Website/content/docs/tinkering/vocal-booth/_index.md

title	date
Vocal booth	2024-02-28T12:08:21+01:00

When recording vocals it's important to minimize reverberation and reduce unwanted noise, for example spill¹ in group performances. Professional recording studios offer an isolation booth to deal with that. I think that a cheap and flexible DIY² approach is to build a small room out of moving boxes and blankets. Even though there isn't the same amount of noise reduction achieved, this solution minimizes reverberation.

Conception

Before building a DIY vocal booth, I choose a location inside my room that already has least reverberations. I prefer the center of a blank wall over a corner to avoid some room modes³ and amplification of low frequencies. Another aspect is to use a table turned towards the center of a wall to build the vocal booth upon it. By this, I can place a display, keyboard and mouse in front of the microphone stand for reading the lyrics and controlling the DAW during performance.

Building

The building process is easy. I fold the moving boxes and form walls around the table. I recommend to prick small holes into the carton and use cable tie⁴ for attachment. Don't forget to build a ceiling with blankets and leave out an entrance to suspend a blanket as door replacement. Additionally, consider a carton floor or use a carpet and cover any gaps with more blankets.

{{< figure src="img/carton-wall.jpg" alt="Carton wall" caption="Carton boxes and blankets form a booth" >}}

I arrange the microphone stand and other equipment, and try to establish a cable layout carrying the connectors preferably outside of the box. I set up my computer and other noisy hardware outside of the booth, ideally in another room.

Sound check

Finally, I can set up my equipment and enter the DIY vocal booth. I place myself in front of the microphone and test the acoustic environment. If there are still reverberations, I try to locate the source, for example plane surfaces of equipment, and consider covering it with blankets. For reference, I mark the singing position inside the booth by applying tape on the floor.

{{< figure src="img/foot-markings.jpg" alt="Foot markings" caption="Tape strips mark the singing position" >}}

Application

You can listen to the acapella version of WEAK from the Inconvenient EP to get an impression of the result.

{{< iframe src="https://open.audio/embed.html?&type=track&id=398355" class="funkwhale" >}}

{{< callout type="info" >}} If the embedded audio player is cumbersome, access this song directly via {{< icon "funkwhale" >}} Funkwhale. {{< /callout >}}

---

1. Spill (audio) in the Wikipedia ↩︎

2. Do it Yourself (DIY) in the Wikipedia ↩︎

3. Room modes in the Wikipedia ↩︎

4. Cable tie in the Wikipedia ↩︎