Deadening a home office for voice recording

R

randomshow

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Sorry if this has been covered before - I'm a new to these forums.
I have a 10'x10' home office that I use for my radio job, and I need to record VO. Right now the room is kinda bright with reflection (echo) that I don't want in my recording.
The office has hard wood floors that are mostly covered with a 8x10 shag rug.
The windows have curtains over them.
I have a large flat L-shaped wooden desk in the room, and ideally I'd like to put the mic on part of the desk so I can just record quickly where I'm sitting, looking at scripts on my computer.
Three of my walls are flat with nothing on them - I was given 10 or so panels of acoustic foam, but I'm not sure where/how would be the best place to put them.
Or I could hang curtains on those walls, would that help?
Should I avoid putting pictures on the walls because of the glass?
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

-Jason
 
I don't know if Jason is still here to answer that question, but because I have similar needs and issues, I'll jump in as the ignorant newbie:

I have been using a very old electret condenser mic that I bought for college film classes 35 years ago, but I will be switching to a Rode NT1a with a phantom power supply. I like to record into a Sony PCM-M10 digital recorder so I can get away from the noise of my computer.

I am currently just doing podcasts to practice and learn, but I would like to be doing audiobooks. (And even there, Audible doesn't have terribly high standards of recording, but I'd like to sound good.)

My current recording environment is not bad acoustically -- it's a long room with book cases and storage shelves and lots of soft or irregular surfaces... but it's the basement. I can only record when the furnace isn't going, and there are a number of other issues that make recording slightly difficult (or insane).

I have an irregularly shaped walk in closet in the attic that has certain areas that sound okay when packed with clothes -- some street noise makes it up there but otherwise not too bad. (L-shaped, part flat, part angled roof, walls are very old textured lath and plaster, with facing boards here and there.)

But I haven't been able to test it with a better mic yet. If I like what I hear when I do, I'm thinking of clearing out some of the clothes, and lining it with sound blankets, and maybe adding some foam and such as needed.

I don't so much have a question about that (yet - we'll see after I get some testing done) as that I'd like to hear what you meant when you said that the mic and preamp will make all the difference for voice over work. (And any other comments you might have about using a closet space for VO.)

Do you recommend a preamp rather than a simple phantom power source? And if so, can you recommend an entry level one that would be okay for simple mono VO recording?

Camille
 
Hi Camille -

A high quality dynamic mic like the RE-20 or SM7 is standard kit for voice over work. Either mic requires a preamp that can push a lot of gain.

A benefit of using a high quality dynamic over a condenser is that you can get a good sound even in a poorly treated or small room - with a condenser you are going to hear the room, and the furnace, and the street noise, and the computer fans. Not so with the dynamic.

YMMV, but I think the NT1A is a terrible, terrible microphone.
 
Ah, that's good to know for when I'm ready to upgrade.

I had had so many recommendations from VO people on the Rode -- and it's at about the budget I can deal with right now. One of the things they recommended it for was the "low noise" but I'm assuming they meant self noise.

Even given what you think of the mic -- do you recommend a preamp for the Rode rather than just a phantom power. (I seem to be getting decent levels out of it.)

Camille
 
I want to thank you for explaining why I would want a dynamic mic. I returned the Rode, and then went over to Guitar Center and bought a Shure SM58 -- and it makes ALL the difference. I can easily hit the noise and signal levels I need for ACX .... even when the furnace is going! (And I like the sound.)

Camille
 
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