67 lines
No EOL
3 KiB
Markdown
67 lines
No EOL
3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: 'Vocal booth'
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date: 2024-02-28T12:08:21+01:00
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---
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When recording vocals it's important to minimize reverberation and reduce
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unwanted noise, for example spill[^1] in group performances. Professional
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recording studios offer an isolation booth to deal with that. I think that a
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cheap and flexible DIY[^2] approach is to build a small room out of moving boxes
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and blankets. Even though there isn't the same amount of noise reduction
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achieved, this solution minimizes reverberation.
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## Conception
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Before building a DIY vocal booth, I choose a location inside my room that
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already has least reverberations. I prefer the center of a blank wall over a
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corner to avoid some room modes[^3] and amplification of low frequencies.
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Another aspect is to use a table turned towards the center of a wall to build
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the vocal booth upon it. By this, I can place a display, keyboard and mouse
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in front of the microphone stand for reading the lyrics and controlling the DAW
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during performance.
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## Building
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The building process is easy. I fold the moving boxes and form walls around the
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table. I recommend to prick small holes into the carton and use cable tie[^4]
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for attachment. Don't forget to build a ceiling with blankets and leave out an
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entrance to suspend a blanket as door replacement. Additionally, consider a
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carton floor or use a carpet and cover any gaps with more blankets.
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{{< figure src="img/carton-wall.jpg" alt="Carton wall"
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caption="Carton boxes and blankets form a booth" >}}
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I arrange the microphone stand and other equipment, and try to establish a cable
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layout carrying the connectors preferably outside of the box. I set up my
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computer and other noisy hardware outside of the booth, ideally in another room.
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## Sound check
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Finally, I can set up my equipment and enter the DIY vocal booth. I place myself
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in front of the microphone and test the acoustic environment. If there are still
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reverberations, I try to locate the source, for example plane surfaces of
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equipment, and consider covering it with blankets. For reference, I mark the
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singing position inside the booth by applying tape on the floor.
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{{< figure src="img/foot-markings.jpg" alt="Foot markings"
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caption="Tape strips mark the singing position" >}}
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## Application
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You can listen to the acapella version of *WEAK* from the
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[Inconvenient EP](/music/inconvenient-ep/) to get an impression of the result.
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{{< iframe src="https://open.audio/embed.html?&type=track&id=398355"
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class="funkwhale" >}}
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{{< callout type="info" >}}
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If the embedded audio player is cumbersome, access this song directly via
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[{{< icon "funkwhale" >}} Funkwhale](https://open.audio/library/tracks/398355/).
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{{< /callout >}}
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[^1]: [Spill (audio)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spill_(audio)) in the
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Wikipedia
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[^2]: [Do it Yourself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_it_yourself) (DIY) in
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the Wikipedia
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[^3]: [Room modes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_modes) in the Wikipedia
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[^4]: [Cable tie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_tie) in the Wikipedia |