Feedback for Editing Voice Over?

That "foam" isn't doing you any favors. It's literally absorbing what your recordings are lacking ("air") and leaving the boxiness (which all makes sense now because of the proximity to the wall). I revert to my previous statement -- Lose the drywall, fill with the heaviest weight (or rigid) fiberglass* or rockwool you can, staple thin nylon screen taught to the studs, staple some sort of tight weave cloth over that, and get some nice cedar 1x0.25 furring** strips to make it pretty. In a walk-in, you have at least some space to absorbent mass. In that space, you literally don't have enough space for the amount of mass you need. Doing that floor-to-ceiling would be best, but if that's an issue, leave the top and bottom foot as drywall (but try to stuff the studs).

* I've used rigid fiberglass ceiling tiles in some cases for smaller spaces - It's typically foil on one side, but that's not a big deal in this case (as long as you don't have the foil side out on the final layer). It's nice because it holds its shape and it doesn't shed much. The downside is that per cubic foot, it's more expensive. The upside though - It's more mass per area as it's somewhat compressed. Blah, blah, blah, rigid fiber will do you better than squishy stuff. But you're not worrying about a lot of bottom end here, so at least "heavy" stuff (again, Roxul Safe and Sound or something in that vein) will certainly be a gigantic improvement in what you've got going on now.

**Fur-ring in this case. But "for" is still "four" not "fir" -- Sorry. To me, that's still the really important part.

[EDIT] Dammit. I just read back a bit and saw the word "apartment" in there. Okay, scratch all that. (Dammit)

3" Auralex (NOT CHEAP CRAPPY FOAM which is worthless - Auralex is already cheap for what it is - the junk from the local "Foam Center" is - well, it's junk). You can get 64 sq. feet of 3" Studiofoam for a little over $400. You can attach it to drywall using T-pins (fast, effective, easy patch if you decide to leave the place). If anything is going to turn a closet into at least something reasonable and be temporary *and* cost-effective, this is where I'd put my $$$.

Actually, I'd probably still cut the drywall but I'd be really careful about it so I could reuse the pieces that get cut out when I patch it and the end of the lease.

[EDIT AGAIN] Another option, possibly less expensive but definitely more work, would be to make (or have someone make) cloth "bags" for rigid fiber tiles. Again, more mass than the foam. I'm not sure how large that space is - But lets say it's 4' x something. You could get some pretty heavy duty "screen" (tight chicken wire) and make a piece that's - whatever, 4'x6' for a side wall -- Poke through the panels (3 or 4 thick - something over 2") with an awl or something, follow it up with a cable tie, strap it to the screen. Leave a few inches at the top to hang it from the wall. Wrap the whole thing is relatively dense cloth (some nice cotton duck - something to keep the fibers inside). Make one for each wall and get a single sheet of Auralex or something for the ceiling.
 
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Massive Master said:
That "foam" isn't doing you any favors. It's literally absorbing what your recordings are lacking ("air") and leaving the boxiness (which all makes sense now because of the proximity to the wall). I revert to my previous statement -- Lose the drywall, fill with the heaviest weight (or rigid) fiberglass* or rockwool you can, staple thin nylon screen taught to the studs, staple some sort of tight weave cloth over that, and get some nice cedar 1x0.25 furring** strips to make it pretty. In a walk-in, you have at least some space to absorbent mass. In that space, you literally don't have enough space for the amount of mass you need. Doing that floor-to-ceiling would be best, but if that's an issue, leave the top and bottom foot as drywall (but try to stuff the studs).

* I've used rigid fiberglass ceiling tiles in some cases for smaller spaces - It's typically foil on one side, but that's not a big deal in this case (as long as you don't have the foil side out on the final layer). It's nice because it holds its shape and it doesn't shed much. The downside is that per cubic foot, it's more expensive. The upside though - It's more mass per area as it's somewhat compressed. Blah, blah, blah, rigid fiber will do you better than squishy stuff. But you're not worrying about a lot of bottom end here, so at least "heavy" stuff (again, Roxul Safe and Sound or something in that vein) will certainly be a gigantic improvement in what you've got going on now.

**Fur-ring in this case. But "for" is still "four" not "fir" -- Sorry. To me, that's still the really important part.
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Haha this is an apartment I don’t think they’d like that
 
I'll go back to my comment about taking half your $1k budget and buying real treatment - maybe a couple "gobos" in a V in front and panels behind you. You'd still have enough for the RE20 (still not my 1st thought), or a very good LDC. And, don't forget to get a pop filter!
 
What about an igloo made out of foam blocks ? Build a fort out of sponges in the living room? Do voice overs inside.

HowToBuildAnIgloo06.jpg
 
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keith.rogers said:
I'll go back to my comment about taking half your $1k budget and buying real treatment - maybe a couple "gobos" in a V in front and panels behind you. You'd still have enough for the RE20 (still not my 1st thought), or a very good LDC. And, don't forget to get a pop filter!
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Thanks for all your feedback :) what’s a gobo? Can you post a link?

Also, I’m not 100% sure what the goal of your suggested treatments is. Sound dampening? Sound proofing?
 
When you speak, your voice will have a tendency to travel around a room and bounce off walls and other surfaces and may cause an 'echo' that the mic can pickup. It will have a short delay getting back to the mic and when recorded it adds an artifact of audio that isn't desirable. The goal of the treatment is eliminate or reduce the echos that are reflected off walls and other surfaces. The idea of the 'gobo' is to prevent your voice from reaching a wall where it could bounce and return to the mic as a short echo. Gobo's tend to absorb sound waves also and will not contribute to creating an echo. So probably 'sound dampening' is a good description.
Padded blankets or a quilt hung in front and behind you could be used as Gobo's.
 
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Basilosauridae said:
Thanks for all your feedback :) what’s a gobo? Can you post a link?

Also, I’m not 100% sure what the goal of your suggested treatments is. Sound dampening? Sound proofing?
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"Gobos" https://www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/free-standing-products/

"Treatments" are as @arcaxis describes - done to stop reflections in the space.

Sound proofing is something that keeps external sounds from entering and/or sounds inside the recording space from escaping. It's not really possible in any simple sense, but you can make noticeable differences by sealing openings like doors and windows. I have foam all around the entry door in my small room, and have a rolled up small blanket I can use at the base opening if I really need it. (A door sweep or similar can help.) The blocking drapes over the sole window work both as dampening and a bit of "proofing" though I'd need to add a sealed piece of thick plexiglas to do enough to keep the neighbor's lawn equipment from intruding. Even that wouldn't be enough to stop the small, local airport takeoffs/landings from entering the house, though, so I just don't try to record on weekends when the hobby pilots are bussiest.
 
In the US gobo’s are sound control dividers that go between areas or people. Offices use similar ones in open plan spaces. Freestanding usually and single or double sided. Some might be clever designs with membrane absorber in the middle with foam for Hf control on one side and different foam for different effect on the other. We have them in the UK of course but the term is less used because gobo is already in use by the lighting people who have used them for 80 years plus to project patterns from lighting with PC lenses. The internet and imported teachers means our graduate sound people have started using the US team here with occasional funny results. One US act at the theatre I ran arrived and asked for gobos between the musicians for isolation. Trouble was the tech he asked was LX, so as they already had to rig a white face light for each one, they ended up with flower breakups in between them all, and it looked like they were playing in a forest. Their tour manager went ballistic, but he got what he asked for, and he got his plexiglass screens and the lighting was used too. Ps he actually got perspex, as we don’t have plexiglass either!
 
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