Building new studio. Help with Vocal Booth?

[kylelgk]

I've been recording for over 10 years, but am lacking in the appropriate knowledge.
I have spent a lot of time reading this past week, so I'm not completely oblivious.
Thanks ahead of time for your help!

My equipment right now consists of:

Mics: Rode K2 & Shure SMB7 (Haven't used the SMB7 yet, but plan on selling one of these when I figure out which one sounds better)
Pre: GAP 73 (It was either this or the RNP)
Compressor: RNC (Not sure if I'm gonna use this yet)
Interface: Audiophile 192 PCI (To replace old EMU 0404 USB)
Monitors: KRK Rokit 5
High End PC: Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit), Quad Core i7 2.80GHz, 8GB Ram, AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (1GB), 2TB Hard Drive
Sequencer: I've always used Adobe Audition, but will also be trying Pro Tools and Ableton Live
Also... Midi: MPC 1000 + Looking into a Midi Keyboard (will worry about this later)

My 2 focuses right now are learning how to hook up the signal chain (separate thread) and possibly building a vocal booth ...

Vocal Booth...

I'm in an untreated square room about 10ft x 10ft
We were thinking about building a quasi-diamond shaped booth in the back corner
There will be no parallel walls, the ceiling will be slanted (7ft at its highest point)
I'll be facing away from the back corner and towards the computer desk
The door on the front will have a window and we were thinking of using Thick Glass or a double pane with 1 of the panes slanted
I will need help with how to treat the 2 corner walls behind the vocalist, and the other 3 walls in front
My roomate is an excellent craftsman so we'll be able to do a high quality job



SW Corner



NW Corner



Not sure what's necessary, but my understanding as far as wall layers go...
Plywood | Rockwool | High Density Mineral Vinyl Matts | Felt Carpet
Should I add or remove any of these items?



Any tips, advice, etc... I know that many do not favor having a booth at all. I also need help in how to treat the room and/or the booth.

[amishsixstringe]

You have a small room...Why would you make it smaller? What do you expect to/ hope to achieve with this? What do you record? Vocals only? Vocals sound better in bigger rooms. If you want it tighter, build some gobos or get a reflexion filter. If you're looking for sound isolation, you won't get it easily with the construction method you have described. You use drywall, not plywood. And no 'carpet' of any kind. You also need a complete room within a room. You can't share ceilings or walls as you drawing shows.

If you have made up your mind already, I (and I'm sure MANY others) urge you to change your mind and spend your money on making your already small room sound a little better. All you're going to get is a couple useless spaces. Your entire room is smaller than than my ISO room, and I don't use it for recording ANYTHING. It is there to make amps quiet when tracking a live band. Small rooms suck. You're trying to make a closet. Please don't.

Neil

[kylelgk]

Originally Posted by amishsixstringe

You have a small room...Why would you make it smaller? What do you expect to/ hope to achieve with this? What do you record? Vocals only? Vocals sound better in bigger rooms. If you want it tighter, build some gobos or get a reflexion filter. If you're looking for sound isolation, you won't get it easily with the construction method you have described. You use drywall, not plywood. And no 'carpet' of any kind. You also need a complete room within a room. You can't share ceilings or walls as you drawing shows.

If you have made up your mind already, I (and I'm sure MANY others) urge you to change your mind and spend your money on making your already small room sound a little better. All you're going to get is a couple useless spaces. Your entire room is smaller than than my ISO room, and I don't use it for recording ANYTHING. It is there to make amps quiet when tracking a live band. Small rooms suck. You're trying to make a closet. Please don't.

Neil

This is what I've been hearing a lot. We were impulsive in starting this project. Perhaps I just need to learn how to treat my room and figure out where and how I'm going to set up my mic.

Thanks for the feedback

[amishsixstringe]

Hey man, you have won. You came here first and asked questions. Not only that you listen to advice. You are a very smart person.

For less money than you would spend on that closet, you could really make your room MUCH better for mixing AND recording vocals.

Vocal recording and Control rooms use a very similar model, so a single room is a great thing.

I can list a few things just by looking at your photos that would make your happier.

First: Your monitors are really high unless you are 7 feet tall. The tweeters should point at your ears when you are seated. That shelf that you have is metal and probably rings like mad, which colors your sound badly. You may also try changing walls that your desk faces. Generally, facing a short wall and shooting the speakers the long way works better. Sometimes this is not possible. It is important, but not as important as human ergonomics, so if it's not possible/comfortable, don't worry about it.

You could spend about 300 bucks and build yourself some awesome broadband absorbers, which will tighten your room up for vocal recording, as well as for mixing.

A small closet that you have proposed would cost easily 1000 dollars, and that leaves the rest of your room still untreated, and frankly, worse off. You would ruin what little symmetry your room has currently. Don't get too caught up in non parallel walls. Flutter echo is the easiest acoustic issue to deal with.

Here's the best thing you can do:

Figure out what you want out of your space, and design to suit that concept. Don't make big decisions without a good reason for it.
In other words, Start at the beginning.

Neil

[kylelgk]

Thank you for the kind words!

I'll drop the monitors down ASAP

My wonderful desk!!! I need to lose the metal desk then? :(

This room is pretty much a square, so switching walls wouldn't really increase the monitor distance from the parallel wall

Broadband absorbers... just googled them... so buying them already built is pretty pricey then? How hard would it be to build?

I need to treat the corners with bass traps or something like that?

How should I setup the mic in this room?

Thanks

[Marinba Stone]

hello to every body. im a rapper that is building his studio i build a vocal booth 133x94 (CM) 213 height . i made it of wood and play wood. i put mineral fyber in the inside & covered wiht some polyester cloth. that is actually use to put under carpet. but im having a big problem. it sucked all my voice it doesnt matter how hard i rap my waves are really smal i had no power. a friend suggest me to make a whole on the roof. that unfortunaly idid but not much change.. please gys I need some help.... thanks

[MoBeach]

Originally Posted by Marinba Stone

hello to every body. im a rapper that is building his studio i build a vocal booth 133x94 (CM) 213 height . i made it of wood and play wood. i put mineral fyber in the inside & covered wiht some polyester cloth. that is actually use to put under carpet. but im having a big problem. it sucked all my voice it doesnt matter how hard i rap my waves are really smal i had no power. a friend suggest me to make a whole on the roof. that unfortunaly idid but not much change.. please gys I need some help.... thanks

Start by putting one reflective panel inside the booth and see how that changes things...

[jwl]

I agree, I would not put a separate booth in that room, unless I absolutely needed isolation. For more detail on why, see this article:
RealTraps - Vocal Booths

In addition, whether you add a booth or not I would probably turn your setup to the left 90 degrees so you are facing the wall on the left of the drawing. For details as to why, see: RealTraps - How To Set Up a Room

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Marinba Stone

hello to every body. im a rapper that is building his studio i build a vocal booth 133x94 (CM) 213 height . i made it of wood and play wood. i put mineral fyber in the inside & covered wiht some polyester cloth. that is actually use to put under carpet. but im having a big problem. it sucked all my voice it doesnt matter how hard i rap my waves are really smal i had no power. a friend suggest me to make a whole on the roof. that unfortunaly idid but not much change.. please gys I need some help.... thanks

It made all of your waves small? Not sure I understand what you mean but you don't want anything reflective in a small booth like that. It will just cause comb filtering.