Help With building a Temporary (SMALL) vocal booth...please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ill Wayz
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Ill Wayz

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Hi, obviously I am new here, not to recording. I have had a handful of different booths that I have constructed myself using acoustic foam squares. Since I have moved into my apartment I have just been going to the studio to record but I dont like the cost or the venturing out. I want to build a temporary booth and the bad part is I have VERY little space to do it. Before I begin giving details know I am not looking for isolation, I have tried recording here a few times and stop because the "slapback" or natural echo/ reverb of the room is far too much. The one idea I have seen on this site that I thought to be a good one was the PVC pipe frame with moving blankets to surround it. The size I have to work with is about 42" wide, 42" long and 80" in height. Very small but its just for vocals so I KNOW its big enough to do vocals in (I've had a small booth before) The other method I have seen which interests me is seen in the picture below, I'm only hesitant with that because I dont know what type of material it is and don't know what the expense would be and I am trying to keep this affordable. Any and all suggestions would be more than appreciated, I've been here only a few days and noticed how helpful and kind you all can be. So again, any suggestions or comments on my current ideas are welcome. Thank you to everyone in advance.

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Also, to add a few more points- The picture is of a producer onlines booth unfortunately the material was given to him so he is not sure of the material used. I cannot have anything nailed or "stuck" to the walls being that is in an apartment. Lastly, my closet is also not an option to use, full of clothes.
 
That looks like cubicle walls put together for a booth. I bet it's not that great. You should look into acoustically treating your whole room before you build a booth. (I'm not talking about making it DEAD, just tamed. Maybe you can kill two birds with one stone. By treating the entire room, you will help the tracking AND the mixing when that time comes.

As you said you can't nail or stick anything to the walls. If you can hang pictures, you can apply treatment to your room without doing anything permanent. You can build your own absorption panels or buy them from companies that make them. Then all there is to do is hang them on the walls like pictures wherever the reflections are hitting. If you hang them and the reverb is still out of your control, add more panels.
 
See I would do what you suggested but its mine and my girls place. It's our bedroom and I really don't want the walls covered in acoustic treating, I'd rather have a booth in the corner. Both may be "eye sores" to some but I'd rather have the booth than the treating.
 
A DIY broadband panel absorber hardly needs to be an eyesore. let your girlfriend pick out the fabric covering (anything with a loose enough weave that you can blow easily through is OK) and she will not mind it at all.
 
Yeah, treatment can look quite cool! Plus you'll appreciate the additional floor space. I know my wife would fuss more for any size booth in our room than some nice looking absorbers all around. As Innovations said, let her help and she can pick the decorative aspect of it.

But if you absolutely have to have a booth (and it can't be permanent) all you can do is start by building a small stage floor out of 2x4's then make some frame walls on the floor and tip them up into place and nail them down and brace them until all the sides are up and fastened together. Cut some plywood to cover the top and screw it on from the bottom up. Then put insulation in the stud cavities, then screw on some plywood inside and out leaving a doorway for you to come and go. And make a hole in teh booth somewhere for fresh air to come in. cover the entire inside with your choice of aurelex foam or fabric covered rigid fiberglass. For a door way, you can just put a sheet of plywood on hinges and cover it with the same as the interior walls and make some kind of latch for it so it'll stay closed. It won't give you any isolation but it'll kill some echo.

If you don't like the idea of wood (or the original suggestion of treating the whole room) then find diffusion's thread on his pvc/blanket booth and see if you can live with that major eye sore. :D
 
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