Vocal booths - the cheap option

tigerflystudio

tigerflystudio

New member
Hi folks,

Ok, I'm about to start recording vocals for my own home-recorded country / folk / rock album. So far I've managed to get great sounding recordings on a very low (almost non-existent) shoe-string budget.

Now I thought it'd be a great to consult you guys and see what ingenious ideas you can come up with for making my own vocal booth. Again, on a super-low-budget.

So, what options we got? What clever (or not so clever!) techniques have you used so far?

Best I've heard to date (that's in my price range) is to hang 1 large duvet (from hooks in the ceiling) in front of the mic, and another duvet behind (i.e. behind the singer (me!)). That work? Bare floor or rug / carpet covered any better?

All ideas / suggestions welcome. Be interesting to see what options we 'low-enders' can come up with.
 
tigerflystudio said:
Hi folks,

Ok, I'm about to start recording vocals for my own home-recorded country / folk / rock album. So far I've managed to get great sounding recordings on a very low (almost non-existent) shoe-string budget.

Now I thought it'd be a great to consult you guys and see what ingenious ideas you can come up with for making my own vocal booth. Again, on a super-low-budget.

So, what options we got? What clever (or not so clever!) techniques have you used so far?

Best I've heard to date (that's in my price range) is to hang 1 large duvet (from hooks in the ceiling) in front of the mic, and another duvet behind (i.e. behind the singer (me!)). That work? Bare floor or rug / carpet covered any better?

All ideas / suggestions welcome. Be interesting to see what options we 'low-enders' can come up with.
Click to expand...

Is this going to be a full band live recording or track by track?
 
ah, but the room I'm using has wooden floors and is a slightly odd 'L' shape. Woudl I not be bestter off using the old duvet-drapes to help deaden the sound?
 
I haven't used a vocal booth since about 1980.

When people get into recording, a big part of it is "playing recording studio", and people have seen vocal booths on MTV and think they need one.

To me it's an old concept that you don't need. Just record them in the room and if your common sense tells you to do something like hang an absorbent material, do it, but I don't think you need the isolation that you might think.

Just my opinion, do what your gut tells you! :)
 
If you're recording in a bad acoustic space with a condenser mic, it may very well help to use an isolation booth. If you're recording in a decent space, you probably don't need one.

If you decide that you do need/want one, a cheap and easy option is to build a frame using PVC pipes and fittings, and then simply drape moving blankets over the pipes and secure them with spring clamps.
 
dintymoore said:
I haven't used a vocal booth since about 1980.
Click to expand...

You almost have me beat! :D
I haven't used one since the late-70s!

Even those times when I've recorded more than one person playing or even a full band...
...we would let the singer sing along, maybe from another room, just so the other players had the cues...
...then the lead vocals would get re-tracks solo, in the same room where everyone else tracked.

And for doing the "solo artist" stuff...a vocal booth is absolutely not needed if your room is set up well enough for all your other tracking needs.
At most, get one of the portable vocal "booths"...like this one:
http://www.realtraps.com/p_pvb.htm
...or you can hang up a blanked and drop a rug on the floor if you want to take out some early reflections.
Cheap and effective…just not as slick as the portable “booths” with the stand and all.

Vocal booths might be necessary if you have serious external noise issues outside of your studio...but that noise would affect your other tracks too…right?
Otherwise, a small, DEAD booth doesn't do anything to *improve* your vocal sound (maybe for voiceovers/narration only).
I think if you track them in a bigger room with a bit of life to it, they actually sound better/real. :)
Just pay attention to the primary reflections...drapes can take care of them too.
 
Ok. What I'm gettting from you guys, then, is that there is no need for a vocal booth?

I have only ever recorded vocals in a very small room (not much bigger than a walk-in closet!) which I thought of as 'my' vocal booth. But now my home studio is situated in a much larger room, with wooden floors, I was under the impression that I'd need to build / make something to deaden the early reflections, and maybe cut out any excessive bass. But is this NOT the case?

I use a Rode NT2 condenser mic with a decent preamp, straight to digital multitrack. The sound is usually so clean and clear I can hear the air moving in and out of my lungs as I breathe, so I'm keen on getting the best 'room sound' possible. I know the sound in there at the moment is not particularly good.
 
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moresound said:
I was conceived in a vocal booth!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
I never knew that the back seat of a Rambler was called a "vocal booth" :confused:

;) :D

Back to the other topic, though, sometimes all you need is to set up with a cardioid microphone in front of the open door of a full clothes closet (to record vocals, that is, not to conceive...that you do inside a coat room). It's not totally dead or isolated, but usually totally dead and isolated sounds like crap.

G.
 
Well this is all very encouraging. I really did think I was going to have to build some kind of vocal booth. But if you (vastly more experienced guys) are saying don't bother, then who am I to argue? It'll save me time - time I can spend in front of the mic, rather than doing hours of praparatory work that turns out to be pointless! So thanks again.

I wonder why there's so much crap on the internet about DIY vocal booths for home-recordists like us? Just another status / fashion statment, huh? i was buying right into it until I consulted you fella's.
 
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