Vocals and home recording idea - probably many others like this but interesting

Touted as a $23.00 solution.

Appears to be a potentially interesting experiment if you are presently singing into a microphone with no sound deadening technique in place yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTeUeRxAS7M

Seems like a good idea.... But i wanna do something that can be mounted on my stand or something.

I haven't ever done any testing on those mic stand mounted vocal absorbers like this. Most of those have holes or openings in the back and are categorized as diffusion and not absorption. 
 
I remember when they first came out reading a little about the construction which included several layers of foil and other dampening materials . I don't remember if it was SE I read about or not..SE have patented their process. 
 
I seen one made from those aluminum paint grids riveted together and then that structure was covered with foam  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFVqcEpg6_c  
 
...probably not nearly as effective as the SE. It was probably better than nothing and more effective than the first example. Anything with a solid back is asking for trouble.
 
Another idea that I have never seen anyone do, but it crossed my mind.....take large plastic 5 gallon buckets or larger if possible. Cut the bucket in half lengthwise and remove the bottom,or use the bottom to make a mount. Here is the hard part...make a whole bunch of 1/2" holes in the thing all over it, but not so many that you compromise the structure.Glue acoustic foam around the inside of the thing. You will need some structural brackets . Rivet the brackets to the assembly and make it mic mount friendly.Tools/materials needed-  Drill , 1/2" Hole saw, 1/8" bits for small holes to rivet. plastic bucket, spray paint (optional). A way to bend  metal.If you find something that already works, then all the better....or simply sit this on a table no brackets necessary.Acoustically if you don't have enough holes in it some of the sound will stay in it and make trouble...and maybe one reason why there are layers of thin foil in some of the commercial versions. I have no idea how well it would work....or not.

That sounds ok too Dave......I like that paint grid idea because it's an almost totally open structure. If you trimmed away entire large holes in the bucket and left enough opening without sacrificing the strength of the frame you could probably do it.
 
Those 5 gallon buckets are still slightly small for the purpose...to get it larger you could trim it along the bottom and make larger "flaps" to get it bigger. The flaps would need to be held in place with a frame of some kind. You can get those buckets in colors...so maybe painting it isn't necessary...and they make them larger than 5 gallon size.
 
I guess the thing that bothers me about giving this kind of suggestion is I don't want anyone to get hurt...please be careful. I see visions of missing fingers and blood. I'm not doubting you I just don't know how good you are with tools...if you haven't used cutting things like utility knives and saws I recommend getting some help with it...maybe a project for your shop at school. Always push cutting edges AWAY from you and never put anything in front of a sharp edge except what you want to cut. I don't want anyone to get hurt.

Great to see you back Beepster...lampshades, now that might be a strong possibility. The frame is already there and you wouldn't need to remove much.
 
I heard room reflections in both videos. If a person is using a tight cardoid pattern there's probably more damage done from the reflections coming off the wall behind.

I'm actually in the Ben camp on this one, although I prefer a different mic than the 58. :) I've never had a room mess up the sound of a vocal I was tracking to where I HAD to create or use some sort of booth. I myself have sung in some pretty crappy rooms....up against walls, in corners, in bathrooms....you either have a good voice with the right choice of mic capturing it, or you don't. This is just my opinion of course as well as my own personal experience.
 
But I've always found these booth things to make little or no difference at all no matter how much they cost. I even did a mic shoot-out with mics at different distances. Anything up close, sounds up close and you can't even hear the effects of the room. Even in rooms that sounded like they would be a problem...they didn't mess with the vocal enough to have to plan a strategy or use a booth. OR....maybe it just doesn't matter enough to me because a good vocal take/sound/timbre of the voice is the most important in my world. A little room effect that can't be heard unless the track is solo'd is too meaningless to even discuss really. But that's just me. :)
 
-Danny

That hunk of junk seems like it would create more problems than it solves.   I made a DIY reflection thing for behind my vocal mic because I had the left over materials  (MDF board, Aurelex sheetblock, studio foam, and some fabric) & the time, To me it seems to make the vocal sound a little deeper as it absorbs most of the high frequency reflections but it really doesn't make that much difference.  It makes clients feel good.  That's about it.

MakeShift
So, I'm going to ask a dumb question here. I thought when you are choosing a mic position for a vocal in a room, optimally you should try different rooms and listen to the recordings to hear which room has the best acoustics for singing vocals or even tracking instrument. Then, with in that good sounding room, you should move around until you find the optimal spot for mic placement.

There is a room in my house that has hardwood floors, is large and has an oddly sloped ceiling in several places. Everything I have ever recorded in this room has always sounded better than other spaces in my house from which I have recorded. Unfortunately, it is an extremely high traffic room, always loaded with family members, so I never get to record there. If everyone happens to be away at Grandmas however....

So.....that would lead me to believe that the ambience of the room does matter? Am I just imagining this or are my ears playing tricks on me?

Mike, it depends on the mic as well as how close you are. When I close mic something, the only way I can hear enough effects from the room is when I solo up the track....and even there, it's never anything detrimental to the track. When you can literally hear the room in your track without it solo'd, THEN the room is contributing. But like I said...in MY personal experience, 2-4 inches away from a mic (if you choose to get up that close) shouldn't introduce any room effects that destroy your track. Even 6 inches shouldn't bring on anything that is too severe. But again....if you use a mic that can pick up two gnats getting it on in another room, you *may* hear something. But I never had any problems with any mic in any room while up close...that's all I meant to say brother. :)
 
-Danny

A bad room is a bad room.  Those portable foam shields will only help with a very close sound source of a few inches.   If you plan on only singing from an constant and exact 3 inches in front of a capsule, you may have no trouble hiding the effects of a terrible space, especially when surrounded by other noisy musical elements.  However, a singer with good technique will vary their distance and angle in the microphone to compensate for volume and other performance needs.  In this case it is extremely important that the room be well controlled or taken completely out of the equation (ie completely dead).  
 
My personal suggestion would be to test the room/vocal at a distance of around 3 feet.  If a sensitive microphone can sound good at that distance in the room you are in, then you shouldn't have many problems at 3-12 inches.  

IMO: That box in the youtube video is terrible... A complete waste of $23 if you ask me.
 
He says the "narration during the tutorial" is all done through the Blue Yeti Mic in that box.... Is it just me - as soon as the tutorial started I could HEAR the hollowness of the box... His voice sounded better at the beginning of the video than when he was doing the tutorial.

I also have plans for a great DIY microphone for only $0.50.  Materials include two paper cups and a length of string.  It works really well because I said so on the internet.  
 
Ah sarcasm...will you ever get old?

Years ago when I was struggling to figure out what to do with my vocal space, I needed to convince myself that the problem really was comb filtering from windows and walls too close by. (As opposed to the need to buy a more expensive microphone!)
 
As an experiment, I pulled my heaviest winter overcoat from the closet and threw it over both my head and the microphone and recorded a test. It was awkward but I was amazed at how effectively the yuckiest components of the sound vanished. That was all the convincing I needed, and I was able to confidently commit to a strategy of 360-degree absorption that did indeed prove to be the solution. (Emphasis on "360".)
 
There are several problems with the foam-lined box approach. The first is that you're applying absorption in the wrong place - behind the microphone, in a cardioid microphone's dead zone. Second, the type, thickness and density of the foam or batting is inadequate to absorb any of the most significant frequencies. Third, there will be new resonances within the box itself that exacerbate the problem even more. The box will also not have enough mass to avoid vibrations conducted through it, whether laid upon a desk or mounted to a stand.
 
In order to be effective, you have to absorb as much reflected sound as possible, from all directions. That means placing absorption behind the singer, not behind the microphone. Even more significant is the ceiling, which will be the closest boundary in most rooms for a standing singer. If the singer is 6 feet tall and the ceiling is 8 feet high, there will be a resonance at the 2-foot wavelength - about 500 Hz, smack in the middle of the most-significant harmonics for a male vocalist. And, of course, repeated at every 500 Hz interval all the way up the audio spectrum.
 
A makeshift vocal booth is still do-able on the cheap. Perhaps not for $23, but certainly for a couple hundred dollars. Use at least 3 inches of rigid fiberglass (4" is better) and set it up as far as possible from walls and windows. Put extra thickness between you and the nearest wall. You can do this using free-standing panels, so it's possible even for those living in rented apartments.
 
 

I used to think about that kind of stuff too.... the shape of the room, the wall coverings, the floor & ceiling, reflections and all that technical stuff.
 
Not anymore. I have a non-treated room and my wife won't let me convert it to a "proper studio" so I'm stuck.
 
What I have discovered is that as I have learned a few things, the vocal and guitar recordings I am now getting are vastly superior to the ones I did several years back and nothing other than what I know and how I apply it has changed. No blankets and no absorbers, just me trying to get the best vocal and acoustic guitar sound I can muster under the circumstances.
 
I can still hear the cars, trucks, trains, and dogs, and I have to stop or punch where that's really evident in the track.  But I think I'm gaining some headway. I wonder what I could do if I had a treated room in a quiet area of town.
 
All that to say, I think if you apply yourself and have some halfway decent gear and use it correctly, it really won't matter much whether you have a treated room and absorbers and such.

That will only work if the fridge is stocked with vegetables. I hate to think what the acoustics would be like with nothing but beer cans in there.