vocal booth. try to understand

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lucasj94
  • Start date Start date
L

Lucasj94

New member
Ok so big Noob here. I'm looking to slowly build a mini studio at my house and I want to use the corner of my room for a booth more so because it would be fun to try to build.
I'm going to move the desk in the corner.. I want to get wood but im not sure which way to build it; a wooden wall coming out next to the window parallel to the wall on the right closing in the surfing poster on my wall or just coming from the same point but diagonally so it closes off the same location but in a triangle. not parallel. or just a squared in box enclosing the same area.
Then of course i would put foam all around. one more question would it matter if it was open exposing the top..like no roof. Or would you want the top enclose...thanks sorry if this is way confusing. Just trying to get an idea.... the attachment should be above
 
Hey, and welcome.

There are two big red flags here. Booth and foam.

Take a quick search on the site. They're probably the two most talked about topics on here. You'll find plenty of detailed info on both.

Also, there's a studio building and display forum.
A lot of people have posted diagrams and photos of their plans / setups.

You might see similar sized rooms and get some ideas from there.

Hope that helps.
 
Don't see any attachment.

Use sheetrock instead of wood- the greater density will block the transmission of sound better.

"Foam" is widely derided here; I have no real experience with it as a sound-proofing material, but I do know rock wool is probably going to be much better.

No roof??? If you do that, why bother building the booth?

And frankly, IMHO you should forget the whole "vocal booth" idea. Put instrumentalist, vocalist, and recording gear in the same room, which will be bigger. Have vocalist(s) lip-sync or sing VERY softly- just so that everyone can keep track of where they are in the song. Then over-dub vocals. It works, I've done it.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Hey, and welcome.

There are two big red flags here. Booth and foam.

Take a quick search on the site. They're probably the two most talked about topics on here. You'll find plenty of detailed info on both.

Also, there's a studio building and display forum.
A lot of people have posted diagrams and photos of their plans / setups.

You might see similar sized rooms and get some ideas from there.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Third red flag: Desk in corner bad.....
 
k cool thanks guys. yeah im aware of the foam thing. i've been reading. I just didn't want to call it bass trap or didn't know exactly what it was called so i figured foam would suffice but im aware to some extent of what not to use. Well I thought about no roof for some random for some reason....I've been to a professional side recording studio where the booth wasn't fully enclosed. I was wondering if that's for a reason or they dont know what their doing
 
They were possibly using what they had as a type of gobo.
 
Besides the foam and the desk in the corner, a booth in general has no good effect. When you read about vocal booths in professional studios, they're usually bigger than most people's entire recording area. Maybe the word "booth" makes people think that the size of a "Phone booth" is fine, but that's not the case.

If you're building one because, like you said, it would be cool to build, then that's totally cool. But you'd be better off not using it to record, and certainly not in the corner. The only thing you want in the corner of any room is a bass trap.
 
Well i was obviously going to take the desk out of the way ha. So what your saying is vocal booths arent worth it unless their huge?
 
Oh and in that case since a vocal booth doesnt seem like a good idea...How would i treat the room for good vocal sound and where would i wana place my mic( that I dont currently own, this is all inventory for my mind before i invest)
 
Where you put the mic depends upon the size and normal purpose of the room, and what you're recording, and how loud it is etc. If "my room" = pokey bedroom, then the best place for your mic is another room completely, assuming you have one available.

You may be getting just a bit ahead of yourself here...

What sort of stuff do you plan on recording?
 
Santa wont bring you a vocal booth. He doesn't believe in them either!



 
I'm just doing vocals for now. Haha yeah It was just an idea to do a little diy project maybe get a tiny bit better sound but it almost seems like it would be worst sound. so I'll just start saving for my own laptop( using my dads) mic and soundcard
 
RAMI said:
.....a booth in general has no good effect.
Click to expand...

Have to dissent on this. In the world of real professional studios, I would agree. But when the guy is building a "studio" in his home or basement, which is a deceptively oxymoronic concept to begin with, anything is better than just having a condensor mic in an open room in the house. A home made booth will create an isolated acoustical space around the mic element and will eliminate a lot of ambient noise floor that is inherent in what condensor mics pick up. A very loose analogy would say it's like the difference between the room noise you hear with your ears and the room noise you don't hear if you cover your ears. The booth is doing something similar for the mic. If you actually like hearing the sound of the empty room on your tracks, then skip the booth idea completely. You can hear the difference in headphones just by setting up a condensor in an open room and then moving it to the booth. In the open room you will hear - and record - the furnace or a/c running, the refridgerator running, the phone ringing, the sound of traffic outside getting in thru the windows, trucks driving by, kids playing, lawnmowers, toilets flushing, wind gusting against the house, rain hitting the roof, people walking across the floor above the mic, etc....
 
soundchaser59 said:
anything is better than just having a condensor mic in an open room in the house. A home made booth will create an isolated acoustical space around the mic element and will eliminate a lot of ambient noise floor that is inherent in what condensor mics pick up. A very loose analogy would say it's like the difference between the room noise you hear with your ears and the room noise you don't hear if you cover your ears. The booth is doing something similar for the mic. If you actually like hearing the sound of the empty room on your tracks, then skip the booth idea completely. You can hear the difference in headphones just by setting up a condensor in an open room and then moving it to the booth. In the open room you will hear - and record - the furnace or a/c running, the refridgerator running, the phone ringing, the sound of traffic outside getting in thru the windows, trucks driving by, kids playing, lawnmowers, toilets flushing, wind gusting against the house, rain hitting the roof, people walking across the floor above the mic, etc....
Click to expand...
I totally disagree with all this, but that's OK. A bigger room is always better than a smaller room. Singing in a box will souind like a box. Putting a box around you doesn't sound-proof anything. If you have "furnace" problems, you're better off turning off the furnace than anything else.

All of this is IMHO, YMMV,etc.....:cool:
 
Last edited:
Lucas,

I went through a phase where I wanted a vocal booth and tried many different methods. In the end I gave up. Having the walls so close made it quiet, sure, but it caused other problems with room sound. It was also bulky and got hot when you stayed in there too long. Plus there wree the logistics of trying to stop and start the recordings, etc. running back and forth. And you can't really have the computer in the booth because that causes noise and would defeat the purpose.

When I gave up and just started recording my vocals in the middle of the room, things got much easier on all fronts except maybe the echo bouncing off the walls, which really wasn't that much of a problem. I solved it by getting a Reflexion Filter by sE Electronics. It fits on a mic stand and acts as a sort of portable vocal booth.

Hope that helps.

Ken
 
If you could visit my basement for an hour, then my post would make perfect sense. My basement is about as adverse to good vocal recording as a guy can get, without setting up next to a busy highway or something. I agree with you Rami in principle, of course you are quite right. I'm just responding with regard to how a booth has helped me circumvent my own issues. As the environmental issues increase, at some point the home made booth will be the lesser of the two evils. That's what it is for me. If I had a finished basement in a house out in the country that was newer than 1908, without the constant ambient noise crap going on, I'm sure I'd quit using my little booth trick.
 
soundchaser59 said:
Have to dissent on this. In the world of real professional studios, I would agree. But when the guy is building a "studio" in his home or basement, which is a deceptively oxymoronic concept to begin with, anything is better than just having a condensor mic in an open room in the house. A home made booth will create an isolated acoustical space around the mic element and will eliminate a lot of ambient noise floor that is inherent in what condensor mics pick up. A very loose analogy would say it's like the difference between the room noise you hear with your ears and the room noise you don't hear if you cover your ears. The booth is doing something similar for the mic. If you actually like hearing the sound of the empty room on your tracks, then skip the booth idea completely. You can hear the difference in headphones just by setting up a condensor in an open room and then moving it to the booth. In the open room you will hear - and record - the furnace or a/c running, the refridgerator running, the phone ringing, the sound of traffic outside getting in thru the windows, trucks driving by, kids playing, lawnmowers, toilets flushing, wind gusting against the house, rain hitting the roof, people walking across the floor above the mic, etc....
Click to expand...

You know, you put forth a pretty good argument. Insofar as what you speak of, I have to say there may be something, there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top