Small(ish) Recording Booth For Amps?

[pedalbuilder]

Hey All,

I was wondering what the acoustic concerns would be (and how to overcome them) for building up a smallish isolation booth for recording loud amps. In my current setup I can't crank anything over 5 watts and I'd like to be able to capture the sound of some of my larger amps (nothing huge, but some 40 and 50 watters) at or near 'full on.'

To do this I thought I could build an isolation booth that was space conscious but still got the job done well - is this something people have tried?

I didn't see much about it, so I assume it was tried and failed at this point, but maybe one of you fine folks can offer me some advice?

Thanks!

[Zip]

A home recording trick I've used often is to put an amph in a closet & mic it into the board.

[vroomery]

Yeah the closet trick works. Just make sure whatever you put it in has a little bit of padding or you're get some weird slapback issues.

[Spudman]

I've also seen carpet draped over the amph to kill a lot of sound.

[jeffhorrigan]

DIY iso box might be what you are looking for. http://www.amptone.com/diyisobox.htm

[deeaa]

Oh yeah, I've built a few...the best I liked was I have this space between two doors in my home leading to the basement that's big enough for a 1x12", that works pretty well. I just put an old mattress and the 12" cab there and it worked OK.

But, ultimately, it really is best when you also have a mic farther away, never did get the sound I wanted that way, in a closet.

[pedalbuilder]

Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I'll go with an isolation box - the closet would be cool, but my 160-year-old rowhouse doesn't have any! Hopefully I'll build it up this weekend - if it's worth sharing I'll put some pics up.

[wingsdad]

An iso box is a good way to go to limit/suppress volume, but a drawback may be that it limits (a) mic placement and/or (b) amp/speaker cab size. It also requires a space/location commitment. The casters on that site's design at least make it easier to move around, but that thing looks awfully heavy...

A more flexible and versatile solution is to use a 'gobo'. That term is mainly for a portable stage lighting defrlector panel, but I learned it in the studio as a folding acoustic deflector panel. They can vary in height and width; taller ones to create folding vocal iso booths, shorter ones to surround a drum kit, shortest to surround a guitar amp. You can have the panels with a reflective or absorbent surface. I googled and found this design example for an adaptable idea of how to make them using regular doors:
DIY Acoustic Gobos (http://riffster.com/gobos/gobo-B.htm)
I'd built myself a set of 2 for my old home studio 7 years ago, to create an iso zone or booth in the corner of an otherwise very large (20x16x10) room. Simlar to that site's design, only they cost about $30 in foam and cloth -- a couple of cheap foam eggcrate mattress pads and cheap old sheets staple-gunned over the foam to hold it in placeand -- and a junked pair of bifold doors that probably cost about $40-$50 new at a Home Depot. Here, from the inside,they're behind the bongos & mics to the right:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/wingsdad/Studio%20Shots/Gobosetup0170.jpg
Here's what they and the iso zone looked like from behind, with stuff moved around inside for a different recording setup...the checkerboard contac paper added about $5 to the job. If I needed a reflective surface instead of absorbent (like to record an acoustic guitar or just wanted room reverb), I'd just turn them inside out:
http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b81/wingsdad/Studio%20Shots/GoboStudioback0067.jpg

Saw them in half and you've got 4 of them about the size for making iso's for 2 average guitar/bass amps; or use one bifold door instead of the 2 like I did, sawed in half, and you've got your foldable, movable box for 1 amp that you can store in a closet or even load in a van or SUV. That iso box might be a kinda tuff to do that with.