Home Recording Booth... Sound??

[ThunderDan]

I have a homemade recording booth. its only for recording vocals and nothing more. Its .... 3ft 10 3/4 in w x 10ft 11in l x 7ft 6in h but take note that its under stairs so it decreases in size in the back. Also the doors are both sliding doors. Im lookin to get better quality sound. Of course #1 on the list is studio foam but im saving to get other things first. In the mean time what would be the best possible inexpensive thing to use? I heard of things such as blankets and egg cartons, but I want to hear opinions of what I can use for the mean time. Please Respond Thank You.
[picture too big 2 post, if necessary and better answer i will send it to you.. AIM:StreetRdn]

 

[frederic]

Heavy wool blankets are worthwhile experimenting with, and you can get inexpensive wool blankets at an army surplus store, and sometimes the salvation army stores they have scattered around.

The folding doors are going to leak audio in and out badly, but you can replace them if you want with a regular door and make sure the inner-frame moulding as gasket material on it so you get somewhat of a seal.

Also, if the stairs are old, I'd also shim them from underneath so they don't squeek at all, then push silicone in the seams front and back. That will give you a little more of a seal than you have now, but it will significantly reduce the chance of the loose wooden stairs vibrating during a recording session. You only need 1/64" of gap on stairs for them to resonate at certain frequencies... shimming and chaulking is worth the effort, and its inexpensive to do. A bag of shims is about $5 and chaulk/silicone is about 7 bucks, and the chaulk gun you need for either is about $5 or thereabouts.

If you go the blanket route, I had good luck overlapping them by a third...