Vocals sound muffled in booth

Lt. Bob said:
I believe his thinking is that the CD's would bring back some reflection...

...He could rip out all the foam and it wouldn't be any louder outside because it's the mass of the walls that is doing whatever muting there is.
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Yeah, I know that's where his thinking was...and I suggested why bother...just remove the foam and you get hard surfaces. :D

Really...he can just rip out 80% of that foam, leaving just a few random pieces to pick up some of the high-end reflections but without sucking the life out of the space (muffled vocals)...and then like others suggested, bring some rigid fiberglass for low end trapping.
For more volume control...add more sheet-rock.

Thing is...it ain't a big booth...so adding sheets of this and that will leave him with a tight space....which I think he's aware of and part of the reason he isn't following up in that direction. As I already said...he looks like he has the space to build it out to a bigger booth, which may be his only salvation if he must have good sound control but also some decent sound quality.
 
miroslav said:
Yeah, I know that's where his thinking was...and I suggested why bother...just remove the foam and you get hard surfaces. :D

Really...he can just rip out 80% of that foam, leaving just a few random pieces to pick up some of the high-end reflections but without sucking the life out of the space (muffled vocals)...and then like others suggested, bring some rigid fiberglass for low end trapping.
For more volume control...add more sheet-rock.

Thing is...it ain't a big booth...so adding sheets of this and that will leave him with a tight space....which I think he's aware of and part of the reason he isn't following up in that direction. As I already said...he looks like he has the space to build it out to a bigger booth, which may be his only salvation if he must have good sound control but also some decent sound quality.
Click to expand...
he could put any additional mass on the outside of the booth.
 
Actually a treated storage Pod in the drive might sound better and disturb the residents less. While also offering up a lot more space. By no means a cheap solution, and untreated, actually worse than his current option. Depending on where they live as well, might only be usable 30% or less of the year. Fortunately I live out in the country and most, if not all of my neighbors are construction types always looking for more work in the off season. Which is pretty much every day since the housing bubble burst.

In some port areas (or rail yards), those metal shipping crates from China are in surplus. Costs more to take them back to China than to make new ones in China. Deals are to be had for the inventive for not much cash. Compared to conventional construction anyway. Bury one in the backyard for a storm shelter or bomb shelter. Probably bigger than 4' x 4'. I saw a house in the Frisco area made out of a few of those on TV. Line up several next to each other cut out the adjoining walls. If you don't live near those sources, it might costs more to deliver than to buy them. Or permits and other things. But the metal shell probably provides good shielding from the usual interferences in a recording chain. i.e. terrible cell service.
 
Neither is 4' x 4'. Which is what? A yard stick by yard stick of space, plus a couple inches. How do you record in there with anything other than a headset mic? Hopefully the door opens OUT, not IN. Or is of the sliding variety.
 
I recently built an 8 x 4 booth - plywood / 2x4 frame with 4inch soundproof insulation / plywood -they are the materials, then I lined the inside with 3inch acoustic foam. The NRC rating for the foam was mixed with the 4inch version, just missing a little absorbtion from the bottom-end. But unless you've got a rediculously deep voice with the power of Pavarotti you shouldn't be blasting too much low frequency to have an issue. I think the OP issue is with mic choice and mic placement - don't use a dark mic and don't get into the proximity of the mic. Luckily the length of my booth means an artist can step as far back as they need to, but this is what I'd suggest. Try a different position from the mic.
 
OP, please close this thread. It's close to breaking the record for bullshit advice.
 
I say keep it open!!! :D

Though at least it should be moved to the Studio Building forum...why keep the fun just here in the Newbies forum. :)
 
Sorry, it's just hard to fathom a space so small when you play a horn that extents to 6'. And that's one of the smaller models.
 
This has been one of the most enjoyable threads. The storage container unit was priceless ! No offence (I generally enjoy and find illuminating your posts, Shadow_7) but I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall looking at the OP when they read that !
Mind you, what would really be classic is if they went for it !!
 
Dont know if it ended in tears but it looks good.




DSC_0058small.jpg
 
That's a sweet studio (just looking at the picture).

Is it yours?

Real nice, man.

I'm jealous.

:p
 
Looking at your link, it does look kinda cool inside....but again....not very practical for most people. Whatever floats your boat I guess.
 
The only thing that would scare me is some truck pulling it out of there by mistake...and my studio ending up in some 3rd world country. :D

Hey...it's a perfect Faraday cage...just ground the puppy and you could park it under a radio station tower. :)
 
grimtraveller said:
This has been one of the most enjoyable threads. The storage container unit was priceless ! No offence (I generally enjoy and find illuminating your posts, Shadow_7) but I would've loved to have been a fly on the wall looking at the OP when they read that !
Mind you, what would really be classic is if they went for it !!
Click to expand...

Back in college, a number of musicians dads built a kind of treated closet in the garage, similar in dimension to a storage container. So why not? They're cheap relative to what passes for a house these days. Although that has gotten a bit cheap with the housing bubble. I'm just more accustomed to country living, where 30yo trailers that barely support their own roof pass for livable spaces. Or they put an actual floor in what used to be the hen house and call it guest quarters. But I'm also used to moving everything that wasn't inside out into the open with a rake before I handle it with bare hands. Different strokes for different folks. And the faraday cages was a primary thought. Our electrical wires are above ground and they just put some high voltage lines in about two acres over, so there's only a few places in the yard that I can stand with minimal interference these days. And that's with some fairly shielded / hardened gear.
 
Obviously the foam was a shitty choice. Since the booth is too small, would removing a wall and lets say replace it with a type of curtain then removing some foam from the other walls do anything to help? Or should i leave it without a curtain when I remove a wall?

Sidenote : Would a basstrap behind the singer help at all? I was thinking of making one similiar to the one they made in this article (6th paragraph) http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar06/articles/studiosos.htm
 
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