"I was going to put the tower in next room, which would have meant extending many leads by 2 metres"

Couldn't you make a hole from one room to the other for your cables? If you make the hole at the baseboard level (near the floor), if you ever change your mind, you just change the baseboards in both rooms and there's no ugly hole left visible.
Or... how 'bout a foldable mic booth, like the one mentioned in DSE's Vegas Editing book. Set it up in the farthest corner of the room with the open side facing away from the tower.
Or... how 'bout getting a noise print of the PC noise and removing it from the recordings using Noise Reduction.
Or...Is there a big enough closet in your room that you could use as a booth?

Mario

Thanks for the suggestions Mario

I could easily make a hole through to the next room - the complications would be getting extension leads for dual monitors, keyboard etc - I believe there are wireless links for some things, but the soundproofing box seems simpler, if it works ok.

A foldable booth maybe - I have a pretty crowded room. I have DSE's book so I'll have a read ...

Noise print - yes this may help, but there's always the problem of noise frequencies coinciding with the voice of a singer/speaker.

Thanks again - by the way, is you forum name derived from Atari computers? (I still have a 1040STe somewhere)

edit - Mario's name corrected!

That's Mario BTW, not Mano. ;-)

User name is:
M> Mario
y> just a filler
S> middle name
T> family name

Page 29 in DSE's book.
Was it you that mentioned you were set-up in a spare bedroom? If so, make the booth collapsible so that you can either slip it under the bed (if there is one) or lean it against the back wall in the closet when not in use.
I'm also set-up in a bedroom (mine actually), but I have a walk-in closet that I'll try to adapt for that purpose. If that doesn't cut it, I'll try the collapsible booth, or a combination of the two.

Mario

Not in a bedroom - I have a crowded home office/studio with 3 computers, and all sorts of other gear, where I make my living largely using Vegas - Mainly video production but I always create original music for each project.

For instrumental tracks, I often just use Logic with Software samples, but I'm now doing more vocal/acoustic instruments as well, hence the need for a quieter room!

In that case I'd recommend moving your A/V editing PC to the other room.
A soundproofing box for a PC raises concerns about proper cooling, as mentioned already.

Mario

>"In that case I'd recommend moving your A/V editing PC to the other room."

If I did this, what's the best way to go about extending monitor leads - is there such a thing as male/female extension leads, or would it be better to order a new custom made longer lead (4-5m)?

Yes, do some searches on monitor cables. I have my computer and console power supply in an adjacent room via a hole in the wall and my room is incredibly quiet. I'm using extension cables (Belkin I think) for the monitor, mouse and keyboard and have never had ANY problems. I can record whisper level ambient sounds with absolutely no noise issues (unless a plane flies over). I don't have to worry about cooling concerns and run my computer fans wide open as noise is not a factor. Its a very small hassle to have to go into the other room to insert/extract CD media but the tradeoff is a no-brainer.

drbam

You can now get a tower case with NO fans, none, zip!
Checkout AusPCMarket, think they have them in stock. Probably not cheap, uses heatpipes to pull the heat to the case which is one big heat exchanger.

I have my computers in Antec Sonata cases. They have 4 grommeted hard disk bays and 120mm fans. I put all the fans on Fanmate speed controllers and selected quiet hard disks to put in the box. (If I had a disk that was noisier than the others I sold it on eBAY and bought a new one).

For the CPU I have a Zalman heatsink with a 120mm fan blowing down on it. I have recorded some material with the CPU in the same room. If I drape a quilt over the case it is very quiet. When I really need it quiet I move the CPU into the next room.

I also lined the larger metal panels with Dynamat - makes a noticeable difference.