Sound Proofing Home Studio

I'm trying to get my vocals to sound the best they can.
I have a Rode NT1-A mic and I am wondering whats the best/low cost way to sound proof my vocal booth ?
The booth is roughly 101.5inx49.75in (90.5 Height).

Can I just fill the room with pillows on the walls & ceiling ?
Foam from the fabric store ?

Sound proof, or set up diffusion/absorption? What's the problem you're trying to resolve? Do your recordings sound super boxy (lots of early reflections), or are outside noises getting on your recordings? (Cars going by, etc.)

They're two different issues. Which one (or both?) are you most concerned with?

Corey

Ok. That helps... My suggestion would be to try just what you've suggested with materials on hand. Hang some heavy comforters, pile up pillows, anything you have on hand. See what it sounds like. If it helps, figure out where the other problem areas are. DON'T buy cheap foam from a fabric store. It won't help.

Owens-Corning 703 or 705, covered in fabric will work well. There are some fantastic new recycled-bluejean absorbers out there. Ethan Winer offers RealTraps which do a nice job, etc.

Absorption is good. Diffusion is good as well. Again, plenty of commercial solutions available, but you may be able to finagle up some homemade solutions. I've put a pair of bookshelves on either side of a vocal booth, then DRAMATICALLY varied the size/shape of the books on each shelf so you get and extremely irregular "wall" - This can be an effective "free" solution with just a pair of cheap bookshelves.

Good luck! Have fun!

Corey

I have the SE Electronics Reflexion filter. I really makes a difference and is easy to set up (as long as you're not too tall, then you'll need a heavy duty mic stand) and bring with you to different locations. Combine it with with hanging a sleeping bag or something behind you, and you're as dry as you wanna be. RealTraps have a similar product, I believe it's called RealBooth.

Sven

Your best bet is to start simple and go from there. Get in a corner and hang a heavy quilt behind you. Sing out into the room. The quilt will abosorb a lot of the reflections that bounce back behind you and then off the corner into the mic.

You don't want to overaborb the room, sucking all the life out of it. I used to set singers up in my bedroom in my NYC apt. A 9x6 foot room, but it had a futon on the floor that took up a lot of space and my clothes hung on an open rack along the side wall. It actually wasn't too bad as a vocal booth. For you situation, I'd put in some small furniture to break things up and add some reflections. Rockwool as per above to put in the other corner(s) for bass damping and aborbtion. And some above the singer on the ceiling. Start with 2/3 panels and see if that doesn't improve the sound more. Remember to leave at least a couple of inches space between the walls and panel (which comes naturally with the corners). Or for the corners (obviously not the ceiling) others have talked about just rolling up some rockwool and putting it in a bag.

Finally, what kind of floor do you have - wood is usually nice for reflections and warmer than sheetrock. Even a small, thin throw rug can give some control over those reflections.

@

Is the room a dedicated studio or does it do double duty?.... bedroom, basement, etc...?  That plays into it as well.  

For a dedicated studio... you can hang the curtains and sound absorbers and not worry about it too much once you get it sounding like you want.

In a double duty room, the sound treatment might have to be portable. 

I have a double duty room. It is a pass through room for my daughter's bedrooms, it also serves as my business office, and of course my studio.  The room has bare walls, with doorway openings on the back side, acoustic 12" square tile on the ceiling, and W2W carpet on the floor.  Due to the various openings and cabinet angles and the floor/ceiling sound absorbing qualities, this room, although untreated sounds pretty good. The house is old, very little to no insulation in teh outside walls, so I can hear cars and dogs and all sorts of things while I'm setting here..... but I simply record the vocals and let it roll. I will pause/stop recording if a plane is overhead or a firetruck or train is nearby. I have never really heard those noises in the final recording. The music masks the very low levels of the cars, and OR, I envelope or trim it out. Yeah...I know that's not the "purist" approach.... but it works.

guitartrek


I've also got a reflexion filter and it works great.  I bought a heavy duty boom stand for it and my mic.

I also use the reflection filter its great

One added thing that was said in sound on sound mag was that you can hang sometihng like a bed sheet/ duvet/ foam matteres etc from a mic stand behind you if you are still haveing problems I am lucky I havent had any problems useing the relection filter on its own its a great bit of kit if you can afford it get one

But be warned dont get a cheep version from any other company they are not as god and you will be disapointed ;(

One other thing is The RF is heavy and heavey duty stands still move with it on it and looks ustable SE sell one for about £250 but its crap aswell

I made my own stand for it as you can read about herehttp://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2106016 only cost £20 to make and works fantastic!!!!!

Let me knwo what you think and if you like I will send you some pics for you to make your own :)

Norrie

If you got a big double bed set your mic up in the corrner of the room and flip the bed up behind you :P

Norrie