Dead Booth

[sei046]

Hi guys. I am planning a booth 2.1m high, 1.4m long and 1.2 metres wide.
I was planning on having a door, mini window and just covering the inside with egg box shaped foam and putting foam pillars at the foam corners.

Any tips or "Thats rubbish!" Comments. Trust me its far from ideal but I could really do with somewhere like this as my actual room does not sound great. Do you feel this would be an ok plan to begin with? Its not for isolation so much as a dead sound

[danbronson]

Depending on the foam, that'll probably absorb down to like 500 Hz or so. Guitars, bass and the fundamental frequencies of singing will not be affected much at all. A better, probably cheaper solution would be to go to Home Depot and pick up some insulation and line the walls with it. 6" thick should kill everything down to like 100 Hz or lower and will still absorb the higher frequencies.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by sei046

Hi guys. I am planning a booth 2.1m high, 1.4m long and 1.2 metres wide.

I'm not a fan of tiny booths. In fact, I've said this so many times, and explained why, I just added an article to the RealTraps site to explain it. Link here:

Do I really need a vocal booth?

--Ethan

[sei046]

So do you think on a small budget its not worth it at all at all?
Will it do nothing for me?

Thanks for the replys lads

[Ethan Winer]

Why do you think you need a booth?

[sei046]

I find that i hear this kind of.....honkiness?... I can hear the room, and its not a nice sounding room. Even though its not ideal I prefer the sound of a nice Altiverb room or something to the natural sound i am getting.

[danbronson]

As much as I don't like it when someone links to an ad to their own product, the portable vocal booth on the page Ethan linked to is probably a better choice than an entire vocal booth (that article makes some good points). There are other products very similar to this and I've heard of people making their own with good results.

Combine that with some well-placed room treatment (absorption and diffusion) and your problem should go away altogether without creating new problems and with minimal time and money investment on your part.

[sei046]

what about a nice corner? I have a corner in my room that i could dampen down and then use that in conjunction with some sort of mic shield

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by sei046

I find that i hear this kind of.....honkiness?... I can hear the room, and its not a nice sounding room.

Then you don't need a booth - you need to treat the room or at least a small part of the room. That's much easier to do, and costs less. See the article I linked above. It explains the pros and cons (mostly cons) of small booths.

--Ethan

[sei046]

almost every part of my room is a thin carpet. I know this is not idea. My mixing area is also in a bad spot (beside window, to the left of the room and at the top against wall!?!? ) Should i just look into some bass traps etc instead?

[Ethan Winer]

Yes, bass traps, and also broadband absorbers to absorb mid and high frequencies too.

--Ethan

[sei046]

Ok, Ethan I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions considering you have probably said the same things a million times!

Dave

[jinksdingo]

Sometimes in rented premises you can't afford to be making damages to a ceiling or wall once the traps are removed unless you are a handy plasterer!
I know of a very successful drummer/singer who has recently had a huge hit and his vocals were tracked in his closet using dovets (bed covers to deaden the doors).
The article by Ethan has very good points and advantages if you can treat the room you have a good mix space as well.
But when it is not possible to go beyond a few picture frames on a wall and ceiling, a booth could be useful. Micing amps in it as well can be fun as for recording vocals in very hard work disadvantaged by singing in a dead space. You have to rely on adding reverb to sing to and get used to cans to track in.
The expense of making a Tardis (BBC "Dr Who" fans) sound dead as it must be dead to be of use is the question.

[sei046]

If I go for the small booth and put in one or two bass traps and some foam?

Possibly a bass trap in front of the singer and behind?

[avare]

Originally Posted by sei046

If I go for the small booth and put in one or two bass traps and some foam?

If you go for a small booth cover all the surfaces you can with 4" thick absorbent material.

Andre

[jwl]

Originally Posted by jinksdingo

But when it is not possible to go beyond a few picture frames on a wall and ceiling, a booth could be useful.

When would building a booth inside a room be possible, when simple acoustic treatment isn't? If you can't even hang panels in the room, how would you be able to build a vocal booth?

But I agree, if you must build a vocal booth you will almost certainly want it to be dead, with enough bass trapping that the booth doesn't sound boomy.

[sei046]

Thanks guys. So Booth with maybe two bass traps, (behind or infront of vocalist?) and covered in foam

[avare]

Originally Posted by sei046

Thanks guys. So Booth with maybe two bass traps, (behind or infront of vocalist?) and covered in foam

If you go with a small booth, cover every surface that you can with 4" absorbent material.

Bass traps absorb down to frequencies lower than what the room modes are. you want to cover every surface possible because they are all so close that the reflections will cause significant peaks and dips in the room response.

Andre