Now that I’m recording again, I’m ready to put down some vocals. However upon the first run through, a severe problem became apparent. My room is too lively.
Low volume vocals sounded ok, but higher volumes really bounced around the room and back into the mic. Not the desired the result. So what was needed was a way to cut down either the reflections in the room, or stop my voice from bouncing around in the first place.
I don’t have a dedicated “studio” room, so treating the room acoustically was not feasible. That leaves stopping my voice from reflecting in the first place. I looked into the acoustic shields available online but after reading some reviews, it turns out they may not be the best option. So what I needed was a vocal booth.
I don’t have money to burn, so I needed to make something on the cheap. And cheap it is. But the end result works a treat, so I thought I would share how I made it.
Step 1 : Frame
I’m no carpenter, so I need to use components I could just put together. Hello PVC piping! I grabbed a bunch of 1m long, 20mm diameter pipes, and a bunch of elbow and 3-way/90 connectors. The problem occurred when trying to make the corner and vertical connections.
It required the connection of two joins, which was easily done but using a small off-cut to join the connections.
Here is what the frame looked like when I put it together.
Step 2 : Sound Insulation
How do you insulate the booth on a budget? Surprisingly easy. take teh following ingredients:
1 x Old duvet from the spare bed
1 x furniture moving blanket
3 x clamps ( I would have used more, but Bunnings sold out)
To give some extra coverage, I doubled up the duvet at the back and clamped it, so directly behind the mic there is three layers of material deadening the sound.
As you can see, it looks ugly as hell, but it sure works.
What I would like to do is get some more coverage on the bottom half, and some more clamps to secure more tightly. All up, I spent about $60 dollars, and it has been well worth the effort.
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