*Home Vocal Booth - DIY vs. Manufactured

[southpaw]

Portable vocal booths (home studio vocal treatment) are the focus of my next gear purchase, ive been doing my homework and ill list the contenders i have found below, and some other ideas i have picked up. My goal is to cut down on the ambience and reflections when i mic record, but definitely dont want a %100 dead either.. How do you deal with this in your home setup?*I like the idea of both absorbing and diffusing, and theoretically the horseshoe shaped design seems much more practical than singing into a square box with absorption material, for example.What do you folks use, what have you tried, other tips to share? Your thoughts on these...The SE electronics filter, this one is pricey- Most people that have one have said they like it, and is really smooth though.http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=8098About same price, cant find too much about it except for a couple 'yea, its really good's..'http://www.editorskeys.com/Portable_Voc ... h.htmlEven though i know this is a great company, my thoughts were that this seems more suited for strictly isolation purposes, rather than treating vocals for that silky live:dead - ratio.http://www.realtraps.com/p_pvb.htmLooks kinda cool s'bout all i know, cant find a price either.... http://www.vicoustic.com/ProdutoInfo.asp?Id=60*Or the "Real Man's" DIY route:{grunt} Get some 703 rigid fiberglass, etc. and build something... I gotta say, im kinda lazy, when it comes to this stuff.. (not to mention busy) ...Unless i can save a significant amount of money, and know that what i build will be as good as what i would buy, i dont usually DIY when it comes to acoustics.. Anyone ever DIY gobos, booths, vocal treatment..etc.?Thanks! Jamie

[mojobone]

Had quite the lively discussion about this a few months ago:http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?b ... read=10978

[southpaw]

ahh. Thanks Mojo, checking it out now.

[mazz]

Primacoustic showed a cool unit at the AES show but I can't find any info about it on their website. They were calling it the Flexi-Booth and it was basically a wall mount that had a couple of panels on hinges that swing out. You put the back of the mic facing the wall, just like you would with any of these other things and the panels would be to either side of the mic. When you're done, you close it up and it's not taking up much space in your room at all. I thought it was a great design, I wonder if they are still going to market it?When I was recording my wife's singing, I made a tent from mic stands and a comforter and put that in front of, slightly above, and around the sides of the mic. This created the deadness for that side of the mic. Then I temporarily nailed some old pillows to the wall behind her, placed randomly to create some diffusion so it wasn't totally dead and wasn't so reflective as to impart the sound of the room on the vocals. It worked pretty well but it looked like crap and I couldn't leave it set up.I think any of the things you listed would work for your purposes. If you were to make panels from Ready Acoustics, you could use them for more than just a vocal booth, like if you need some gobos or some absorption for mixing or whatever. I think you can mount them to mic stands and move them around if you want to.Good luck!Mazz

[ernstinen]

Hey Jamie,In the previous thread that Mojo posted, I detailed how I built my booth on the cheap. Here's 2 photos:A lot of the soundproofing materials I used were dug out of industrial park trash bins. The cheap expenses were 2x4s & plywood. The only things that cost a little more were a solid-core door, and double pane glass. I doubt I spent more than $500 overall. --- The booth is pretty dead, but has reflective surfaces from the glass and the wood door.HTH,Ern

[chriscarter]

Unless you absolutely have to have something 100% portable, skip ALL of those products. Here's the problem with all of them: they block very little sound going out, block only reflections that hit the null of a cardiod mic (duh....) and do nothing to block reflections that enter the front of the mic (where a cardioid picks up most of it's sound).If you want a great solution, here's what you do: 1) Go to Ross or some other mega discount store and buy two queen or king-sized plain comforters (ie. duvet). 2) Bust out your sewing machine and stich them together to make one big huge comforter. Now sew little loops along the top edge. You'll need at least three.3) Go to the store and buy some little cup hooks and screw them into the ceiling in a "V" shape. The open part is where you will put the mic and the corner is where your back will be facing.4) Hang it up.5) Stand/sit with your back into the corner of your curtain with the mic in front of you pointing into the curtain. If you want it really dead, move into the corner. If you want it a little more live, move further out of the "V". When you are done tracking, take it down (takes 30 seconds to put up / take down).This will work way better than any of the products you mentioned with some extra benefits: 1) no comb filtering messing with the sound; 2) it will cost maybe $50. 3) doesn't mess with your sight lines; 4) faster to put up/take down.I now record all my vocals in the control room with this method. If you want to hear what it sound like, listen to "mexico" on the music page of my website. The lead vocals were recorded this way with the vocalist about 18" off the mic. His vocal is dry with only a ton of compression so you can hear how effective this method is.BTW - it will also help cut out other noise (computer fans, etc.)

[t4mh]

Cool idea Chris! I'll give this a try!ThanksKeith

[southpaw]

Mazz, Ern + Chris, Thanks for the ideas! Im looking into a few things, and will check out that flexi-booth. Its looking like either a DIY gobo/absortion 'thingy' is in order. Chris.. Sounds very cool! Im just having a hard time visualizing this for some reason.. (always been more of a visual learner)Is there anyway you cold post a pic or something to help me out? Thanks alot for sharing this technique!Ern, is it soundproofed completely? Or just very deadened, out of curiousity. Sounds pretty darn ideal for guitars and amps and stuff! How is it on vox, would you say?Will try to keep the updates of this project posted up... Thanks all.

[ernstinen]

Mar 22, 2009, 2:53pm, southpaw wrote:Ern, is it soundproofed completely? Or just very deadened, out of curiousity. Sounds pretty darn ideal for guitars and amps and stuff! How is it on vox, would you say?Well, it's pretty well soundproofed. If I have a REAL quiet session in there like acoustic guitar or a soft vocal, sometimes I'll hear a little low-end noise like garbage trucks in the alley or huge jets flying over. I'll have to stop the session until they pass.If you REALLY want to do it right, as I have in the past, use 2x6" boards on the floor and ceiling of the walls, and stagger the 2x4 vertical studs. Then you weave the soundproofing material around them, like carpet, foam etc. This makes sure that the inside/outside walls don't touch each other at all.It's the "room inside a room" idea, and the back wall doesn't touch the outside wall either. But if you want to build something like this, one word: CAULK! It's cheap, and if you see ANY light going through cracks in your booth, sound will go through as well!Plus, as I may have said before, USE SCREWS to assemble your booth. It's so much easier (with a drill and screw-bit), plus if you have to move it, you just take it apart!Oh, and vocals sound great in it. There are some reflective surfaces off of the glass and door, but it's fairly dead. Makes it so much easier to add the type of reverb you want.HTH,Ern

[southpaw]

Thanks Ern. Sounds great. It wont be all that practical to build an isolation box until i buy my house, unfortunately. When i do, i would love to have something like that for guitars, etc.!Well, as of now Im going to do 2 things to improve my room used for both mixing and vocals. Im going to order some 703 and put some panels up for more absorbtion. Also add some more bass traps. I understand that 2" fiberglass is only really effective down to 125hz. If i went around 6" would that do the trick for the low end absortion? I have 8 of those lenard traps and about 36 1X1 (from auralex) panels scattered about.. But it doesnt cover it to my satisfaction, i was really just trying them out. They look nice and help a bit more than without them, but are not much more than a start in any case. From there i am still try to figure out the best way to build an effective gobo for tracking vocals. I like Chris' idea, and ive found other data that credits the technique as a GREATly effective solution. Both in price and results. By the way, if you get a minute Chris, where in your room did you place/hang this? Ie, In an open area/one side against a wall/etc.and do you have any other absortion around or in this 'vocal tent'? ....Pics.. Perty PLEASE!? --"If you REALLY want to do it right, as I have in the past, use 2x6" boards on the floor and ceiling of the walls, and stagger the 2x4 vertical studs. Then you weave the soundproofing material around them, like carpet, foam etc. This makes sure that the inside/outside walls don't touch each other at all." )