Awesome cheap Vocal Booth

mowtontom2

mowtontom2

Member
Thought I'd post this here, a reply to another thread.
I completely changed the quality of my vocals by taking out the room, ready for it.................... get a used large as you can find portable fold up ice fishing shanty, got mine on craigslist for $80.00. drape the exterior with cheap shipping blankets, hang same type of blankets from the rods on the interior, place an old rug on the floor and boom! A completely storeable vocal booth anyone can use and then just fold up and store. All in I was at $130.00. I have completely changed how my vocals sound without a new mic, or any new outboard gear.
Cheers
 
Taking bad room reflections out of recordings is always a good thing. When I tried various 'moving blanket' (only) solutions, my vocals always got very 'boxy', requiring lots of EQ.
 
Whatever works for you.

I have also found that taking a room to a smaller box only helps the ego of someone who doesn't want others to hear. It is usually not a good thing for the recording quality...

Open space is way better in my experience.

But cheers back to you! Enjoy the holiday!

Let's hear the change! :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Whatever works for you.

I have also found that taking a room to a smaller box only helps the ego of someone who doesn't want others to hear. It is usually not a good thing for the recording quality...

Open space is way better in my experience.

But cheers back to you! Enjoy the holiday!

Let's hear the change! :)
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Hmmmm... Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Diana Ross, all recorded platinum selling albums in this Booth at Sound City...with the door closed. Guess all those albums sounded "boxy"....
sound city vocal booth.jpg
Cheers
 
mowtontom2 said:
Hmmmm... Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Dave Grohl, Diana Ross, all recorded platinum selling albums in this Booth at Sound City...with the door closed. Guess all those albums sounded "boxy"....
View attachment 124382
Cheers
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I haven't seen the Sound City movie, so not sure where that image came from, but anyway that's not a 'vocal booth' made from hanging moving blankets. No doubt the walls have rockwool or dense fibreglass in them, besides all the various foams in the inside. The real sound that made Sound City what it was, was the main room, and the Neve console.
 
Small isolation vocal booths can be useful ...especially in places where you are dealing with exterior noise. Your's is tidy , cheap and effective. I made a similar booth when I tracked my daughter several years ago. The vocal was clean and solid but it required work to make it sound right...IMO more than usual but the magnifying glass was out..
This said they are absolutely not required to get a professional vocal track.
10's of thousands of professional vocal tracks are recorded in larger studios, rooms, hell even in bedrooms

This guy and his buddies have pulled off a few nice recordings not using one

 
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TAE said:
Small isolation vocal booths can be useful ...especially in places where you are dealing with exterior noise. Your's is tidy , cheap and effective. I made a similar booth when I tracked my daughter several years ago. The vocal was clean and solid but it required work to make it sound right...IMO more than usual but the magnifying glass was out..
This said they are absolutely not required to get a professional vocal track.
10's of thousands of professional vocal tracks are recorded in larger studios, rooms, hell even in bedrooms

This guy and his buddies have pulled off a few nice recordings not using one

Click to expand...

Yes, love those guys!. I didn't say it was necessary, I said it took my crappy room out of the equation. I'm sure there are many here that get great vox sitting at they're desk, I don't in my concrete basement. I posted this with the hope of helping others in my situation. It's a cheap project., and in my case helped tremendously.
Cheers
 
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One of the issues that I have found with sound treatment like this is that it removes the high frequencies but not the low so the end result is very boomy. I'm glad the your setup solved the sonic issues that you were having and you were able to do it on the cheap. I record in a large room with no treatment and I found that I can get good results just by changing the direction of the mic.
 
markmann said:
One of the issues that I have found with sound treatment like this is that it removes the high frequencies but not the low so the end result is very boomy. I'm glad the your setup solved the sonic issues that you were having and you were able to do it on the cheap. I record in a large room with no treatment and I found that I can get good results just by changing the direction of the mic.
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Yea, I had to experiment with mic placement a bit. I found that moving back further than normal helped with proximity. I use a C414 and it has a very effective bass roll off switch that helps as well. So far so good, I can use reverb plugins way easier than before.
Cheers
 
mowtontom2 said:
Yes, love those guys!. I didn't say it was necessary, I said it took my crappy room out of the equation. I'm sure there are many here that get great vox sitting at they're desk, I don't in my concrete basement. I posted this with the hope of helping others in my situation. It's a cheap project., and in my case helped tremendously.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Totally great idea for an "on the cheap" vocal isolation booth...innovative and gets the job done. On my cheapy I ran the mic down from the top. I placed mine in the corner of my room so I only needed two sides and a ceiling. I used 4 x 8 x 2" thick foam for the walls and a piece of plywood for the top. I left a 2' wide space to go in and out and moving pad as the door. It totally worked for knocking out all external sound but the vocals were definitely different and needed eq to make them sound close to what the actual voice sounded like. Only used for vocals on one song. It is still set up but it became a storage space that needs to go. I have a ton of work to do ahead of me to get it sound proofed and ready for recording. Currently depending on what time of day I push the red button for vocals ( which isn't happening much) I get what I get. Sometimes a nice clean track, sometimes with a plane flying over or birds in the background.
 
Now the price of energy has sky rocketed in the uk. I’d wager there’s lots of people who have an old dissused grow tent in the loft that might double as a makeshift/portable collapsible booth. LOL.
 
mowtontom2 said:
Mine is far from airtight, I can be in it for hours with no ill effects.
cheers
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Then it isolates you from basically nothing. All outside noises will be picked up by your mic to a greater or lesser degree and may need to be processed out depending on what you record. Air gaps however small will let the outside noise get to your mic.

The main purpose of a sound booth is to isolate you from sound which you do not want to record. Treating sound when recording is entirely different and does not have to be done in a tiny box.
 
Ed Fones said:
Then it isolates you from basically nothing. All outside noises will be picked up by your mic to a greater or lesser degree and may need to be processed out depending on what you record. Air gaps however small will let the outside noise get to your mic.

The main purpose of a sound booth is to isolate you from sound which you do not want to record. Treating sound when recording is entirely different and does not have to be done in a tiny box.
Click to expand...
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!!!! Our resident audiologist....... take a hike pal, you don't know jack.
Cheers
 
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