Isolation Box for guitar and Bass cabinets

[KaiXXX]

Hi,

has anybody experience in building an isolation box for recording electric guitar and bass cabinets? Of course it should be max soundproof.

I need one which is big enough for an Ampeg 8*10" cab.

What materials did you use, how to make it really sound-proof, what about mic-stands (mounted booms inside the box?).

Thanks

KaiXXX

[KaiXXX]

Ooops...

[Howardk]

It is a real compromise putting a cabinet in a cabinet, but I had to do the same. One suggestion for your absorption material, use lots of the fluffy white padding that is used to pad furniture instead of fiberglass, it doesn't itch.

[Barnabas]

Two big things to think about for soundproofing. One is keeping the amp sound in the box, and the other is to cut down on the reflections inside the box, which actually might create some interesting sounds.

To keep sound from escaping the box you need dense materials. These are materials that are generally heavier than others for the same physical size. Brick is nice, but you probably don't want to go to school to learn how to lay brick.

Sheetrock works well. You can learn how to do it by watching any of the home building shows on TV, like Hometime. Make sure you seal up the seams really well. Your box might need several layers of sheetrock to make it really sound proof. Sheetrock is messy to work with. The dust gets into everything.

MDF (medium density fiberboard) is like particleboard with very tiny particles. It is twice (or more) heavy than plywood. MDF FAQ. MDF is used a lot in speaker cabinets, and you are essentially building a large speaker cabinet without speakers. MDF makes less dust than sheetrock, but the dust is more hazardous than sheetrock.

To keep the sound from bouncing around in the cabinet, which causes unecessary reverb and possible phase problems, you need soft goods. This means blankets, fiber insulation, foam weedges, etc.

If you just want to crank it up without offending the neighbors, you might get away with a big box made out of plywood. It won't be sound proof, but it will keep most of the sound in it.

[ajazzie]

I found a good solution to this one, I bought some of the moveable office partitions, lined them with movers blankets and bed quilts, then covered them with material for appearance.
Essentially we have moveable sound muffs\screens, however for guitars we use 3 to create a box and then use extra movers blankets to create the top.
Works well.

Got the Idea from the video "a year and a half in the life of metallica", saw Bob Rock build similar for the recording of solos.

Not too expensive either.

AJ