My DIY vocal booth

L

Loglisci44

New member
This is my first post and I am fairly new to recording.

I record Rap/ R&B where the beats are pre-made for me, therefore 3/4 of the battle is over.

My only concern was for vocals. I record in my house, therefore there is a lot of noise and movement circulating throughout. I was not worried about sound attenuation as much as I was worried about sound absorption and reflective sound hitting the mic.

I did research on this forum for about a week before i pulled the trigger on my own DIY vocal booth. It is portable, "fairly" light weight, and under 300$.

First from reading and talking to different people i found plywood was a very reflective material, probably the worst to go weith if the choice was given. Multiple materials came and went as options but i ended up deciding on 3/4 Homosote Sound Attenuation Board from Home Depot---about 26$ a sheet.

The board was 4x8. I got 1x3 and built the frame, connecting it with L brackets. The homosote board was screwed to the frame. The front of the booth measures 41 inches.

From reading i also learned the #1 you do not want a perfect square, and #2 you do not want walls running perfectly parrallel. I did my best to get past the perfectly suqare part but since being able to fold it up after use and still using the guest room for its purpose was an isssue i was forced to stay somewhat square.

The front measures 41 inches and the 2 walls measure 48 inches. They will be angled out away from each other as much as possible to create a
_
/ \
shape.

Since i read that complete enclosure may not be the way to go in a small booth i opted to leave the back open and use a curtain road with 2 think quilts attatched to hang over. The top will have 1x3 ruinning across is seperated by 1 1/2 ft. Blankets will be draped on top and allowed to droop in somewhat for further sound absorption.

I then got Carpet padding (not sure of the material but it was recommended) and put that ont he inside of the frame. The homosote is screwed to the outside and the carpet padding on the inside, leaving dead air space in between. On top of the carpet pad I bought memory foam egg crate style mattress padding. Therefore it will go homosote/dead air space/ carpet padding/ memory foam mattress padding.

There is hinges holding each side together so that I can fold it up and lean it against the wall when finished.

Im hoping this will work, I have not tried it yet but i will post back with feedback and pictures, it is not fully compelte yet.

Cost for all materials was about 250$.

Reccommendations, insight, comments?

Also should i orient the mic toward the angled corner or flat to the back wall.
 
Thats quite expensive...that will bring me to 600$, the goal was budget. I am thinking about either a DIY real traps or the 60$ aurlex foam surrounding the mic.
 
Thanks all for the responses.

Next question. I already have the Memory Foam crate style padding. Should I still put that up AND line it with 703? Or sould i return it and ONLY line it with 703, will I gain anything by lining it with both the memory padding and 703 or am i just shooting myself in the foot?

Also should I get 4 inch or 2 inch being the the booth is close to a 4x4?
 
Memory foam will not do anything but make your booth burn faster. Burn as in catch on fire. 703 makes a huge difference and I just got done building 3 bass traps and my room sounds much, much better. Return the memory foam and stick with 703 and Auralex. One of the threads at the top of this forum that is a sticky has the absorption chart which shows how well each material does and to which frequency. Check that out before you buy anything else; I think you will find 703 is the best all around material.
 
Ok im returning the foam. I ordered 6x 24'x 48' panels of OC703 and im going to line all 3 walls top 48'' and leaver the bottom 36' just the carpet padding. This is alot of 703 in a small (4x4 roughly) vocal booth so hopefully im going to get good effects.

Im also going to the the 60$ auralex padding that surrounds the mic itself.

WOuld you orient the mic towards the flat back of the booth or at angle?
 
I wouldn't bother with the Auralex or any foam at all, to be honest.

Stick with the rigid fiberglass and spend the "extra" money making it look good and keeping it modular and portable.

I have to ask, what does the rest of your signal chain look like?

300 dollars can grab a used EV RE-20, which has fantastic off-axis rejection and almost no proximity effect, making it an extremely versatile and forgiving mic.

Just sayin'.
 
Well i figured the AUralex definitely wouldnt hurt and it was only 52$ so i ordered it as well. I just recieved my OC703 that i have to wrap in fabric to hang in the booth. After that its pretty much done. It getting heavy so the portability is slowly going out the window. Im hoping for good results ill post an update. Im currently only working with a TASCAM US-144 as my interface/preamp with a Sterling Audio ST51 hooked to that and then directly to my laptop. No need to update the soundcard since the 144 takes the place of the CPU soundcard. I plan on adding a FMR RNC Compressor by next week making it my first piece of hardware barring my interface.
 
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