Need ideas for a 'soundproofed booth'

[Lavender Thief]

Hello

I'm a shakuhachi player (Japanese end blown flute) and I'm looking for a place to practise without disturbing others.
To put you a little into my frame of mind, I'm admitted into psychiatry (have been for 2 years now).
Here I have a small room for myself, but the walls let through too much noise.
My prior room was bigger and I could practise in the bathroom (personal toilet and shower, what a luxury ) in order to not bother my neighbours too much.
But where I sleep now, I do not have that option as more sound leaks through.
What I do now for the moment is going outside to practise. There are street lamps on the domain of the psychiatry where I can temporarily practise.
But when it rains I have no shelter to practise (they took down the canopy where I used to practise in summer), and when the days are going to get colder, going outside won't be so practical anymore.
I've tried to come up with other solutions but I'm at a loss of inspiration.
Also, I would like to be able to record myself.

Hence I came up with the idea of building some kind of portable 'iso booth'.
Kind of like a vocal booth, but one that is soundproofed rather then solely acoustically treated. And one that can be put up and down without too much hassle.
I know total soundproofing is near impossible to achieve anyway
(although, say anechoic chambers, get prettty close), but every dB of transmission loss I can get will be helpful.

Usually tackling the lower frequencies is the most difficult part of sound management.
My instrument plays a D - called 'ro' in Japanese terminology - with all holes closed. With the C below (which is middle C), being available by utilizing techniques like 'meri', bending the note by subtle motions of lips and/or chin.
Shakuhachi has lots of details, which is one of the reasons it's such a difficult instrument to master. Every tone has its subtleties, having kind of a different view from most western music, which is mainly melody-/rhythm-/harmony-based. Shakuhachi has lots of changes in timbre, dynamics, etc.
I've been playing for 9 years and I still consider myself a beginner. Anyway, I digress...
There are many sizes of shakuhachi, from 40 centimeters to 100 centimeters. But the one I mainly play is the standard '1.8' - the one with a D - which is usually around 54.5 centimeters long.
So, it's kind of like a western transverse flute in terms of frequency range what we are dealing with.
In other words, cutting down to about 250 Hz should be more then low enough.

My idea was making some kind of PVC frame that can be put up and put down again in a small amount of time.
Then covering the construction with MLV (mass loaded vinyl) to cut down the volume a bit.

Has anyone experience with this, ideas or tips?
Will this work in the first place?
I'd love to hear from you.

[Drew Stephenson]

Generally speaking you need three things to achieve a soundproof environment:
Mass,
Air-tightness,
and isolation.
A couple of layers of acoustic plasterboard, green-glued together, with 100mm of rockwool on the inside might serve as a reasonable template for your walls / ceiling. But to make it big enough to get into comfortably these are going to be very heavy panels. Which means the 'portable' requirement is going to be pretty much stuffed.
Air-tightness brings you three challenges: a) building something that you can take down and reassemble that maintains a good enough seal, b) what kind of door do you need to build? and c) how long can you actually stay in there before you need to open the door and get a complete change of air?
Isolation is probably, in your particular context, the easiest to tackle as we're not talking about a percussive or bass-heavy source. You could make a bit of a rockwool bed with some plywood on top but it's unlikely to be required in this instance.
However problems 1 and 2 probably mean the idea isn't very practical unfortunately.

[Sam Spoons]

I agree with Drew but mass is most important for stopping low frequencies and your shakuhachi doesn't go particularly low (around 260 Hz) and, if it's like other flutes, is not at it's loudest in it's low range (for context, I play concert flute, but very badly) so I don't think it would be impossible to build something that could make a useful reduction in sound level. But all Drew's points stand and I suspect the effort required to build it would still be considerable and the reduction in sound level outside may still not be sufficient for your needs.

You don't go into detail regarding you accommodation but have you discussed options for a more isolated location where you could practice with the management, maybe an office, laundry room or even a closet somewhere in the facility that you could use outside work hours?

[jaminem]

Looking at your instrument it's pretty small and it looks like most of the radiating sound comes out of one end. I find myself wondering if there is any mileage in not putting your whole self and the instrument in a room, but may attaching something to the end of the shakuhachi to dampen the noise down a bit?

It would have to be light, but some sort of acoustic foam based tube or box attached to the end (or blown into?) with foam baffles inside that takes the edge off?

This may be a totally crazy idea but as has been stated above proper isolation is heavy and because of that tends to be permanent...

I know you can get trumpet mutes:
https://hawkinsmutes.com/product/bb-pra ... QgQAvD_BwE

Wondering if you could create a mute for your flute...

[jaminem]

in fact....I give you the muteflute!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SORDINA-MUTEFL ... B01H1RUFAY

[Wonks]

in fact....I give you the muteflute!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SORDINA-MUTEFL ... B01H1RUFAY

Unfortunately, that is for a recorder. Recorders are referred to as flutes in many parts of the world.

The shakuhachi doesn’t have a whistle-style opening like a recorder does, so that device wouldn’t work with it.

[shufflebeat]

Clothes rails.

During Covid lots of folks spent lots of time talking into their wardrobe (where they had placed a recording/streaming mic) as it was the most absorbent mass easily available.

My experience of flutes doesn’t extend much beyond folkie wooden flutes and tin whistles but I expect a few winter coats would make a significant difference to the sound energy floating round the room, which would avoid the need to stop it escaping.

The success of this approach would depend to a great extent on your taste in clothes.

[tea for two]

Hello

I'm a shakuhachi player (Japanese end blown flute) and I'm looking for a place to practise without disturbing others.
To put you a little into my frame of mind, I'm admitted into psychiatry (have been for 2 years now).
Here I have a small room for myself, but the walls let through too much noise.

What I do now for the moment is going outside to practise. There are street lamps on the domain of the psychiatry where I can temporarily practise.

Also, I would like to be able to record myself.

Hence I came up with the idea of building some kind of portable 'iso booth'.

And one that can be put up and down without too much hassle.

My idea was making some kind of PVC frame that can be put up and put down again in a small amount of time.

People have such diverse lives so often due to circumstances out of their hands.

Simplest to me is getting one of those canvas wardrobes from argoose or well known auction site approx £17.
Easy to assemble disassemble their pipe frame.
Thereafter placing blankets duvets heavy curtains over the frame.

[Drew Stephenson]

That will help control the sound in the room. I am unconvinced that it will do much to reduce transmission.

[Wonks]

If you create a complete ‘igloo’ style enclosure, with thick duvets it will do. But it won’t be a pleasant environment to play in.