Cheapest way to build vocal booth.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Diffusion
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Diffusion

Future Astrophysicist
Ok, i want to attempt to build a portable vocal booth as cheap as i possibly can... isolation isnt really a big deal, i just want to escape the echoes in my room... im thinking i should build a frame of PVC pipe, 4'x4'x7', then hang fabric from the frame... my first question is which fabric should i use?

this:
http://www.markertek.com/Product.as...ubcat=&prodClass=ACBLANKET&mfg=&search=0&off=

or this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores

my second question is would it be more efficient just to buy a bunch of these and just hang them up all around my room? that way it would also be somewhat treated for mixing right? my room is almost a perfect cube, about 11'x9'x9'...

EDIT:
just found this stuff on ebay after reading on another forum that they are cheap and somewhat effective for reflections when placed all around the room... they do nothing for bass, which is ok as ill just place some bass traps around... any comments on this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Assorted-Mo...5647380224QQcategoryZ1290QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
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I did exactly what you're talking about... Build a frame from PVC... I used the heaviest moving blankets I could find, I bought them at a moving blanket factory close Atlanta, GA...can't remember the name of it right now... The moving blankets I bought look very similar to the ones on the Markertek site. The place I bought mine at required me to buy a 'bundle' of the blankets as a minimum order... I believe there were 20 blankets in a bundle and I got them for around $100 USD.

I use spring clamps that I bought at The Home-Depot to hold the blankets to the PVC. I configured my PVC so that the weight of the blankets (they're not light) would hold the PVC structure tightly together. Since I had so many blankets, I doubled up on all of the sides of the PVC frame...

I don't have any pictures right now, but I'll try to take some tonight and post them tomorrow for you to see.
 
The cheapest way to get a fairly dry vox signal is to open up all the closets in the bedroom and put the mic stand up against the clothes, and then sing toward the clothes. The clothes absorb a big chunk, and the little that gets out into the room is absorbed by the bed and other closets, so the echo is minimal.

Also, see www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html and www.realtraps.com
 
thanks for the help... zetajazz how does your booth perform? does it significantly reduce the echoes? also, where did you purchase the blankets as i live just 2 hours south of Atlanta... could you please post some pics so i can see your booth... thanks...
 
Diffusion,

My booth performs well..at least for me... There are no echos. I record primarily acoustic/bluegrass music and it works well for me... Besides that, it's portable too!

More of a reason I wanted it/use it for was to reduce outside noises from my tracks... The studio is not very well insulated and is fairly close to a road with minimal traffic... But ever once in a while when I was recording, a vehicle would pass and it's noise would end up on my track... With the booth I built, it isolates very well from outside noise as well...

I will drive to the studio tonight and take some pics for you... In the meantime, I'll try to find the guys I bought the moving blankets from close to Atlanta... They sent a 'sale flyer' to me last week, but I've since thrown it in the trash... :confused:

-----------------------------------------------------------
After posting originally, I found the info of the moving blanket source I used:

Moving Equipment of Atlanta
5405 Buford Hwy # 360
Norcross, GA 30071
(770) 416-1800

http://www.sandhillquilting.com/VanPads.html

After clicking on the link, there are 4 grades of blankets available. The one I use is: #101 Carolina Supreme.

Looks like their prices have went up slightly as well... I remember paying only about $100 USD when I bought mine about 2 years ago... The less costly blankets may work too, I just wanted the heavy ones and went with this grade...
 
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Diffusion said:
ok thanks a lot... do you think something like this will work?

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Assorted-Mo...5647380224QQcategoryZ1290QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or should i just pay the extra and go with what you bought?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if those would work well or not... What scares me in the auction listing is they say they can be used as a mattress pad... All of the mattress pads I've ever seen are very light... Before I bought the blankets, I asked several people but never did get a difinative answer on what weight blanket would work best... This is why I just bought the heavy ones to be sure they were thick enough... When I went to pick them up, they were 'in a bundle' strapped togehter. I backed up to the loading dock and it took 2 guys to roll the bundle off in the bed of my truck...

I really don't think the lighter ones would work very well...Just my opinion. You could of course buy 'double', and and use twice or three times as many of the lighter ones, but then, you'd be back up to the cost of the single heavy blankets... :confused: Also, if you have the ability to drive there and pick them up you can save on shipping... I live about 3 hours north of Atlanta and was there working and picked them up at the end of my work week and drove them back home, so it worked out good for me...

I'll also take some pics tonight of the blankets I have so you can see how heavy they are and how they're made... Maybe that will aid in your decision of which to buy...

Before I bought these particular blankets, I borrowed some "comforters" from my mom to try them to see how they would work... They worked so-so... The moving blankets work much, much better. I doubt to, that these blankets in the auction are as heavy as some of the "comforters" I tried so probably wouldn't work too well...
 
As promised, I went to the studio (currently being dismantled) and took these pics. I tried to put captions on them to better explain.

The booth may be a bit over-engineered, as I've been acused of, but I hate things that are flimsy so I made it very sturdy... I believe I ended up with about $160.00 total in it with the spring clamps and PVC... Took me about 2-3 hours to build.
 

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More pics of vocal booth...
 

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wow... nice booth... thats exactly what im trying to achieve, just a bit smaller... how many blankets did you use altogether? Im trying to figure out just how many i will need for a 4'x4'x7' booth... I found these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-moving-pads...574511673QQcategoryZ43014QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They weigh about 6.3lbs each, and i can get 4 blankets for $70... its cheaper i know just to buy the dozen but i just dont want to pay for blankets i wont use... what do you think? how many will i need?
 
After looking at this auction listing, I'd say that these blankets would do... They look very similar to the ones I'm using...and they sound heavy too... I'm not sure what mine weighs, but I'd say the 5-6 pound range for each...

I can't remember the dimensions of my booth... I should have measured it... I have to take it apart in a few days and I plan on measuring it and putting together a set of plans and upload them here or on my site for people to download if they'd like.

The reason I made mine as wide as I did, was that I record acoustic guitar it it as well... When a person sits in a chair, with guitar and a mic stand or two, it gets crowded really quickly. I wanted to give the acoustic guitar player a little more room... I think mine came out being about 7' 4" tall and about 6' 4" square... I think my thoughts were to have it 6' X 6' X 7', but I didn't take into consideration the 2" PVC and that added the extra 4" to it's dimensions...

I like it... Works for what I need it for...

The building I'm in now is only 1 large room, 25' X 25'... No partitions... It too, was a temporary location and I didn't want to spend the cash to build partitions, thus came this booth... I'm planning to build a new 4 room studio in the next year or so... Maybe then I won't have these problems... :)

As to how many you'll need... Well, you'll need at least one blanket for each side (4). You'll need at least one for the top, if you want to put one on the top, some people don't... So you'll need at least 4 without a top and 5 if you want a top... Also, I think I'd wait till I actually received the blankets before I built the frame... This way you could build the frame to accomodate the sizes of the blankets...
 
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Mass = Isolation

Absorbency = Reverb Control.

So these moving blankets have the supposed advantage of being massive. But you say that you aren't interested in isolation.

Most moving blankets have a hard stain-resistant surface to them and the sound bounces off of them easily.

Fabric-wrap some 703 panels and hang them around where you are recording, with particular attention to behind the mic and behind you. Or just treat the whole room. Once you buy a bale of 703 you have enough to put enough broadband traps to tame most rooms.
 
zettajazz... just a quick question for you... when you record in your booth do the vocals sound at all muffled? What about in a 4x4x7 booth?
 
Diffusion said:
zettajazz... just a quick question for you... when you record in your booth do the vocals sound at all muffled? What about in a 4x4x7 booth?
Click to expand...

I don't think my vocals sound muffled... I only record my band, so I only have samples of us that I can post for you that were recorded in this booth... This is only a sample, please folks don't flame me for posting a sample and not the full length song, this is all I have on this machine at the time... At any rate, this should give you an idea if the vocals sound muffled or not, they don't to me, and the guy doing the vocals didn't think so... So have a listen...

Click Here for Vocal Sample
 
no it doesnt sound muffled... what mic/preamp are you using?
 
Diffusion said:
no it doesnt sound muffled... what mic/preamp are you using?
Click to expand...

These vocals were recorded using a Presonus MP20 that I modded with Burr Brown OpAmps and Jensen transformers coming from a Rode K2 mic and an RNC compressor.
 
ok thanks man... just to let you know i ordered some 7 pound each moving blankets a couple of days ago... im picking up some PVC pipes at lowes in a few days... half a dozen for $67... ill let you know how it goes...
 
by the way, i meant $67 for half a dozen blankets...

well, i finally finished the booth.. and i just wanted to thank zettajazz for his help with this... i think i have finally found the most cost efficient way to build a vocal booth... my booth is 4'x4'x7', and i did mine exactly the same way as zetta... built a frame using pvc pipes and hung 7lb each moving blankets all around the booth... they are held in place using strong clamps... the blankets work great for killing reflections on vocals, and they are even heavy enough to provide a little isolation (not much, but they do reduce the volume a lot)... my advice to anyone wanting a booth is to build this, however, i would try to figure a better way to hang the blankets.. also, make sure you get strong pipes, as the weight of the blankets tend to make the frame lean to one side and bend a VERY little.. also, make sure you find a way to let light into the booth, like a lamp for example, as i found it difficult to read my lyrics in the dark :)

overall, this booth cost me just over $100, and was worth every penny... ;)
 
pvc pipe

Thanks for the info on this great design. Where did you get all your PVC PIPES and connectors from? I'm in the UK and here, I can't find anything like it.
 
matt9b said:
Thanks for the info on this great design. Where did you get all your PVC PIPES and connectors from? I'm in the UK and here, I can't find anything like it.
Click to expand...

very welcome... i got my PVC pipes and connectors from my local lowes store... you should be able to find them in just about any hardware store... they are not hard to find at all..
 
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