Studio vocal booth

[Spikeh]

Some of you may have read, I've just bought a studio... it's quite a good size, I've treated as best I can for my current budget, but unfortunately the room isn't really that great - it has about 5 windows, and bands practice below it and down the hall from it... though it's still one of the best rooms in the area

I've been recording my first voiceover's recently, and it's embarrasing to say the least - the mic's picking up car exhausts, aeroplanes, bottles being emptied in to bins (the room is 3 stories above a pub) and everything else that's slightly loud... luckily the client has been using the studio since before I bought it, so he's used to it and it's not that bad.

I know that the windows are the culprits for the outside noises, but I can't get around the bands below the studio... which makes it impossible to record on an evening when they're practicing.

I'm going to ask the landlord if I can have the windows bricked up at some point - and I want to ask him if I can have all the heating piping / radiators taken out too, as they don't work anyway, and all they do is create more noise from the surrounding rooms...

Of course, I'd ideally like to build a room within the room eventually, but that's a long while off yet...

Now, as a short term thing, would a vocal booth help at all? Say, if I build a "room within a room" vocal booth? Would this kind of application stop muffled kick drums coming through from the rooms below? Would it be cost effective to make one? And how much would it cost do you think? Would want to use it for voiceovers, vocals for rock tracks, acoustic guitar etc...

[aidan_m]

In short yes, and avoid omni mic at all costs. Go cardiod mic if possible it should pick up waaaaaaaay less surrounding noise.

Here's a range of vocal booths:
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/?page=...acturer_id=176
http://www.vocalbooth.com/

[Spikeh]

Aye, I've seen those things... v expensive. Would invest if I could afford it, but thinking of building one myself - that way I can build it over a few months instead of fork everything out at once. Once the studio starts making serious money, I'll probably relocate instead of sort that room out...

[Supercreep]

Originally Posted by Spikeh

Would this kind of application stop muffled kick drums coming through from the rooms below? Would it be cost effective to make one?

Probably not, and it depends on what you think is an acceptable cost/benefit ratio.

[Spikeh]

Well, I've just asked the landlord to see if I could do some building work in the future, and he's said no basically... so I won't be able to make the room as good as it could be.

Which basically tells me I should start looking for somewhere I can buy and do up...