Vocal Booth-esque design question

[Anchorage42]

So after trying to make my walk in closet not sound like a closet by throwing a ton of stuff in there, I realized it would never work (thankfully it didn't take long).

I want to record in my much-larger living room (it's an apartment, so it's not THAT big) and I wanted to build a movable floating room thing to cut down on some of the room sound. I'm going to attempt to diagram it below: (The dashes are to preserve spacing)


_____

---0---
-\--- /
--\ -/


The flat line is a big 6x6 pvc frame covered in moving blankets and a duvet. The 0 is me and the mic. The "V" shape is another construction to go behind me. The sides and top would be opn and I would be able to move the 2 pieces seperately. I don't want a boxy sound, I just don't want all of the reflections to get back in to the mic. Would this work? What are the forseeable problems with this?

The ceiling above me is vaulted. Has angled sides and a flat top like this: (dashes to preserve spacing, again.)

__________
/--------- \



Thanks for your help!

 

[meterman]

Not much help but I saw a thread on Gearslutz once where someone had built a portable "booth" using PVC pipe for the frame and heavy moving blankets. He was using it for vocals and acoustic guitar and said that it did help to remove some of the room sound from his recordings

 

[NotWesYet]

I am using one of these for voice over work, and despite its small size, it works remarkably well.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FlexiBoothB/

Your design seems like a larger version of the same basic idea. Something to stop the reflexion form behind the mic and something to stop the bounce from off axis.

 

[Anchorage42]

Yeah, that's a similar idea, just with movable panels to vary it up. I want to put something behind the talent (or lack-thereof in the case of myself haha) to catch those reflections as well.

Thanks!

 

[NotWesYet]

Yeah, that's a similar idea, just with movable panels to vary it up. I want to put something behind the talent (or lack-thereof in the case of myself haha) to catch those reflections as well.

Thanks!

I tried the SE Electronic's reflexion filter but it was not as practical as the flexibooth which is just the panels and some melanine (SP?).

Here's another design I read works well. Not too difficult to replicate yourself with the right materials.

http://www.silentsource.com/gobos.html

Hope this helps!

 

[scredly]

I have a bunch of these Sorber S5-2and move them around as required. Also have a couple of 4'. Not cheap but affective and easily transportable.

http://www.clearsonic.com/sorber.htm

 

[Amp360]

have you thought about just floating your mic stand?

 

[Ooogie]

This is something I had bookmarked awhile back, it's a portable baffle designed with recording an acoustic guitar in mind and works well for that purpose. It looks like what you're describing and you might be able to use something similar for vocals. It's an inexpensive DIY solution so you could probably at least use it in combination with something else.

Scroll down to near the bottom of the page...

http://www.eltjohaselhoff.com/recording_acoustic_guitar.htm

Mark

 

[Anchorage42]

Thank you guys very much.

Amp360... what do you mean by floating my mic stand?

What I'm after is less room reflections when I'm recording vocals and acoustic guitars. For acoustic guitars, the benefit is that it lefts me back the mic up a little bit without getting all the reflections mixed in. For vocals, I wanted a way to mellow out some of the slap back on louder passages.


Everyone one else, thanks for the suggestions. A lot of those alternatives are quite pricey and I'm a broke 23 year old, that's why I was asking about building.

Thanks for being a wonderful bunch.
Alex

 

[hawaii5_o]

There is a very good chance you will still get a good amount of reflections from the ceiling. But, on the other hand, if this will primarily be used for singing (as opposed to voice overs) then the ceiling reflections may not pose too big a problem as you'll probably be using reverbs/delays on the vocal.

 

[NotWesYet]

There is a very good chance you will still get a good amount of reflections from the ceiling. But, on the other hand, if this will primarily be used for singing (as opposed to voice overs) then the ceiling reflections may not pose too big a problem as you'll probably be using reverbs/delays on the vocal.

This is a great post and made me think of all the problems I went though trying to set up a home studio. Using large diaphragm mic's I was always picking up something... the neighbors kid, birds, crickets! Everything! Short of buying a $5K "Whisper Room" I could not find a solution.

I then tried a Neumann KM105 microphone. It has great off-axis rejection and is used for live recordings by people like Dianna Krall and Tony Bennet. It just made life easier!

Although it is very pricey, at the advice of Marc Graue from the studio in LA (fixinthemix.com) I bought a Sennheiser Shotgun, a 412. I know the eastcoast engineers all want you to use U87's, but the westcoast guys say screw it. It works incredibly well, and there are Rode shotguns for around $300 that for singing might be perfect and you may be able to rent one to try, first.

Hope this help!

PS: I just got an email with a link to this article. It may be of interest....

http://blog.tunecore.com/2010/01/di...uencies-and-diffusers-by-jake-hartsfield.html

 

[Corey Y]

There's a "voice over" portable vocal booth that Harlan Hogan sells, but also gives instructions on how to make yourself. Not the best application for everyone, but you can take the principal and run with it. I've been doing that myself the past week, designing something to suit my needs before I buy the materials.

 

[Marcocet]

Most shotgun microphones have very specific sonic signatures, and not necessarily ones you would want to have on a vocal track. However the old adage of "whatever works" still applies here, and that might in fact be the easiest solution. I'd make sure to try one out before you buy though.

Probably the best thing you can build at-home gobos with (small, movable reflective or absorbing walls) is Owens-Corning 703 rigid fiberglass. It's a bit of a pain to track down but there are plenty of resources to help you on the web. Basically stand a piece of plywood up on a little frame with wheels and then glue/nail the fiberglass to it. Then cover it with some sort of porous fabric so every time you touch it fiberglass dust doesn't pour into the air (Burlap works fine, and you can get it REALLY cheap online in a number of colors). With a little work you can make them nice enough that you could even potentially leave them out in the living room, up against the walls.