Vocal Booths: Do you need one (if the room is already treated)?

[@MrClaywell]

I think it’s important to also take into consideration what kind of microphone is being used… I had great results in a minimally treated room using a dynamic mic (SM7B), but when using a large-diaphragm condenser microphone, with its increased level of sensitivity and detail, I had to greatly improve room treatment to get acceptable results.

[@almightytreegod]

When I was a video editor there was a vocal booth in our studio, and from what I understand it was well-built and expensive, and it definitely isolated well… however, it was small, and almost every recording we got with it, especially with male voices, sounded… like it was in a booth. It’s hard to kill those lower-end, boxy reverberations and if you can record vocals in a good listening room I think that would probably be ideal. I’m sure there are good ones out there, but if you don’t need the isolation I’ve always been pretty much anti-vocal-booth due to that experience and a few others I’ve seen.

[@manny_f]

Jesco you are a legend. I really enjoy your videos and have learnt a ton from you, thanks!

[@vouga-w2q]

I've litterally just finished building a vocal booth in my room to isolate from ambient noise which is brutal here in Jakarta. The air flow system was a big challenge... I haven't recorded in it yet. I''ve lined the walls with 15cm rock wool covering more than 50% of the surface area... We'll see!!!

[@garymessling8153]

Good point about ventilation! I built a drum booth in the stone age (before the internet) and we didn't account for any ventilation. Big mistake. It takes some time for the heat and stale air to build (note: don't smoke in there Ha Ha) up but it's something easily overlooked!

[@vouga-w2q]

@@garymessling8153 Yes... and also singers (brass, wind or what have you) after a while with no airflow tire very easily.

[@MartinKPettersson]

As a former Buddhist monk who was just asking myself this question since I'm currently making a youtube studio and was considering if I should have a vocal booth in it for recording guided meditations. Thank you for all the great material!

[@danmcbmusic]

I have one, 2x2m isolated room made by Desone. I bought to practice sax when I lived in a problematical apartment. Now I don't have that issue but I use it for recording and occasionally practicing at night. It's awesome to be able to record 24/7 and also to never have any problem with background noise. However deadening the sound inside was quite hard, took me two goes to make it acceptable acoustically.

[@VirtualTourPhotographer]

In my case, I'm looking to build a vocal booth for spoken word (audiobooks) where the only thing ever heard, or should be heard is the human voice. That makes isolation a top priority. The challenge is in making a booth that's dismantleable yet truly sufficiently isolating. My studio is more often used as a podcasting and photography space, so having a booth in there permanently is simply not acceptable. It's a difficult trade-off, but one I'm definitely needing to invest in. I've purchased some very good quality acoustic treatment material, but the challenge is in building a frame in sections such that I can still take it apart and reassemble it. That's, a dilemma.

[@andyfreeze4072]

My experience is thatsmall booths sound boomy. So my solution is to make an open booth into my studio, which is well treated. Booth is made of rockwool panels , left , right , behind and on top. 1x1.5m. I get smooth well balanced vocals out of this setup. Good isolation without the boxy sound.

[@andyfreeze4072]

i should also say that the singer sings out of the booth not into it. the back of the microphone rejects the room quite nicely.

[@evertschut]

Thanks Jesco! I pretty much guessed what your answer would be, but it's always good to be sure 😉.The position of the vocal mic is quite near one of the only walls which have not been treated yet. I'll have to just experiment and see if I need more (standard) treatment near that wall / ceiling or if I'm OK as it is. A vocal booth or one of those semi circular ready made mic stand things is probably not helpful.

[@garymessling8153]

I'll agree that if your room is only somewhat treated like mine, I find I can keep vocals dry by 1.) Setting up in in the middle of the room (my room is about 18 x 20 ft, 8 ft ceiling) this way your direct to reflected ratio is high. 2.) Have a ceiling cloud overhead (2'x4' x4" is what I have). 3.) Place three or 4 portable absorbers (also 2x4x4") on stands to the sides and behind the mic. 4.) If you want, you can position an absorber in front of the mic too but I feel that's the place you need to worry about the least...but it won't hurt either. This works out good for me as I can re-configure the panels as needed and I don't need a dedicated space for a booth. But yeah, I'm lucky, I don't have a noise issue. If I did, a booth would be needed :(

[@MyStutteringLife]

Thank you for this. I have a DIY booth with U-Haul moving blankets, acoustic foam, sound absorption blankets and a thick carpet on the floor. I have a 10x20 portable building so I have 1/4 of the space dedicated to my voice overs. Of course when I start making money, I'll upgrade to a more professional booth.

[@MarkPatey]

Excellent video as always! If you can avoid using a booth, do so. I've worked on a lot of TV commercials over more decades than I'd care to admit, and when I remotely record a VO talent who is in a booth, it sounds like they're recording in a fish tank. Because it's all very tiny time-domain issues, it's impossible to fix, outside of magic like Adobe Podcast's "enhance speech" feature which resynthesizes the voice. And if you're going to use that, record in whatever room you like! Otherwise, a larger space properly treated is best, and recording into a closet filled with clothes can be a good emergency option. :-)

[@KaneDWilliams]

Why would you need bass traps for recording vocals as the voice does not have much low frequency energy? I'm sure I've heard you say in the past that blankets are enough to get rid of flutter echo's and that is all that is required for getting a good vocal. I use an Aston Halo with a moving blanket behind me and that improves the vocal sound a lot.

[@musicxtech6680]

man my room is treated but i still have a separate booth. cuz i cant turn off the ac (it will b too damn hot) haha so i need isolation from my own treated room for vocal recording XD

[@Pattarns_Music]

I've got about 20% of the surface area of my studio covered in 15cm insulation with 15 cm air gap behind it. I can record vocals with a condenser mic with astonishing dryness. Now the only issue is my singing which I have to work on :/

[@robpearson9526]

I’m pretty sure it’s pronounced mike stand, as opposed to mick stand.

[@almightytreegod]

Oh, and FIRST! lol