Any tips on sound booth?

[los226]

I have a horrible reverb problem in my room so I want to try to put together a vocal booth. It doesn't need to be soundproof, but I do need a good frequency response with no reverb or boomy sound. I have no idea what i'm doing and just want to know if this will work. The booth is going to be 4X4X7. First, I plan on making the frame out of 2x4's and putting plywood on the outside of the booth while on the inside of the frame i'll have mineral wool boards of 2" X 24" X 48" filling it up. On the inside walls of the booth I will have acoustic fabric covering the mineral wool boards. Will this work? Any suggestions welcomed, thanks in advance.

[chris-from-ky]

You're better off with sheetrock on the outside. It's more dense than plywood. Why not just make some absorbers like these http://www.realtraps.com/products.htm#microtraps

Suspend some from the ceiling too and that should cut out your verb problems.

[los226]

Originally Posted by chris-from-ky

You're better off with sheetrock on the outside. It's more dense than plywood. Why not just make some absorbers like these http://www.realtraps.com/products.htm#microtraps

Suspend some from the ceiling too and that should cut out your verb problems.

I don't really understand what your saying. I'm new at this so please bare with me. Are you saying to buy those micro traps and just randomly suspend them from the ceiling, or is there a certain way in which you speak of? Those micro traps seem pretty expenisve $139 a piece. I forgot to mention my budget in which I wanted to keep under $300

[sixremix]

I'm short of money too. This is what I did to make a temporary vocal sound booth in my basement. I wasn't worried about soundproofing but I wanted to cut down on echoes and the humming of pc's.

I found a corner of my basement that wasn't being used and I screwed some hooks (that I bent out of a cut up coat hanger with a pair of needlenose pliers) on the ceiling so that I could suspend two circles of blankets around me with a ceiling light in the middle. Then I just pulled in my mic stand and headphones and went to town.

[chris-from-ky]

OK - I used the microtraps as an illustration. An absorber can be made DIY for about $40 a pop. Notice the photo. 3 - 2' x 4' "absorbers" placed in a semi circular fashion behind a person who then sings into a mic in front of them. Then, to decrease reflections coming into the mic from the ceiling, suspend say 3 "absorbers" about 3" from the ceiling directly above the mic. Now you have an almost reflection free zone that you can get good vocal tracks from and not loose any space from having to build a booth. Check out the photo I've attached. The red absorbers hang from the ceiling and the green ones go behind the singer. 6 absorbers @ $40 a pop puts you in budget. Also, consider other absorber vendors if you can't DIY and you want to hit your budget. Bpape and myfipie are sellers of this kind of stuff too.

Understand it all?

[los226]

Originally Posted by chris-from-ky

OK - I used the microtraps as an illustration. An absorber can be made DIY for about $40 a pop. Notice the photo. 3 - 2' x 4' "absorbers" placed in a semi circular fashion behind a person who then sings into a mic in front of them. Then, to decrease reflections coming into the mic from the ceiling, suspend say 3 "absorbers" about 3" from the ceiling directly above the mic. Now you have an almost reflection free zone that you can get good vocal tracks from and not loose any space from having to build a booth. Check out the photo I've attached. The red absorbers hang from the ceiling and the green ones go behind the singer. 6 absorbers @ $40 a pop puts you in budget. Also, consider other absorber vendors if you can't DIY and you want to hit your budget. Bpape and myfipie are sellers of this kind of stuff too.

Understand it all?

I understand, but where exactly in the room do I put this? In a corner or just anywhere?

[Innovations]

Originally Posted by los226

I understand, but where exactly in the room do I put this? In a corner or just anywhere?

in a corner usually or against a wall. One thing that should be pointed out from this is that the mic needs to be directional (i.e. cardioid). An omnidirectional or figure 8 pattern mic wont just be picking up from the reflection free zone behind you.

As for how to build these search for threads around here about do it yourself traps, also on 703 fiberglass, which is the typical construction material for them

[los226]

Originally Posted by Innovations

in a corner usually or against a wall. One thing that should be pointed out from this is that the mic needs to be directional (i.e. cardioid). An omnidirectional or figure 8 pattern mic wont just be picking up from the reflection free zone behind you.

As for how to build these search for threads around here about do it yourself traps, also on 703 fiberglass, which is the typical construction material for them

Yeah it's a cardioid mic. So If I do this I will have no reverb in my vocal's when I record?

[chris-from-ky]

Originally Posted by los226

I understand, but where exactly in the room do I put this? In a corner or just anywhere?

Well, You can put it anywhere you want but once you hang the ceiling absorbers, that's where it will stay. If you're going to be recording drums or anything like that, you may consider moving away from the corner area but if vocals is all you'll be recording, the corner area is fine.

To answer your last question, the "reverb" that enters the mic **should be** greatly reduced by the effective implementation of the gobo type booth. How much reduction, hard to say but I bet if you do like a before and after test, you'll be happy if your expectations are realistic.

[los226]

Originally Posted by chris-from-ky

Well, You can put it anywhere you want but once you hang the ceiling absorbers, that's where it will stay. If you're going to be recording drums or anything like that, you may consider moving away from the corner area but if vocals is all you'll be recording, the corner area is fine.

To answer your last question, the "reverb" that enters the mic **should be** greatly reduced by the effective implementation of the gobo type booth. How much reduction, hard to say but I bet if you do like a before and after test, you'll be happy if your expectations are realistic.

ok, thanks for all the help.