vocal booths

[Spider]

hi all , im just about to construct a vocal booth ..yet im a little restricted as to where it can go and how big it is .. The only place is in the control room. I have this huge wall unit behind me, just has shelves , a cupboard , stuff like that . Well theres an opening , more or less a door way about 2 foot deep. it goes into a section of the room which is behind the cabinet.The cabinet is all built in , but theres a space up the top which i was just going to fill in using 22mm particle board and just insulate it really well inside the cabinet with foam.. u know that white stuff that goes everywhere ..The section , which is to be the booth , is about 1.2m wide and the length is about 3.0m .. I was just going to use a soft type of foam, actually its like a bed lining .. Kinda like accoustic foam , yet heaps cheaper and doesnt do half of what the real stuff does .. i was going to line the entire inside walls of the vocal booth .. then because the room will be so dead , maybe a reverb (lexicon) unit to create some space. What im mainly chasing is a very quiet area to record vocals ..Im using the NT1 and it just seems to pick up every little movement evryone makes. Has anyone got any comments on the above plan.. Any help would be much appreciated as im not exactly a studio designer... anyway cheers all...
spider

 

[Brian Grey]

Well I might be able to help...

It just so happens that studio construction is my specialty. From the size you described it sounds like that's a fairly small space to record vocals. Before I got to the part about the foam on the walls I was thinking, "he needs lots of foam..." Putting the reverb will help that small space feel bigger. I would suggest, though, putting the reverb after recording it, you can never take reverb away if there's too much.
Anyway, about your question about the mic picking up every movement everyone makes. The first thing I ask is, is the mic shock mounted? The second question is, what sounds is it picking up? Are you talking about foosteps? Or the sound of your clothes rubbing together as you move around? Are you talking about sound leaking from one room to another? That's a matter of sealing that little room with some caulk, which it doesn't sound like you did. If your vocal booth is going to be adjoining to your control room you have to make sure no sound will get from one space to the other. You said you put up some particle wood? And insulation behind that. That won't really sound proof at all. You'd need at least another layer of particle wood if you want to stop the sound. And you have to caulk all around the perimeter of the wood, and the seams. If you turn off the light in the little room, can you see light coming in from the control room? If so, get the caulk gun out and get dirty.
If you're not getting airborne sound from the control room and you're simply hearing footsteps, get a shock mount for the mic.
I hope you got something out of that...

 

[Spider]

hi there brian , i got heaps out of that cheers ,
Well i would usually record vocals in a room just down the hall , so the room its self is relatively quiet , except for unexpected noises...like a loud truck outside.. The kind of noise , is like u said , clothes rubbing together , and what just sounds like airbourne noise.. Its like the mic just picks up every sound thats in the room .. My vocalist sometimes stands a bit back from the mic , so maybe im turning the gain up to much to compensate.. But backto the booth.. So cork eh?? what exactly do u mean , like that stuff u can put small pins into to hang posters on ???? sorry , pretty lame example!!! So if i covered the entire wall of the booth (the one adjoining the control room) then foamed inside the large cabinet, about a foot or so thick, then over the cork and the other walls inside i used a soft foam... u think this would be suffice .. im really worried about the studio monitors..!! maybe when doing vocals i can just use headphones , thats not a huge problem , but still i would like to proof it as best i can .. anyway cheers for that Brian..
spider

 

[Brian Grey]

Re: Well I might be able to help...

I'm not talking about cork board, that's about the same as trying to stop light with clear glass. What I'm talking about is the 4X8 sheets of particle wood. Sometimes it's called flake board. It's a bunch of shavings of wood glued together to make a board. It's stronger than plywood and therefore stops more sound. Whatever you've got on the wall right now, use silicone caulk all around the seams. Then put up a layer of the particle wood I was talking about. Use glue and screws to put that up. Once you've got that up, use the "pound" test as I call it. Actualy, before you start doing anything to the wall, give it a good hit with a the palm of your hand. The wall will probably shake a vibrate quite a bit, that's because it's weak. Then after putting up particle wood use the same strength hit and see what it did. It should have done quite a bit. If it still shakes, and you're up to it, put up another layer. Then on top of the particle wood put a layer of drywall to finish it.
The foam you're talking about isn't going to stop sound from getting in, you have to leave it up to the wall. The foam will just get rid of flutter echo and reverberation within the vocal booth. And, by the way, that cheap bed foam from K-mart isn't going to do much. But, it will help of course, anything is better than a hard surface.