Built March 2020

Construction: 1/2" flame-******ant plywood, R15 Rockwool, stretched Canvas drop cloth, 1/2" acrylic, 1/2" rubber & felt furniture pads.

Interior dimensions: 52" x 60" x 86"
Exterior dimensions: 60" x 68" x 91"
Yet to be built: 52" x 60" x 3" floor panel
Cost to build (materials): $700

Link to imgur album

Things I like about this version over Mk I

- Walls actually overlap at the corners for better isolation.
- Modular design. Walls and ceiling are individual panels and disassembly and transport will be relatively simple.
- More spacious. Mk I was 48" x 48" inside. The extra room feels much less claustrophobic and more welcoming.
- Larger window than Mk I (24x48" as opposed to 12 x 18")
- Engineer desk is built right onto the side of the booth.
- Insulated ceiling panel offers more balanced absorption over Mk I.
- Slightly more consideration given to cable management than version

Things I don't like about this version:

- Window is single 1/2" thick acrylic sheet. This allows too much outside noise inside the booth than I'd like. Thought I'd save a little money DIYing the window part, but it proved to be more hassle than it was worth.
- Lighting is terrible and I didn't think about it as much as I should have in the design.
- The door feels... heavy, but floppy at the same time.
- Practically zero ventilation at all. This means it gets hot and has to be opened up and "aired out" frequently.

Improvements that will be made for Mk III

- Additional 1" layer of insulation in walls, different density, to help better absorb low end.
- Exterior will be a full 96" tall to allow more internal height for floor panel and so taller people feel more comfortable.
- Lid panel will secure down using some sort of clasps (as opposed to screwing down from the top, since won't be able to get a drill between booth and room ceiling unless we move to a different house).
- Window will be an actual sound-rated window, and not acrylic.
- Will add an internal outlet for power, will add AC jack to the outside for booth to be able to plug into wall, all power for booth and anything in it will be self-contained. More self-containment in general
- Door wall will be hinged more smoothly, will have to come up with some sort of stability enhancement for it so the top and bottom are forced to open at the same rates. I presume this will cost some extra money to manage.
- Ventilation. I have no idea how I'm going to go about improving ventilation while also maintaining noise isolation.
- Lighting options. Corner pillars, single recessed RGB bulb in the ceiling, and tiny corner spot options for the artists who for some reason seem to think they need mood lighting to perform well.
- More thought will be given to cable routing. I think a single 2" x 2" channel that goes down under the engineer desk will do fine for this.
- Size considerations. I'm thinking about making it a full 60" x 60" inside next time to offer just that little bit more room so it feels a touch more comfortable.
- Acoustic considerations. With making it a bit bigger, I might want to not just have all of the walls have canvas allowing frequencies to go straight into the insulation, but may want to consider something spaced diffusion and absorption. I'm not an acoustic engineer so I'm not sure.
- This last one is more process-improvement for construction, but plywood will be cut horizontally as opposed to vertically.