Foam placement in vocal booth?

X

Xtensity

New member
I've seen this topic around a bit, but I haven't really found the right answers to my questions.....

My booth is about 4x3.5ft and 7-8ft high. I am using an MXL 4000 condenser microphone for Rap Vocals, and the walls are covered 100% with 1 inch accoustic foam.....

Obviously this seems to be too much, my vocals are too dead.

How should I arrange my panels to give a balanced sound of being deaded but not overely echoy? I'm thinking of leaving the cieling covered completely, and making the walls behind my microphone checkered, though I would like some additional input.


Thanks!
 
I hate to beat a dead horse, but you're talking about a space that's so small, (A) you're never really going to get it to sound decent, (B) foam isn't going to help at all and (C) there isn't enough room to actually fit all the broadband trapping it would take to control the resonances in the baritone range.

Closets are not vocal booths -- They're closets. They're only vocal booths in the movies.

That all said -- If you tear down all the drywall and fill the studs with 703 or 705 (or 4-8# Roxul if it's available), you might make it acceptable for certain tasks.

Otherwise, 95% of the time, you're MUCH better off putting noisy equipment in the closet and using the room (assuming there's a room attached somewhere) for recording tasks.
 
This comes up a lot.

Basically its how to make a small box sound good- or why it might not.
First off, how'd it sound with less pads?

1" absorbers do mid to high frequencies only.

Plug in the numbers for an eight or 12 foot room in here and you will see the results are the room's resonances mostly in the bass region- not necessarily a problem in the vocal frequencies.
hunecke.de | Room Eigenmodes Calculator

Now plug in your 4x3.5' (same 7-8' heights) and damned near all the 'ringing in the box is in the 150-300 range- smack in the middle of voice body' and warmth range.

Also, compare how in a bigger room positioning the mic around a bit doesn't bump you from one big peak/ring/dip spot to another in just a few inches!

Now cover most of the walls with enough fiber to soak up 150Hz and up. (I don't khow many inches deep?

Here's a feet to netters converter for ya
Feet to Meters converter
 
Another way to put it- unless you really need an isolated room, next best is simi-open gobos (don't forget overhead) and/or reasonably close mic distances. (Got RE20 ...?
 
Before I got back to this thread, I removed 50% of the panels in a checkered pattern, and it sounds a million times better.

Also. This isn't a closet. It's a booth I had built in the corner of my room, extending from the corner, 2x4's, dual insulated walls, door, and sound panels completely on the outside to block incoming noise. I'd actually have to say it's 4.5ftx4.5ft. Not huge I know... but I've got some nice sounds out of it.

Thank you for the advice though everyone! It'll help me in the future when I construct a better studio with more $
 
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