MIMF

At the most recent Healdsberg guitar festival, there was much chaos and a cacophony of guitars.
Even the best guitars would be unrecognizable in the din (including Al's, which I was very impressed with).

Have any of you guys thought of make a soundproof booth?

I was briefly thinking of making a sound reducing yurt out of bubble wrap for Randy Angella, but it felt sort of silly even for me. I was also thinking of satin or thick curtains, a buckminster-fuller dome, etc.

I may never do this, but I'd love to hear your thoughts and crazy experiences.

-Matt

ps. healdsberg was 2013, and never continued. I really don't get out much.

Matthew, are you wanting this booth to be portable? The quickest, cheapest route is 5/8" sheet rock on double walls (two sets of offset 2x4s with no mechanical connection between them) and filled with cellulose insulation.

And no 2 walls parallel to each other...can't have standing waves. <g>

Something this small doesn't really need the support of 2x4s which would add a lot of weight. Might be able to get away with a light weight box made of foam board which can be glued together. All you would need would be some type of door.

I second Barry. I went to a huge trade show (construction industry, not guitars) and I saw one display where they had set up a little room using basically 1" pipe fittings to make the frame and foam core walls. Just three walls and no roof, it wasn't sound-proof. But turned away from the main floor it provided a place their sales people could talk in a normal voice and be heard. They prettied it up a little with some fake potted ficus and ferns.

For a portable booth you want a hard surface on the outside to reflect away as much sound as possible. You'd want to treat the inside for whatever level of reflectance the guitars needed to sound natural. The smaller the booth the more absorptive it should probably be. Roxul "Safe and sound" is the top rated sound proofing insulation you can get easily. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Roxul-Safe-n ... /202531875 It's 3" thick which may be more than you have room for. There are rigid rock wool insulation panels that might be easier to work with in this application. Roxul "Rockboard" comes in 2" and 4" and is available on Amazon. It may be available locally in parts of the country that have steel mills as it's a byproduct of steel making. Roxul has a plant near Seattle.
HomeDepot also sell this stuff but I don't know anything about it: http://www.homedepot.com/p/4-ft-x-8-ft- ... /100663624 Lastly you can still buy 4 x 8 sheets of cellotex which is 1/2" thick and does something.

Definitely portable