great stuff!!!

Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Aug 8 2009, 10:21 PM

Well spotted - fixed now!

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 8 2009, 10:50 PM

Wow great work Kris! This looks like a great solution for recording guitars and vocals! Looks really professional!

Posted by: Muris Varajic Aug 11 2009, 11:44 AM

Well done Kris, cool idea and that clip sounded pretty nice and clean!!!