Jun 1, 2001 4:19 PM, By Randy Alberts

When four walls, a ceiling, a floor and a door just won't do, and those dreams of floating the floors and triple-walling the new studio can't happen yet, it's time to bring in a box. Be it a 12-inch box for muffling your hard drive or a 12×12-foot iso booth big enough for a Bonham-sized kit, fully enclosed isolation devices create sound environments where once there were none. Listed below are but a few of the many firms offering sound iso environments. To find more and surf to more than 500 sites of consultants, manufacturers and distributors of various acoustical products and services, point your browser to http://home.att.net/~rcp-conseaco/links.htm.

In addition to its acoustical materials, Acoustic Systems (www.acousticsystems.com) offers a range of sound-isolating rooms designed for recording, medical, industrial and broadcast applications. The company's stock voice-over booths are modular, pre-engineered iso rooms that include options like fully floating floors, silenced ventilation, canted windows and a cable management package. Modular panels can be taken apart and relocated easily, and each room—with STC ratings up to 59 and acoustically certified doors and windows—has a 6½-foot-tall ceiling. Prices start at $4,195.

Folded Space Technology (www.fstechnologies.com) markets both acoustical materials and a sound isolation solution. The Micro Room Silent Speaker System allows any amplified instrumentalist to crank it beyond "11" without withering everyone else in the room. Lined in 2-inch-thick Auralex StudioFoam, the Micro Room has a built-in Shure SM57 mic, adjustable power attenuator and a "vintage-type" speaker inside; just connect the Micro Room to the speaker output of an amplifier, connect the lo-Z mic output from the Micro Room to a console and turn it up. Also great for re-amplifying tracks during mixdown, the Micro Room has a power handling rating of 15- to 100-watts RMS. Weight is 35 pounds, and the unit is made of ¾-inch hardwood ply (finished in textured epoxy) and measures 12×12×22 inches.

Two other sound enclosures that use Auralex acoustic foam are Isobox and Isomac from Sound Construction & Supply (www.iso-box.com). Isobox ($1,295 for a 12-space unit, $1,395 for a 16-space and $1,695 for the 20-space unit) quiets the noisiest rack gear, and offers a choice of maple or oak door and a left- or right-swinging door at no extra charge. Options include a veneer or varnish finish on the front door, low-profile or huge 4¾-inch pro caster wheel sets, a premium surge suppressor, fan and even a Formica counter top with wood-matched edges to match the kitchen decor. As the name suggests, the company's Isomac (starting at $600) is a "micro-computer acoustic containment device" that lets hard drives and vocals live in the same room. Available in Pro and Mastering models, the Isomac has a built-in micro-processor, shock-mounted rails and an electrostatic filter, and it includes safety features like an audible default alarm and thermostatically controlled fans.

VocalBooth.com's name says it all. The company's Calvin Mann Sound Rooms come in a wide variety of configurations, with construction details and features designed for any number of audio applications. Foam core doors with window, cable tubing, barrier walls, ventilation systems, lights, 2-inch-thick acoustic foam and sub-floor foam are found in each Sound Room. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the 4×4-foot Sound Booth Standard with one ventilation system and extends up to the $5,875 8×8-foot Sound Room with dual ventilation. Caster wheel base, door, window, ventilation and sub-floored options are available.

A range of Sound-Isolating Rooms from Wenger Corporation(www.wengercorp.com) ($8,500 and up) offer ways to create controlled audio environments in a snap. These modular, pre-engineered rooms are easy to open and install, and they offer optional horizontal and vertical windows and double doors. They range in size from 4'5"×5'8"×8' to a whopping 14'5"×25'×8' enclosure.

With 15 sizes available that start at $1,520, WhisperRoom's (www.whisperroom.com) SE Series of sound-isolation enclosures can fit most any sound need. Each component is completely finished and ready to install out of the box, has a three-year warranty, and comes in standard and enhanced sound-isolation versions. (Standard packages can later be upgraded to an enhanced, double-walled system by installing one of WhisperRoom's appropriate Isolation Enhancement Packages.) An 8.5×15.5-foot, preconfigured room with two lights, a door window, 10 cable passages and 15 foam sheets (standard pyramid foam) is $8,495. There are also optional wall windows, caster plates with five wheels, a variety of ventilation packages and upgrade paths for expanding a basic WhisperRoom.