Need Home vocal booth advice.

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pitts2k

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Hello good folk. I am a Voice Over artist. Shortly before Hurricane Sandy I posted on this forum seeking advice on a home vocal booth setup. Those who responded gave me the excellent advice of pointing me to Owens Corning 703, bass traps etc. I live in New York and my home was affected by the Hurricane so its taken a while for me to tell you how things are going. Attached is a read that I did in 4 different locations in my newly treated vocal booth. They are 4 quick reads edited back-to-back. I have some owens corning 703 and some auralex left over. Please listen to the file and tell me which of the 4 sounds the best or if you think the sound is good or if you think I can use even more oc 703 or auralex or if you think it doesnt sound good at all!! Thanks in advance.
 

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pitts2k said:
Hello good folk. I am a Voice Over artist. Shortly before Hurricane Sandy I posted on this forum seeking advice on a home vocal booth setup. Those who responded gave me the excellent advice of pointing me to Owens Corning 703, bass traps etc. I live in New York and my home was affected by the Hurricane so its taken a while for me to tell you how things are going. Attached is a read that I did in 4 different locations in my newly treated vocal booth. They are 4 quick reads edited back-to-back. I have some owens corning 703 and some auralex left over. Please listen to the file and tell me which of the 4 sounds the best or if you think the sound is good or if you think I can use even more oc 703 or auralex or if you think it doesnt sound good at all!! Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I liked #4 the best though all had a aspect that I would object to as a director where your delivery seemed stilted, nothing that couldn't be addressed and nothing having to do with your sound booth. Mind you I was listening on a pair of shi... ah... inadequate little speakers.

I see from a prior post that you're using an Audio-Technica 4040 large condenser. Curious as to what you think of it, and what preamp-A/D/A interface you're using.

My v.o. setup consists of a Sennheiser MK4 large condenser, and a Shure SM7B dynamic into a Sound Devices USBPre 2 but I just moved into a new home and don't have a vocal booth working yet.

Luck.
 
Hi Wheelma - thanks for responding. I am sorry, I should have mentioned that I was concerned only with the quality of the sound and I wasnt taking the script seriously as you might be able to tell with my "because we love you" line. As for the AT4040 mic - I have compared it to raw vocals I recorded with a neumann u87 and my voice sounds pretty close to that. There is obviously a difference between a 3 thousand dollar mic and one that cost 3 hundred but I am happy with how close the at4040 captures my actual voice. I dont have anything in my record chain other than mic, mbox2 and laptop with protools. I was actually going to look into the what and why of a preamp pretty soon. Can you shed some light as to what advantages a preamp offers for raw VO?
 
pitts2k said:
Hi Wheelma - thanks for responding. I am sorry, I should have mentioned that I was concerned only with the quality of the sound and I wasnt taking the script seriously as you might be able to tell with my "because we love you" line. As for the AT4040 mic - I have compared it to raw vocals I recorded with a neumann u87 and my voice sounds pretty close to that. There is obviously a difference between a 3 thousand dollar mic and one that cost 3 hundred but I am happy with how close the at4040 captures my actual voice. I dont have anything in my record chain other than mic, mbox2 and laptop with protools. I was actually going to look into the what and why of a preamp pretty soon. Can you shed some light as to what advantages a preamp offers for raw VO?
Click to expand...

Personally I'm of the opinion that there are SO MANY more important attributes that contribute to audio that anything more then a single solid preamp falls somewhere towards the end in terms of importance. First and foremost I'm for a quiet environment, secondly for a solid accurate monitor... I don't suffer a need for a stereo pair as I record a single mono source. Third up for me are the microphones, as in several. Using different mics... I'm looking to score a Sanken CS-3E short shotgun next year... provides dramatically different sounds. Then the preamp, followed immediately by the A/D/A converters. I ponied up for a Sound Devices USBPre 2 and while it's an extremely solid choice and came highly recommended I don't think that it brings all that much of an audible benefit unless the other factors are addressed. Lots of good choices out there when it comes to preamps, you don't need (IMO) to have a variety unless you're a little bit of a gear freak. If you're going to be doing remote direction you'll need a telephone interface along the lines of a Circuitwerkes Mictel, and last but not least a decent pair of headphones, and a FM transmitter if you want to hear what you sound like over the radio.

I'm trying to focus on v.o. for games as I have a boatload of female voices (daughters) available for audition in addition to my own voice.

Luck.
 
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