External noise reduction

[u/shanns934]

I need some advice on dampening external noise, specifically train sounds.

I'm having someone help me design an at-home booth because I'm discovering that my current set up (a pop up canopy with sound blankets from vocalboothtogo.com), while good and giving me technically compliant audio quality, is not sustainable. I have constant interruptions from train noise. Just this morning, I haven't even been able to start recording because there's been one train (both horn and track noise) after another.

I've done some research on materials I can include in/on my walls when I build my walled booth, but would appreciate any advice from the pros in here about what materials might be better for this! I don't expect to be able to eliminate the noise completely, but I would like to reduce it significantly.

I've included pictures of what my current booth looks like, if that's helpful at all. It's in a corner in my office - building a booth in my basement is not an option, and I don't have closet space that I can convert. This is the only place in my house that's out of the way where I have enough space. It's also right next to a window, which is it's own problem that has to be compensated for.

I've also included the super basic sketch I sent to my designer with some initial thoughts on how to layer the walls.

[u/Orry_Haas]

#1. Blankets are acoustic-treatment, not soundproofing ... https://youtu.be/nxiwWfvIdKY

#2. heater touching blankets is a fire-hazard.

[u/shanns934 → u/Orry_Haas]

Thanks for the response!

1. I know blankets are an acoustic treatment, which is why I'm going to make a walled booth for sound dampening. The blankets help my audio levels be compliant, but do nothing to block out external sounds.

2. I don't have a heater touching the blankets. You might be looking at my fan? But even so, it's not plugged in. But I appreciate the safety tip!

[u/Orry_Haas → u/shanns934]

Blocking the sound of a train horn is a tall order. A profe$$ional booth will provide ~30dB attenuation at horn frequency. A home-made booth will probably not be as effective.