How to Make a Recording Booth as an Expense
- 1). Select a corner in your recording space. A corner offers the best place to built a vocal booth because two of the walls of the booth are already in place. Make sure you have a 4-foot square space to build your booth.
- 2). Hinge together two pieces of 4-by-8-foot plywood. Place the hinges on the 8-foot edge. This will allow you to stand the hinged piece up and push it into the corner to complete the 4 walls of your booth.
- 3). Cut a 4-by-4-foot piece of plywood for the ceiling of your booth. Nail it to the 4-by-8-foot plywood pieces using small nails so the wood won't split. Don't worry about the sides of the ceiling that touch the room walls. You do not need to nail these in place.
- 4). Glue soundproofing foam to all walls and the ceiling. Do this on the inside of the booth. The foam should be at least 6 inches thick. Cut it with a knife to fit. The foam should meet at the corners and form a tight seal. This not only will keep sound out, it will help support the ceiling because the ceiling board will rest on the foam.
- 5). Run your cables for your microphone and headphones through the hinged edge of your booth. Push the cables through the foam. It will allow the cables through, but will expand to fill in around the cables so no sound gets through from the outside.
- 6). Claim all your expenses for booth supplies on line 22 of Schedule C when you file your income taxes. This form lists income and expenses for a business. Your music business does not have to show a profit for you to claim expenses. You can show a loss, and this reduces your income tax.