Whisper Room Opinions/Options

[Glenn Moore]

I am in the process of moving to a different house and am going to need to purchase a booth, most likely a Whisper Room. I am thinking of the 4x4, MDL4848E which is double-walled. I am told this size can sound a little "boxy" since it is a square shape. Does anyone else have this size of booth and what is your experience? Do you use bass traps? Is a more rectangular shaped booth like a 3.5x5 better? Looking for any type of feedback from those who use Whisper Rooms before I plunk down the cash.

Thanks!

Glenn

[InThisHope]

I personally do not have experience with the WhisperRoom brand, I built a room. But I do know that Bill Dewees uses a WhisperRoom that is 3.5x5 and his audio sounds great. I believe his came with all of the deadening and bass traps, but I haven't looked into the specs of the room. Pretty nice setup, but kinda tight for my taste. I built an 8x8 room, and I would be hard pressed to go smaller. I like to edit in the great acoustic environment though (and my budget didn't allow dropping the cash on a new WhisperRoom :) ).

[Scott Pollak]

I believe Dave Wallace has some experience with them, and knowing he frequents this forum, hopefully he'll chime in.
I'm in the exact opposite situation as you. I'm also moving to a new house in a few weeks and while my current recording room is okay, with a noise floor of around -51 to -54 db, the new one is fantastic. It's an older home (1951) completely renovated and the room is whisper quiet. Better still, the NEIGHBORHOOD is much quieter than where I am now. Can't WAIT to get in there! Best wishes on your move and getting the acoustics right.

[Zuiki]

It's an older home (1951) completely renovated and the room is whisper quiet. Better still, the NEIGHBORHOOS is much quieter than where I am now. Can't WAIT to get in there!

The neighborhood doesn't have the word 'Assisted' in it, does it?

[Dave_Wallace]

I believe Dave Wallace has some experience with them, and knowing he frequents this forum, hopefully he'll chime in.

...The Force is strong in you, Scott. You sensed my presence.


Well Glen, you are right, the Whisper Room is good at blocking out background noise, but the trade off is that the acoustics are pretty bad. At one point, I had the whole interior of the booth covered from head to toe with Auralex foam, and even then, I had a minor case of "booth reverb"...which is a fancy term for "a boxy sound." I thought I was stuck with that, BUT...I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record for bringing up his name again, but Mike Sommer came to my rescue on that one. He told me about an alternative type of acoustic treatment that was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......*inhales deeply*.....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better.

I apologize if I'm telling you something you already know, but Mike swore--and now, I swear--by something called Owens Corning 703 Rigid Fiberglass acoustic panels. According to him, it takes 3 inches of Auralex foam to do the job accomplished by one inch of Owens Corning 703 panels. Based on the sound difference, I agree. I never had the opportunity to read it, but Mike said he got into a debate with a high-ranking exec from Auralex on Linkedin over the sound quality differences, and eventually resorted to posting audio clip comparisons. To quote him, "...Let's just say that ever since I did that, I've been waiting for a reply back." LOL...probably would have been a hilarious and informative read knowing the extra mile that Mike usually went to support his opinions. To be fair though, it's not just him. I worked with George Whittam earlier in the year to work out a bug in Twisted Wave, an audio editing program that I switched to from Soundforge, and when I told him that I use Owens Corning 703 panels wrapped in Guilford of Maine fabric, he responded, "Good, that's the way to go!"

They really are awesome. He said the thicker they were, the better. You can find a link for a six-pack of 2-inch panels by clicking here, and a link for a six-pack of 4-inch panels by clicking here. They also make 6-inch panels, but that's getting pretty pricey, and is probably overkill (although, unfortunately for me, I have a severe case of "gear lust" that has only gotten worse ever since I started training to become an audio engineer in addition to my VO career). Additionally, you'll also want a ceiling panel, which you can find by clicking here. After you get the panels, you want to wrap them in something called "Guilford of Maine" fabric, which you can find by clicking here. There's no need to cover the backs of the panels, just the fronts and the sides. Mike said that he built wooden frames for his, but I just hammered some nails into the four corners of each panel to nail the panels into the walls of the Whisper Room, and that works just fine.

I hope this helps. I won't pretend that I knew as much about them as Mike did, but feel free to ask anything else you're not sure about, and I'll see if I can answer!

[InThisHope]

If you are going with 4" (which is the only way to go if you want to catch anything below 250hz effectively) you can find Rockwool 8# boards for cheaper than the 703...just gotta do some looking.

Some considerations -

The OC 703 is more rigid, so it is easier to work with. I have seen it glued to the wall with fabric right over the top with no frame at all (4").

The Rockwool has greater density...and thus greater low end absorption.

The Rockwool is kinda floppy and crumbly, so it needs a frame.

BOTH are better that Auralex (for the price), but you have to work with the insulation (which I didn't find to be as bad as the pink stuff).

Here is a link to some sound info: http://www.bobgolds.com/AbsorptionCoefficients.htm


That's some things from my experience. I have the 8# Rockwool wood-framed burlap-covered panels on my walls and ceiling, and I love it.

[Glenn Moore]

Good info! Thanks for posting everyone. Still doing some research and trying to decide what size of booth to buy. I appreciate all of the insight.

glenn

[Glenn Moore]

I decided to go with the 4x4 Enhanced Whisper Room with ATS Aoustic panels. We shall see how well it works. Thanks for the help everyone:-)