Why do I need a sound booth, and how do I build one.

misterbill

New member
Okay-I found this site on Friday and I am already overwhelmed(lack of knowledge).
The day that I found this site I did a school bus charter to Somers HS(Conn) and I heard this great sounding band in the auditorium. I(of course, so would you)shook the locked door and someone let me in. They had a 24 track presonus hooked up to a laptop, and I was explained to for the first time what a firewire was. I told him I had a cheap 8 track-he said he had borrowed this unit and only had a 4 track himself. I have been home recording since around 1995 and I have never met anyone who has recorded at home.

Anyway-
I have never understood the logic behind a sound booth. I am recording in a finished attic with a couple of beds in it, stored boxes, instruments(of course).

I’m fairly handy and have a Home Depot credit card, building something is definitely something that I could afford to do. I’m just not sure what I need, or why I need anything to begin with.

My main concern is vocals
 
The only benifit to using a booth would be to seperate two different sound sources that you were recording simultaneously. Like you have one guy singing and maybe another playing an acoustic guitar. You could but one in the booth and the other outise the boot, mic em up and record em separately. The PROBLEM is, generally speaking, the smaller the room you are recording in, the less desirable the acoustics become... I record entire bands, and I don't use a booth. MOST people around here dont use a booth. If you are a one-man-band or intend to record things individually, then I certainly wouldn't bother with a booth... What you will want to do is consider treating your entire room for better mixing / monitoring.

Short answer; you don't need a booth.
 
What do you mean?

I think what he's talkin about is keepin your room the size it is now instead of makin a couple of smaller rooms from it. The bigger, the better.

Most of us home recording dudes have our set up in a spare bedroom or in the garage.
What I did was to build a 14X20 ( I think I wrote 14X16 on here before...oops) room inside my garage. Then I lifted the peak of the roof of that room as high as I could, which was 10'5" in my case.
Small square rooms are a bitch to acoustically treat so try to keep it as more of a rectangle shaped room. Then set up your mixing desk facing a short wall with your back to the length of the room.

Then start treating it with basstraps/broadband absorption and diffusors. There are a couple of really knowledgeable dudes around here that can help with room treatment. Ethan's one of em. Another is Frank (Weasel9992) from GIK Acoustics. Both are good guys with lotsa savvy.

Luck to ya ;)
 
We can better help you if you indicate what it is you want to record, how you intend to do so, and how much money you have in your budget.
 
Nulls? Peaks? Comb Filtering? Reflections?
Monitoring clarity and imaging? QRD diffusor? ***gasp***

I’m starting to remember why I flunked out of school. Hummm. Think my education has already been discussed.


We can better help you if you indicate what it is you want to record, how you intend to do so, and how much money you have in your budget.

I record songs that I wrote-I use a condenser mic to record keyboard, guitar, bass, and vocals, vocals being of extreme importance to me. Probably country style- which is similar to the 60's music I was brought up listening to. I have a Korg D8 8 track recorder. Is that what you want to know? Budget-I might be able to scrape up some building materials. Thanks!!
 
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Are you happy with what your recordings sound like when they are done? if so you don't need anything

If you feel something is missing then there is a whole world of exciting (and expensive) gear, science, pseudo science and utter nonsense waiting just a mouse click away :)

Either way you most likely don't need a vocal booth
 
Alright, now you got my wheels turning.

I’m guessing where the monitors are placed, where the recording unit is placed, and what nulls, peaks, and reflections in the room are not going to affect the sound of my bass guitar that is booming into a mic that is 8 inches from the speaker.

Placement of the monitors is going to affect how I hear this? Yes? No? Maybe? All of the above? Other?

Sooooooooooooooooo
If I am doing all of my recording, mixing, and singing with a cheap pair of radio shack headphones-my CD sounds WONDERFUL, but only when I am wearing my cheap radio shack headphones.

Am I on the right track?
 
Alright, now you got my wheels turning.

I’m guessing where the monitors are placed, where the recording unit is placed, and what nulls, peaks, and reflections in the room are not going to affect the sound of my bass guitar that is booming into a mic that is 8 inches from the speaker.

Placement of the monitors is going to affect how I hear this? Yes? No? Maybe? All of the above? Other?

Sooooooooooooooooo
If I am doing all of my recording, mixing, and singing with a cheap pair of radio shack headphones-my CD sounds WONDERFUL, but only when I am wearing my cheap radio shack headphones.

Am I on the right track?

If that same CD sounds wonderful in the car and on your home stereo etc then :) otherwise :(
 
The word 'AWFUL' seems to come to mind.

Here is what I am getting at.

Am I supposed to be recording with the monitors on?

If you're recording with a mic, you should not have your monitors on. They'll influence the room which in turn will get picked up by the mic. Use closed-back headphones while tracking, monitors for mixing.

What everyone has said is spot on. For recording things like vocals and acoustic guitars, the larger the room, the better. However, most of us don't get that luxury. We usually get one room for both tracking and mixing, and if you're like me, it's not a big room at all. So, common wisdom says to acoustically treat it for the best response when mixing, which might make the room a little dead for recording. You can add a "room" to your tracks later with reverb or delay.

If your mixes sound great with headphones, but "awful" in the car, it's not because you are recording with the monitors on. Mixing with headphones typically does not yield good results, unless you really know how your headphones sound.

I’m guessing where the monitors are placed, where the recording unit is placed, and what nulls, peaks, and reflections in the room are not going to affect the sound of my bass guitar that is booming into a mic that is 8 inches from the speaker.

Yeah, close micing a loud source won't be influenced much by the room.

Placement of the monitors is going to affect how I hear this? Yes? No? Maybe? All of the above? Other?

Absolutely, they will be influenced by the room. Bass trapping will minimize the peaks and nulls and it doesn't have to be expensive. Won't find what you need at Home Depot, though. Do a search in the Studio Build section for OC703. Lots of discussion about the topic there. See where others buy the stuff and how to use it to tune a room.

cheers,
 
I didn’t want to give my last response to this topic because I thought my CD needed a lot more work than a better mixdown. I thought I should at least give it a shot. I moved the speakers to a stereo to the back wall of my room, opposite my mixing area(as I read about). I recorded a song I have been putting off doing for a considerable amount of time. I couldn’t believe the difference in my mixdown. All I did was change from plate reverb to a hall reverb. You should hear the difference. It really worked!
 
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