I convert my living room in to a studio once a week. I discovered that cheap moving blankets are excellent sound dampeners. I hang them on the walls two layers thick and throw others under the piano.

Quick tip, I buy old paintings at thrift stores (after I verify they are not valuable ) and use the deep box frames as a base sometimes you can find the 4” and it’s ready to fill with the material and use the frame to staple the cover and it already has a hanging hardware that will hold the weight

Mike, I have to say, ALL of your videos have helped me begin my journey in voice overs. Even the mic vs mic series. I even copied your initial Reaper layout as a basic foundation for myself then made edits from there to suit my own needs/preferences. I’m probably going to do this DIY panel thing myself. As I dont have hundreds or even thousands or the space for an actual booth. The most important thing that I’ve learned from your videos that I havent found anywhere else on YT is that you dont need to break the bank to have good results and to be successful. If you have money, it can help, but a little but of know how and creativity can go a long way until you get to that point. I really enjoy how real you are and how you seem to do things from the position of an average joe doing your thing and helping others. Even your set up is very modest. Some of your gear is pretty pricy, but it’s simple. You’re not in this huge studio with all of the state of the art equipment saying things like “Quick and easy DIY panels!” Then telling us we need to buy hundreds of dollars worth of stuff and to use tools and equipment that would also break the bank. You’re a godsend, man lol I guess I’m trying to say thanks for putting this type of content out there. I found your channel about 2 1/2 years ago and it finally gave me the motivation to start getting into voice overs for real. Everyone else made it seem so unobtainable. Then boom, you get recommended to me and I realized I could use a cheaper 100 mic, grabbed a scarlett 2i2, watch your reaper tutorials a few dozen times each and hit the ground running lol And you’ve probably saved me from spending waaaaaaay more money than even necessary.

Its the little personal moments where you take the time to show us mistakes, or even explain something you said in a better way that makes me love content creators such as yourself you do amazing work! please keep it up!

I love your honesty. We can't all be master craftsmen of every element of the job. But most of all, I love your generosity for sharing tips and find your videos instructive and massively helpful. Keep doing what you're doing, dude.

I found your videos not too long ago and I have to say, they've helped my understanding of voice over quite a bit. Your very talented. Thank you got your experience.

Just a head up. That glue is terrible stuff. It failed on all of my acoustic panels. The best glue out there is a product called Weldwood Contact Adhesive. This is what upholstery pro use.

I’ve been following you for a little while and really appreciate everything you do Mike! This one I have to say is very entertaining as well as helpful, it’s your disclaimers that make it fun. Thanks for sharing it no matter what happened for us OCD types. 😂

Great idea! Kudos! Been doing everything from my bands to simple vocal booths for over 40 years. Used the old paper eggs cartons to mattresses. Really enjoyed your idea.

I was looking up sound treatment, then I suddenly find someone from NoSleep podcast telling me how to do it. Absolutely have loved your work on that podcast. Subscribed! Didn't know you had a channel.

watched the entire video! Awesome!

Best panel video I've seen yet. Thank you very much.

Cheap, single duvet covers make a nice fabric to cover the panel with. I bought some glow in the dark, space themed covers and lightly folded them to size and held them in place with masking tape. Now I've got machine washable covers for my sound proofing. Not sure how obtainable duvet covers are outside Scotland and other colder countries though.

Great video man, been taking particular interest in upping my audio lately and found your channel. Keep up the great videos.

You're a good man to share you time & talents Mike 👍🏻 I've gained a lot of useful info for my VO setup from this to transitioning to Reaper slowly from your videos so a heartfelt thanks ... I'm NO DIY man but man I gotta do me some DIY & try this 👌🏻 All the expense of a decent mic & inline channel strip over my USB Yeti setup has only now gone and amplified my room noise 😬 so DIY it is !!! Greetings from the UK & thanks for all you've done with your videos 👋🏻

Love you man! You crack me up and I get to learn at the same time... Oh, and it's CDO. Put them in order.

heating/air conditioning supply stores have the Owens Corning...they call it duct board

thanks very very much for your generous contribution to help people around in making skillful sound recordings !!!!

Hello Mike, Thank you for a very well done, and informative video. I'm retired and considering making some extra income doing voice-over work, but cannot afford the high price of a professional Whisper Room. I understand they can run into thousands of dollars, and assembling and setting them up can be complicated. I really appreciate you helping out others. Keep up the great work!

This is random but you got me thinking... Can you do a video comparing the mkh 416 with the neumann tlm 103? They're very similar in price so I wonder how they compare.

Mike, you are a chuffin genius. THAT is what I have been looking for .thanks .

Brilliant, thank you. A simple room-design question: can I hang these panels around a portable isolation booth - that is, above and the three remaining sides - to enclose the speaker and still be reasonably effective? At minimum, what size should the panels be? Best tips for placing the panels around the speaker? Any further information regarding the cloth surrounding the fiber glass?

I like the vid, & I get that you're making a point how minimalist one can get. Where I live, that kind of glue is actually not so cheap. I ended up using used cardboard as a frame. Fortunately had a staple gun, a bit of packaging tape, done in 15 minutes and looks really neat... time is a cost, too. Also, loud bass can actually shake the material quite a bit, enough for it to escape through the fabric especially hanged from the ceiling. So i wrapped mine in the thinnest plastic foil I could find (I record drums). But thanks for the encouragement to push the limit, it was worth it.

Thanks for making this video! Great info! I would like to know what's your daily routine? I mean what warm-up exercises do you do regardless of the gigs you have to record for. It would be great to have some exercises or practice to follow every day. Thanks!

Dude! You're hilarious! Thanks for doing this video. Really helpful, regardless of my OCD...

Good stuff man! Your quality of video is great... I watched about 4 before I realized I just need to subscribe already! lol

Just ordered the kit for this. Gonna be making it in about 2 weeks.

these are great, i can't believe you don't have way more subs

I love the level of troll you pour out on yourself for rushing through it lol. Nicely done once again!

Oh Mike, your'e the best. I love that garden area.

Thanks for your videos. For explanatory videos I have recently hung up molton to avoid reverberation. I now have a molton "wall" behind and beside me. In front of me there is a big window front and to the right of me a normal wall. It worked also great (i think).

I love your rock wall!

just bought myself 6 mineralwool plates and am so excited to build it

Someone on another video about this sort of thing mentioned wrapping the insulation panels in Tyvek to keep the fiberglass from getting into the air. So wrapping it in material isn't sufficient then?

I see many people suggesting OC 703, but I can't figure out why. I'm a materials engineer and work as the director of R/D for several divisions - including fiberglass insulation - for a well-known company. For sound absorption, you want density and depth, which equals MASS [(weight/length^3)* length^3 = weight !!!] So given a fixed unit space, say the inside of a whisper room, you want a material with the highest density practical to save on space. This is where OC 703 confuses me. Fiberglass insulation works nicely because it can be cut to shape with high density to weight ratios, but OC 703 has medium relative density. Many off-the-shelf insulations have higher densities (e.g. Roxul Safe n Sound = 2.5 lb/ft^3, while OC 703 is less than half that at 1 lb/ft^3... BTW - I don't work for Roxul), In other words, you'd need twice the amount/depth of OC 703 to match Roxul SnS. So why OC 703? And by the way, If you want a REALLY high density fiberglass insulation, I make stuff in my lab melter that has close to 10 lb/ft^3, I'd be happy to send you some. Or I could send you insulation board with densities over 50 lb/ft^3, one in particular near 100 lb/ft^3. I'd love to sed you a couple boxes of experimental fiberglass I'm planning preparing to sell en mass as sound insulation material in sound-proofing and reverberant/resonance deadening. I think the market is woefully underserved (BTW did you know OC 703 was meant as sound insulation around loud steam pipes on ships?) Having the Booth Junkie himself test out my stuff and show you can use 1/10th, 1/50th or even 1/100th the thickness with the same results would sell a lot of panels. Thanks Mike. Love the channel! Dr. C

Interesting concept, need some for my future studio/livingroom. Like you said with a little more time lol

great video, I am going to make a bunch of those for my home studio

very informative, thanks for sharing the knowledge!

Nice work. Efficient and inexpensive. Mineral wool (Rockwool) batting works even better, and it is not nasty like fiberglass. It is sold at Lowes and Home Depot for about the same cost as fiberglass. Made by Roxul (Safe-n-Sound) and Owens-Corning (Thermafiber).

Hi Mike - do you have any videos with advice on the *layout* of acoustic panels in a room? I checked your channel but couldn't find one. Especially for people who might be working in a non-ideal home office situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as opposed to a nicer home recording studio. e.g. in my case, I have a 10'x12' rectangular home office that's all hard surfaces (painted walls, hardwood floors, no curtains or anything soft) and I'm wondering what I can do to improve the audio quality in the room while still maintaining its functionality and aesthetic as an office (I need shelves to store stuff, would like to hang pictures, etc). *edit - just realized you do mention general layout at the end of this video, if that's the basic idea then I will give that a shot first.

Thanks very much for this, Mike.

This was really helpful. Thank you

I plan on making a frame for my panels with dual density rock wool, but I will use something like very thin plywood so I can hang it from the sheet rock. I suggest you make a version two that uses cardboard to frame it.

Where can I find the resin so I can install some clips and screws in the back of of the panel, I know they come with some but I need to add more

Hey Mike. Any idea where to get that insulation foam nowadays? I've had a hell of a time finding them on Amazon much less anywhere else with 4" density. Love your content. Finally landed my first VO gig thanks to your advice and help too.

Thank you so much for all your videos I was appalled when I realized how much time I spend on your channel and haven't subscribed. So curiously I found 703 3.5 thick FRK since one side reflects could you modify the design to hang either way? Would the panel hold together running a tube straight through the width to hang like a hanger?

Mike, have you also tried rock wool and if so, how did it work compared with the fiberglass?

Have you tried quilted moving blankets 80" x 72 on plywood? Just an idea....

For fabric I normally just visit a thrift store, or use my old flat sheets. Thank you very much for the video!

Thank you, helpful tip low priced and efficient!!!

Booth Junkie, I love your videos and have learned so much! Can you do a session on how to use GarageBand for voice over - PRETTY PLEASE!

How does a panel like this compare to a pyramid pattered, foam panel (2-4”) that I could buy on amazon in 12”x12” squares? Great videos!

Awesome! That was extremely helpful! Trying to get some tips and advice to build my own booth and your vids have been brilliant. With hundreds of youtube video's out there yours by far have been the most helpful (at least for me). Love the fact your kids take the piss out of you cause you can't wrap Christmas presents properly. I LMFAO cause you sound just like me. Keep doing what your doing! Appreciate your work. As the Kiwi's would say "that man deserves a DB".

Hi! I just tried to find the oc703, but i am having trouble finding it. (Even your link won't open for me) I wonder if it has been discontinued 🤔 ...can you recommend another &/or similar product? Thank you! PS.... Love your videos!! 😀❤🎙

So I have a current vocal studio that is 32x31 with a height of 78. I've been using mattress pads but they aren't dense enough. I feel like I need something a bit thicker but I also don't want to feel too cramped. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Can you use "ROCKWOOL R- 59.7-sq ft Unfaced Rock Wool Batt Insulation with Sound Barrier" to make the panels?

Damn you are out of this world.

As another visual consideration you suggest burlap which is known to be painted on so people could hire artists to design works on their panels as well. Pretty sweet

Really well done video. Thumbs up!

I'm just going to staple the fabric right to my wall with the insulation behind, also that glue never dries, my sister used some on her wall and it's still sticky. Thanks for the tut!

Very nice. I'm gonna make me some of these.

thank you for the instruction , I would like to use roxul instead of fiber glass

I like the "bare bones" style that we can tweak based on our budget and resources.Thanks for the video!

nice garden!!

Is there any other material one could use that isn't fiberglass or unsafe to breath in when cutting?

great system! does anyone know if the blue insulation panels (I think I have 2" thick panels) would work ?

Would it be acoustically better to mount the panels spaced 4 inches away from the wall?

hello sir I really like your videos, I was wondering if it is possible to do voice over for free, because everywhere i check it's always you need to pay in order to do voice over on this site, I just need a place to do some work from home any suggestion?

Good stuff. Thanks.

You are awesome! I've learned so much- Thanks

Can't get this in my area. What's the next best thing?

Damn I can only get the 2 inch Owens Corning 703 in my country. I can however get acoustic foam that's 2,5 inches thick. Which should I go with?

One question,,,,why don't you used rockwool or roxul wool despite of rigid fiberglass?

Hey Mike, came here from TheHiveLeader's channel. Quick question - would Fibran insulation sheets work as where I live we don`t have the rigid fiberglass?

You are the best sir! I sub! Thanks for saving me some money! I am watching all your videos!

I've always used a Zoom portable recorder for everything because it was so easy to use. I started with an H1, then H4n, and then the H6. I bought a high end Presonus for about $600 that has a lot of gain, but still preferred the H6. The H5 and H5 give you the same quality as most low to mid range interfaces, and you can record to SD... or use it as an interface (not at the same time). Eventually I realized I could have the best of both worlds by getting 2 better portable recorders (Sound Devices MixPre 6 II and Zoom F6). They both have a TON of gain, 76 db (enough for an SM7B without a Cloudlifter), and they can act as an interface AND record at the same time. The H6 could be used as an interface too, but you can't record to SD at the same time. What made me pull the trigger was their new 32 bit float capabilities, so you never have too much or too little gain. In fact the F6 doesn't have a gain control when using 32 bit float. Turn it on, hit record and tweak the levels in Reaper later (thanks Mike for telling us about that one).

is there any cheaper alternatives to the corning that youve found?

Thanks Mike!

Very helpful. Thank you.

How would you mount these on the ceiling?

Thank you!

Will any kind of think insulation work?

Can you use rockwool for this instead?

Upholstery foam is a good substitute for the insulation and can be cheaper in some instances.

Thanks for sharing the Info...

Hey Mike, any chance you can update the link for the parts list?

I know this is old, but instead of duct tape, use stucco masking tape. It looks and behaves similarly, but that stuff sticks to ANYTHING. It’s also useful for taping down cables to floors or anything where you need to tape/mask a dirty, dusty, fibrous surface. Source: using it in construction work for a variety of tasks.

You are amazing. :) Thank you!

is this as good as wood framed ones???

Can I use 4-inch foam instead of fiberglass? I'm a little concerned about using fiberglass; maybe it's just me?

great work.

wow I'm so going to do this, but with Bradford R2.0 1160 x 430 x 70mm 4.5m2 SoundScreen Insulation - 9 Pack (if your an Aussie, Bunnings)

Great video. New subscriber in 3,2,1....thanks

Brought to you by Binford Tools. Thanks AL.

Great tips thanks.

Hey there, Mike. I've been looking into building acoustic panels for a while, but I was a bit apprehensive when I found out that a lot of the highest rated insulations (OC 703, Roxul Safe N Sound, etc) contain formaldehyde. My home studio is also my bedroom, which makes me even more hesitant to use these. Do you have any experience with adverse health effects around your panels, or know of anyone who has? Thanks for all your videos and tips!

"I went to Taco Bell and stole a couple of straws." Fukin ded m8 lmao

So I finished making these panels the other day. I haven't gotten a chance to try them out yet, but I'd just like to mention that my panels really stink. They didn't stink at first. After about 48 hours of letting them dry outside in a well ventilated area, the area just stinks. I brought the panels into a room in my house and about 30 minutes later the rooms also stunk. I bombarded them with Air Wick and baking soda. After another day or 2 or airing out I am hoping they will smell okay. I'm thinking it might be the burlap?

The second part of the video where you were in a rush, I couldn't stop laughing! Great video. :D

What lapel mic did you use in this video?