soundbooth minus the booth?

[esteban!]

i came up with an unusual idea today of how to simulate a soundbooth without paying thousands of dollars (and without having any enclosed structure anyhow). hopefully you guys can just tell me that the idea just plain sucks, or that it might actually work.
i wanted to be able to have a "dead sound" (i guess is the term for removing all reverberation), similarly to a sound booth. i neither have the money or the room for the project, so i came up with this idea (hmm, i guess this is kind of repetitive):

take a 2' x 1' piece of yellow egg foam packaging material (don't know what else to call it). it's that yellow piece of thick foam that has the dimples in it. take that and wrap it into a cylinder. it should end up leaving about a 5 1/2" diameter hole in the middle. i was going to run a beta58a and prop it into the center of the structure (the boom would basically be the support for the entire thing). plug the end of one side of the cylinder with the same foam cylinder. on the other side, attach a pop filter. the vocalist would sing directly inside the structure where the pop filter is and hopefully it would record the desired "dead sound."

i'm not too sure about the sound deadening properties of the said yellow foam, but i would imagine it to be similar to the foam used in real studios, after crude analysis of pictures. so let me know if im just being entirely ridiculous or give me notions of encouragement to undergo this mission. thanks for any comments!

cheers

 

[mikeh]

I'm a fan of trying anything that may get the sound one is looking for - but I can't help but think you would get a sound so muffled and devoid of any harmonics that it would be of little use.

 

[TexRoadkill]

It will most likely sound wierd or interesting but not super clean. You would be better off putting the foam on panels and placing them about face height with the mic between them. Have the singer face the panels and most of the ambience will be cut down. You are better off using rigid fiberglass or a more dense material then packing foam so it absorbs more low mids.

 

[dwillis45]

My guess is that it would produce a sound similar to singing though a tube only slightly less pronounced. The foam will partially absorb some frequencies but not all and the limited space will mean that those frequencies that are not absorbed will bounce back to the mic quickly.

 

[Track Rat]

Hell, just step into a closet full of hanging coats. Or if you have two or three extra mic/boom stands, set it up like a "T" and hang blankets over them and arrange them around the singer. It's even adjustable.

 

[In Tune Audio]

What I ended up doing was going to the hardware store and buying a bunch of 2 x 2. Made wood frames with legs, and bought some acoustic foam and made three little walls.

The walls are 7 feet high and 4 feet wide. I make a little three room wall. It's not sound proof, but it kills most reflections and gives a very clean sound. Plus its bigger and more comfortable than a closet. The singer is not totally trap because there is no wall behind them. and when I'm not using the walls, I place them against the wall of the room, and there totally out of the way.

Maybe latter I'll put up a couple of pictures, and I can give you the design if you like the idea.

 

[esteban!]

thanks to everyone for the feedback, i've learned a lot.

in tune, i'd be interested in seeing the design, so i'll pm you later.

thanks again!

 

[distortedrumble]

Hell, just step into a closet full of hanging coats. Or if you have two or three extra mic/boom stands, set it up like a "T" and hang blankets over them and arrange them around the singer. It's even adjustable.

I'm too afraid to clean out my closet and try that...i have 100+lbs of stuff on the top rack and i just refuse to go in there....i'll need steel toed boots and a football helmet. the washer and dryer room of the house is effective.....and if you take towels that you have and hang them up everywhere you can in the bathroom....that can work too

 

[tanlith]

Why does everyone assume a vocal booth is going to cost a bazillion dollars?

Here's 2 quick and effective solutions:

1) If you have a closet: Buy a couple sheets of plywood and change the internal shape of the closet so that NONE of the walls are perpendicular. This shouldn't cost more than $50.00 Probably a lot less! -- then line the new inner walls with PROPER ACOUSTIC FOAM... NOT EGG CARTONS / NOT BUMPY FOAM... A C O U S T I C FOAM. It's only about $35.00 / sheet ... less if you buy it online... you should get all you need for about $150.00 -- you're done! Enjoy!

B) If you don't have a closet to work with, then build a framework with 2x4s and 1x2s to suit your current needs and line it the same way as above... be sure none of the walls are perpendicular. Shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks.

I built a V-Booth for a buddy for about $300.00 tha't solid as a rock. He can get inside and scream his brains out and we hardly hear a thing outside... and the vocals are solid on tape.

The way I look at it, your V-Booth is like any other piece of equipment in your studio... if you want it bad enough, you're gunna have to dig deep into your pockets to get it!

- Tanlith -

 

[TimOBrien]

A) Use a big walkin closet - DONT REMOVE THE CLOTHES - they will act as absorbers.

or

B) Screw 3 large hooks or eyebolts into the walls near a corner of the room. Run rope between them to make a triangle with enough room to stand inside it, then hang several layers of moving blankets from them. (whole thing should only run you about $30-50)


Big heavy moving blankets are your friends. If you have a Harbor Frieght store in your area, they're selling them for $6-8 right now.

 

[Gidge]

What I ended up doing was going to the hardware store and buying a bunch of 2 x 2. Made wood frames with legs, and bought some acoustic foam and made three little walls.

The walls are 7 feet high and 4 feet wide. I make a little three room wall. It's not sound proof, but it kills most reflections and gives a very clean sound. Plus its bigger and more comfortable than a closet. The singer is not totally trap because there is no wall behind them. and when I'm not using the walls, I place them against the wall of the room, and there totally out of the way.

Maybe latter I'll put up a couple of pictures, and I can give you the design if you like the idea.

I like that idea but im picturing a rack made of pvc with heavy blankets or moving blankets hung for the walls.....easily collapsable but effective.....Ive tried the closet and let me tell you a vocalist will not feel comfy in a closet.......no vibe......

heres a sad-ass idea of my pvc vision...imaging the packing blankets hung for walls.....

 

[Gidge]

this ones less crappy....i figure $10 or less of PVC......