$30 Vocal Booth that Works

[DarkFriend]

- Three pieces of plywood. Width should be 3 feet and height about 1 foot over your head. So if you are 6 feet tall, you want three pieces of 3x7 plywood.

- Six heavy door hinges.

- One super thick foam bed/mattress pad from Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, KMart, etc.

- About ten roofing nails

Connect the panels together with the hinges and drop the foam pad on top. Cut it along the plywood seams into three pieces from top to bottom. Use the nails to attach the foam pad to the plywood. Fold and go! Position it into a "C" or "[" to sing with the mic at the center back.

Just built this recently, and it definitely works. Add-ons include casters/wheels on one side to roll the thing around, or cheap door handles so you can pick it up or move it easier.

[stevieb]

Why go to the trouble of cutting 4 x 8 sheets of plywood down to 3 x 7? The leftover is waste, at least it can't be used on this project, so why not make the sides 4 x 8?

[DarkFriend]

Originally Posted by stevieb

Why go to the trouble of cutting 4 x 8 sheets of plywood down to 3 x 7? The leftover is waste, at least it can't be used on this project, so why not make the sides 4 x 8?

Because if I left it at 4x8, I wouldn't be able to fit it in my studio door?

Aside from that, it seems to me that the smaller the booth, the more focused and dead the sound.

[santiu]

have any with versus without clips? What thickness wood did you use? Plywood must be cheap over there in georgia. Three sheets of 4x8 ply by themselves will cost you well over $30 here in Los Angeles

[mattkw80]

I may build this..... got any pics of the finished project ?

[jasonbmerrill]

mattress foam is simply horrible to use for decent absorption...

[DarkFriend]

Originally Posted by jasonbmerrill

mattress foam is simply horrible to use for decent absorption...

You'd think that would be the case, but it works great. I've got three A/C units right outside the window. Without the vocal booth, the mic picks up a lot of room and outside noise. In the foam booth, it is dead silent.

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by DarkFriend

You'd think that would be the case, but it works great. I've got three A/C units right outside the window. Without the vocal booth, the mic picks up a lot of room and outside noise. In the foam booth, it is dead silent.

i understand that --

it DOES deaden the sound.

however, it does NOT deaden it in an even way across the spectrum. it will kill alot of highs, and leave the lows to muddy up your sound.

it might be silent, but its not "even"


you might want to fill it with something a bit more absorptive.

rockwool covered with burlap? That might be not so good.

maybe cotton -- there are certain absorptive cottons that would work good in that situation.

but for decent recordings, you are just shooting yourself in the foot using mattress foam, ime.

[DarkFriend]

Originally Posted by jasonbmerrill

i understand that --

but for decent recordings, you are just shooting yourself in the foot using mattress foam, ime.

I'll post a song in a week or two and you can hear the results. Let me know if you think the vocals are missing something. What I'm hearing are the best vocals I've gotten out of my home studio.

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by DarkFriend

I'll post a song in a week or two and you can hear the results. Let me know if you think the vocals are missing something. What I'm hearing are the best vocals I've gotten out of my home studio.

i dunno, maybe this mattress foam you are using is above the norm?

you should look up some specs for the material you are using, there are specs available for rockwool/fibreglass, and other materials that show different absorption levels for different materials @ different thicknesses.

Even a decent absorber like rockwool only absorbs decent lower bass @ 4 inches.

[DarkFriend]

Jason - my main goals were to

- isolate the vocals
- get rid of the outside noise
- get rid of the room
- do the above cheaply

For these purposes, it does seem to work. I dunno, perhaps the fact that the foam is mounted on fairly dense plywood helps its absorption properties?

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by DarkFriend

Jason - my main goals were to

- isolate the vocals
- get rid of the outside noise
- get rid of the room
- do the above cheaply

For these purposes, it does seem to work. I dunno, perhaps the fact that the foam is mounted on fairly dense plywood helps its absorption properties?

i dont think plywood is absorptive

if you accomplish these goals, yet sacrifice sound, i dont see the point...

but, hey if it works for you, if it sounds good who really cares all that much?!?!

[santiu]

i don't get the argument here. If he's happy with the new sound, what's there to argue? who cares what the absorptive properties of his mattress foam is? I mean, sure it might not work as well for other people, but this is the internet. YMMV always applies doesn't it?

[TimOBrien]

Here's my portable version that I've posted here for over a year:

http://www.palmcitystudios.com/timob...oundbooth.html

You can also hang sheets of 703 acoustic fiberglass sheets in it if you want.

NOT a full acoustic solution but it works for me and keeps the wifey happy 'cause I can break it down in 10 minutes and store it in the garage....

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by santiu

YMMV always applies doesn't it?

of course, but it applies for my comment as well, no?

its not an argument.

[santiu]

agreed... ooops, sorry, i totally missed you "if it sounds good who really cares all that much?!?!" remark... my bad.

[omtayslick]

Originally Posted by TimOBrien

Here's my portable version that I've posted here for over a year:

http://www.palmcitystudios.com/timob...oundbooth.html

You can also hang sheets of 703 acoustic fiberglass sheets in it if you want.

NOT a full acoustic solution but it works for me and keeps the wifey happy 'cause I can break it down in 10 minutes and store it in the garage....

Pretty cool Tim.

[DarkFriend]

Originally Posted by mattkw80

I may build this..... got any pics of the finished project ?

Ha - started to disassemble this and forgot I needed to take photos.





Kind of difficult to get a good shot, especially since I had myself backed into a corner, but you get the idea.

As I mentioned above, I finished a song yesterday, and I'm SO thankful I took the few hours to build this box. It made a world of difference. Look for the MP3 in the Mix Clinic forums in a week when I get the track back from mastering.

[omtayslick]

Originally Posted by santiu

Three sheets of 4x8 ply by themselves will cost you well over $30 here in Los Angeles

Now that he's posted pics, we can see that it's not actually plywood. Pricing is probably correct.

[DarkFriend]

Not plywood? What is that then? I'm about as handy as a 5 year old..

[Rod Gervais]

It's OSB (Orient Strand Board)

[rayc]

Absorbent, not absorbtive.
ABSORBENT please!

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by rayc

Absorbent, not absorbtive.
ABSORBENT please!

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/absorptive

[DarkFriend]

As promised, here's a link to the MP3 that came out of the sessions with this new, cheap vocal booth. I guess the better idea would be to post just the vocal line with no effects to really hear how quiet it is.

http://www.pmtechllc.com/wont_hurt_one_bit.mp3

or

http://www.myspace.com/evanlesser

[jasonbmerrill]

Originally Posted by DarkFriend

As promised, here's a link to the MP3 that came out of the sessions with this new, cheap vocal booth. I guess the better idea would be to post just the vocal line with no effects to really hear how quiet it is.

kinda