Planning on having a ductless A/C in my live room. I think I'm going with one which apparently runs at 24 dB in "low" mode. I want to build some sort of box or cover that will bring this down 6 - 10 db so that I can have it on during vocal tracking sessions.

Any recommendations? Am I right in thinking this may work?

Thanks !!!!

-Dan

And, at that note, what is considered a good "ambient noise level" for a tracking room?

I wouldn't waste my time -

Recording Studio design criteria is NC 15-20 - which would translate to roughly 25-30dB, but this is also frequency dependent (lower levels at higher frequencies - higher levels at lower frequencies - for example an NC 20 would be around 51dB max at 63Hz and only 16dB max at 8kHz.

So the frequency of the equipment (which should be constant at a particular frequency) will be the real question, although units like that are generally very VERY quiet.

However - let's assume for a moment that it really was an issue for you....... it is not like your vocal recordings are going to take a continuous hour at a time -

You could (much more easily) tie the unit into a red light switch, bring the room to temperature and then just kill the unit for the few minutes you are actually tracking the vocal - no reason to worry about it during practice - or warm ups - etc.

A better question (in my mind anyway) would be how you are handling fresh air for the space? And the potential for noise issues in that regard..........

Rod

Thanks Rod,

I was going to have an A/C guy install a simple (small) ducted vent fan to feed my tracking room and control room, and plan on silencing it in one way or another... Any suggestions?

-Dan