Renovating my closet into a recording booth for voiceover - help needed

J

Jeremy King

New member
Hello, all!

I've been contributing voice acting to a number of passion projects and video game mods for some time, and I'm looking to acoustically treat my closet. I'm a college student currently living at home, and my recording situation is less than ideal; my house has horrid soundproofing, I live next to a fairly noisy church, my room directly faces the street, and I have single-pane windows which allow sound to easily bleed in. Every surface in my room (ceiling excluded) is hardwood.

A while back I moved my mic into my closet and was generally pleased with the immediate difference in my recordings. For a long time I had been recording under a thick blanket in my room, but noise would still bleed in fairly regularly. Recording in my closet yielded quieter results with less effort, and my recent purchase of the CAD e100s condenser mic made my recordings quieter still -- my typical noisefloor level tends to gravitate around -50db, with my quietest recordings somewhere around -60db or so.

My issue lies primarily in a consistently muddy low end. I have a naturally low voice, and recording in a tight closet space with parallel walls hasn't done me any favors. I'm not sure what the exact dimensions of my closet are, but if I had to give it a rough estimate, I'd say maybe 80x80 square feet. Maybe less.

I currently record with the mic adjacent to a wall with the closet door facing my right and a number of coats hanging directly behind me. To the left of the the mic I have clothing hanging up -- I tried parting the clothes in the middle and placing my mic with the clothing to both sides but found that this only aggravated my current acoustic woes.

I also have large metal brackets for additional storage, which I'm sure just makes things worse.

Just like my room, the closet is entirely hardwood.

I'm trying to figure out how to best treat this space for the least amount of money. Seeing as how it's so cramped, I would likely remove just about everything to make room for any acoustic treatment. I'm thinking if I were to remove the brackets I'd have room to cover the closet with some blankets, which I could probably hang/connect with grommets. I've also been looking into some deals on 2-inch thick auralex foam packs and bass traps on Amazon.

There are so many factors to consider, and while I'm learning a great deal every day, I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. To that end, I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions for acoustic treatment!

For reference of my current recording quality, I've included a brief sample taken from a recent audition with no post-processing. While the sample in question is rather far removed from my natural speaking voice, the notable muddiness in the lower frequency range is consistent with the vast majority of my recordings. This was recorded with the CAD's hi-pass filter engaged, too. It's slightly more pronounced here than usual due to my having recorded in very close proximity to the mic (probably around 2 inches away, in this case), but even at a lower gain input with more distance between myself and the microphone I get very similar bass response.

View attachment AuditionSampleMP3.mp3

I'd be happy to provide photos of my current set-up or exact room measurements, if it would be of any value.

Thank you!
 
a tiny closet is never going to sound good, it's the room, the main thing you will have to do is get the BASS end sorted out, that would be my number 1 priority in such a small space, forget midrange, forget high end, it's bass that's going to give you problems, so I would look into building some high quality DIY bass traps, there are plenty of options, avoid foam
 
Yeah, bass traps are my main priority. I'll look into that, thanks. I've come across a number of other topics that explicitly state I should avoid foam, so I guess that's out of the picture. What else would you recommend I look into for treating the space? Should I go through with taking everything out (clothes, jackets, metal brackets, a few random items here and there) or would it be a good idea to leave some clutter in there for diffusion?
 
Don't waste your time and money on a closet, it's a myth that belongs in the movies and wrappers dreamworld studios.

Treat your main room.
 
Build some bass traps, there's plenty of info here - rockwool like OC703, 705 or Roxul, at least 4" thick. You can make panels that will stack up so you can create a 3-sided booth behind/beside you- moving things around so they block some of the outside noise as well as reflections from the walls that are bouncing back towards the mic.
 
Put the clothes in the closet, then open the door sit outside and sing with your back to the open door.

Alan.
 
Well, the only benefit to the closet in this case is the exceptionally poor isolation of his room. Heck, if the closet is the only place in the house that's practical for added isolation from street noise, I'd be all for it.

A couple of questions for the gallery here, just a few curiosities for myself:
- would weather stripping around the closet doors be a good thing here? Less air movement in/out of the room?
- in such a small space with wooden walls, would a good starting point be to treat 20% of the surfaces with broadband absorption? Or would a totally dead room this size be better?
- If he's just recording vocals in this closet, would bass traps really be necessary?
 
Tadpui said:
Well, the only benefit to the closet in this case is the exceptionally poor isolation of his room. Heck, if the closet is the only place in the house that's practical for added isolation from street noise, I'd be all for it.

A couple of questions for the gallery here, just a few curiosities for myself:
- would weather stripping around the closet doors be a good thing here? Less air movement in/out of the room?
- in such a small space with wooden walls, would a good starting point be to treat 20% of the surfaces with broadband absorption? Or would a totally dead room this size be better?
- If he's just recording vocals in this closet, would bass traps really be necessary?
Click to expand...

I'm curious about how much treatment this size of room needs myself, and the weather stripping is an interesting idea.

To clarify; this isn't for vocals, but for voiceovers/voice acting.
 
I'm ashamed to admit two things here:
- that it took me this long to listen to the audio example that was provided
- that I've sunk about 1000 hours of my life into the video game that this example is from. Damn bandits, indeed.

Now do the "I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee" one :D :D :D

But yeah, Jimmy brings up a good question. What the heck are the dimensions of your closet?
 
For voice overs, you can use this closet as is, there is really no low end muddiness, there is just a lack of 'air (the clothes are absorbing all the high end). Take out half the clothes and see if that helps. I assume this is a walk-in closet, and the OP forgot the decimal places >> 8.0 ft x 8.0 ft = 64 sq ft
 
jimmys69 said:
Wait, '80x80 square feet'? What is the length/width/height of your closet?
Click to expand...

I'm away from home right now, so I don't have the exact measurements, but I want to say length was around 45-50 inches, width was either 29 or 30 inches, and height was 95 inches.

Tadpui said:
I'm ashamed to admit two things here:
- that it took me this long to listen to the audio example that was provided
- that I've sunk about 1000 hours of my life into the video game that this example is from. Damn bandits, indeed.

Now do the "I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to the knee" one :D :D :D

But yeah, Jimmy brings up a good question. What the heck are the dimensions of your closet?
Click to expand...

Haha, I share your shame; according to my combined playtime stats I'm actually a little over 1,100 hours in total, so...*twiddles thumbs and gulps nervously*

I provided the measurements to the best of my recollection above, but if they seem wonky I can re-measure the space once I'm back home.

mjbphotos said:
For voice overs, you can use this closet as is, there is really no low end muddiness, there is just a lack of 'air (the clothes are absorbing all the high end). Take out half the clothes and see if that helps. I assume this is a walk-in closet, and the OP forgot the decimal places >> 8.0 ft x 8.0 ft = 64 sq ft
Click to expand...

Really? That surprises me. My recordings are always boomiest in the 50-200hz range. I typically add some warmth/air through subtle saturation and EQ bumps in post. I'll try taking out some of the clothes and see what happens. I have a feeling this might introduce some reflection into the mix, though, based on my previous experience with putting space between the clothes and the mic.

And yeah, I meant to put 8 feet by 8 feet but that was just a rough, out-of-the-blue estimate. If my actual measurements are accurate, the space is a lot smaller than that.

One more question; if there is indeed no low end muddiness, but I'd still like to acoustically treat the room (if even slightly), how should I proceed? My recordings are fairly quiet, but not at quite the level I'd like. The provided sample was quieter than most of my recordings due to the close proximity -- the e100s is a very quiet mic, and when I record as closely as I did in that take, it picks up very little room noise, and whatever it did pick up is typically easy enough to manage. Generally I'll record a few inches further away, and I'd like to cut out as much noise as I can realistically manage. And if I move some of the clothes, as you suggested, I'll also be liable to pick up additional noise.
 
Keep in mind that the closer you are to the mic, the more bass/boom will be picked up (proximity effect). If your recordings are coming out too boomy, try backing up away from the mic a few more inches (or several) and see how that sounds in the low/mid frequencies.

The low volume thing can be remedied by adding compression and/or limiting. But this will definitely exaggerate any background noise...it's a give and take.
 
Tadpui said:
Keep in mind that the closer you are to the mic, the more bass/boom will be picked up (proximity effect). If your recordings are coming out too boomy, try backing up away from the mic a few more inches (or several) and see how that sounds in the low/mid frequencies.

The low volume thing can be remedied by adding compression and/or limiting. But this will definitely exaggerate any background noise...it's a give and take.
Click to expand...

The bass is certainly enhanced by the proximity effect, but it remains particularly boomy in the same frequency range even when more distance is added. Given the small space I'm recording in, the farthest I can usually record away from the mic is about 6-7 inches.

Oh, to be clear, I meant the e100s is a quiet mic in terms of self-noise and amount of noise it picks up, not output volume. It's particularly good at isolating the voice and doesn't pick up as much background stuff as my previous mic (the MXL 990). I typically compress my voiceovers with a 4:1 ratio, threshold of -25 to -30db, attack set to 100ms and release set to 0.1ms. I then bump up the volume by about 3-4db and aim for average levels around -4.5 to -4db. I also usually tack on a multiband compressor. All of this does indeed serve to exaggerate background noise, but a good deal of this I can filter out through noise gates and whatnot.

I apply all my effects to the master bus, which is currently set up as follows for voice overs...

Saturation
EQ
Gate
Compressor
Multiband Compressor

Is this a good set up, or should it be arranged differently?
 
You're recording in a space that's less that 2 metres tall and a bit more than 1/2m wide. Closte crush meets claustrophobia - closetrophobia?
 
rayc said:
You're recording in a space that's less that 2 metres tall and a bit more than 1/2m wide. Closte crush meets claustrophobia - closetrophobia?
Click to expand...

Ha, the space is small, but not that small. I'm not used to measuring rooms -- I think I may have inadvertently switched the measurements for length and width. I thought the length was the vertical distance from the door to the other side of the room, which is indeed just a little over 1/2m and the primary reason I can really only put about 5-6 inches distance between myself and the mic at most. Height, at 95 inches, is a bit over 2.4 meters.
 
Yeah, that's a pretty small space. If it's the only way to keep birds, kids, dogs, cars etc. out of your recordings then it'll have to do. Are those the wall-to-wall dimensions, or is that just the amount of space you have left over when the closet has clothes in it?

In such a small space, I can't imagine that any reverb/reflections would be desirable. The more lively that little closet is, the more your recordings are going to sound like they were done in a closet. I think that I'd want to kill all of the reflections that I could to keep the room reflections out of the recordings. Then find a good convolution reverb plugin, gather some nice room reverb impulse files and blend a little bit of that in as an aux send.
 
Wait, wait - the closet is 4' wide, 2-1/2' deep, 8' tall? :facepalm: How is there any room for clothes AND the mic AND you? There's not room for real acoustic treatement (4" thick broadband absorbers). 6" away from mic, you'll still get low-end proximity affect, just not as much as when you're right on top of the mic..
 
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