Makeshift Vocal Booth

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fetuslasvegas

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So, my studio is too small to build a vocal booth in, and unfortunately, the huge closet in the room is actually used as a closet so I can't build a booth in there either... Does anyone have any tricks to set up a makeshift vocal booth? I've been leaning a pillow up against the wall on a table and setting up my mic in front of it. Is this the best I can do, or is someone on here having the same predicament as me and come up with some awesome work around??

Thanks!!
 
Buy some PVC pipe and various joint pieces at your local DIY or hardware and build yourself a couple of self-standing frames, each with a 90 degree corner. Leave the corner bits glue free so you can take them apart and store under a bed.

Using big spring clamps, hang movers blankets or quilts from the frames. Put one frame behind you and experiment with the position of the other, controlling how much "room" vs. "dead" you get.

Works a treat.

(I've moved on from the above--I found a couple of second hand oriental wooden tri-fold screens; the kind with fancy scroll work cut outs, which I now use to hang the quilts. Believe it or not, I can vary the acoustic by deciding whether to put the soft stuff in front of or behind the scroll work.)
 
Wow!!! What a great idea!! Unfortunately, I may not even have the room for that... I'll take some measurements and see what I can figure out. Anyone else have any workarounds they use?
 
fetuslasvegas said:
Wow!!! What a great idea!! Unfortunately, I may not even have the room for that... I'll take some measurements and see what I can figure out. Anyone else have any workarounds they use?
Click to expand...

Sorry to say, but if the room is too small for this you already are in a vocal booth. Building a smaller space won't achieve anything but muddy recordings. Why are you wanting a vocal booth?

Alan.
 
As Witzendoz says, your goal isn't to build a fully enclosed space, just control the room reflections floating around. Less is more and the ability to size/move the acoustic screens gives a fair bit of control.
 
I did exactly what bobbsy recommended and it worked frickin wonderfully! Recorded in a full wooden livingroom (walls, floor, ceiling, all wood and reflective as an SOB!) and you could never tell. It sounded nearly as good as a real treated booth I had the chance to use in another session.
I put a bed mattress on the wall behind the singer to stop those reflections, and a blanket overhead as well to stop those..
The whole set up only cost me $30 at the home depot.
 
I'm sure Bobbsy's advice is sound if you're in a big, or at least decent, sized room. For your situation, I'm betting it would make it even worse. Like Witzendoz says, you're already in a room that's smaller than a vocal booth, and it'ss probably too small to get a good vocal recordings (or any recordings) in. Making it even smaller won't help.
 
It would be useful to know just how big (and what shape) the OP's room is. He made mention of a large closet feeding off the room so I assumed it was normal bedroom size at least--but am doubting this from later mentions of how limited the space is.
 
Yes, knowing the size would help. Since he said there's no room even for your PVC idea, I get the impression it's tiny.
 
Ok, here goes:

Room dimensions: ~14'w x ~8'd x 9't (width x depth x tall)

My control desk is 5'6"w x 2'9"d
I have another work station that is 8'w x 2'7"d
There is also a dresser that takes up about 3sqft of floor space and other random equipment taking up about 7sqft of floor space.

Considering the smallest control room I've had was at least twice this size, with a walk in closet (vocal booth) I'm worried about something large being feasible... Also, what are the dimensions of the frames you built, do you have any photos?
 
I built 2 rectangle frames. Probably something like 7.5' tall x 5.5' wide.
 
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