VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Raymond Hearn]

Greetings. I'm setting up my home studio and would appreciate some feedback on audio quality. I'm almost done with treating my vocal booth per guidance provided on this board awhile ago. My studio equipment is admittedly entry level, but I want to make sure I'm getting the best possible results. How does this sound?

http://www.box.net/shared/5svjs7o0bk

I'm using an Audio Technica AT4033/CL mic running though an Mbox. My booth is a 5x7 Whisper Room with lots of OC703 insulation.
Regards,
Raymond
http://raymondhearn.com

[Mike Sommer]

Raymon,

I'm getting a booming resonance, that is overpowering your sample.

Your booth is going to need super-chunk bass traps in the standing corners, and 4" of 703 treatment on the walls, along with a 4" cloud on the ceiling.

I'm wondering how close you are to the mic, and what is your position is in the booth?
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.

[Lance Blair]

I'd say you can back off the mic a little, otherwise you sound, voice, and noise floor are good. I take it there's not much HPF going on here, so here's your clip with a sharp 80Hz HPF and some multi-band compression. Mike's right that your sound in general is a bit boomy, I also think the top end is crispy, even without the compression. I think that can come from the 4033 close mic'ed. You might sound great on another mic - I can definitely see you with a 416 - or the new TLM 102. BTW, I LOVE your website and your demos, but they could use a little better sound quality.

http://www.lanceblair.net/sharing/CRRprocessed.mp3

So, yeah, back off the mic and let it rip. I like your voice.
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Skype: globalvoiceover
and now, http://lanceblairvo.com the blog is there now too!

[Raymond Hearn]

Lance, Mike,
Thanks for the constructive feedback and positive reinforcement. It helps me figure out how to make the most of what I have to work with right now. Mike gave me a stellar post last year about how to treat my booth and I'm almost there. I did everything except the cloud because I haven't figured out how to mount it to the Vocal Booth's ceiling without doing any damage to it. All the other panels are pressure fitted into the corners or stuck on the wall with velcro. But I'll figure out how to hang the cloud soon. As far as mic placement: it's against one of the 5' long walls and there are 4" OC 703 bass traps in the adjacent corners and 2" OC 703 panels on the surrounding walls. There's a 4" panel directly behind me. As for distance from the mic, I thought I was the standard 6 -7 inches from the mic but I'll pay more attention to the distance next time. I did intentionally move closer to the mic later in this recording to tell a tragic story about one little girl. That part must really be boomy! We did that during my demo recording session to good result. But maybe my specific mic doesn't like that approach? Or maybe the results will be better once the cloud is installed. I'll do a second take of this and post it for comparison.

As for the HPF, I've been hesitant to do that because I wasn't sure if that's what client's expect when I send them "dry voice". But it definitely sounds cleaner that way so I'll figure out how to apply it to my recordings.

Warm regards,
Raymond
http://raymondhearn.com

[Mike Sommer]

Move more to the center of the room. Bass terminates in the corners, so if you back the mic against a wall, it means that you're that much closer to a corner.

A 75Hz Hipass is fine, all there is nothing usable below there except low end rumble, that's what makes everything sound muddy.

You're going to need thicker traps in the standing corners. Superchunks are the best. All you need to do is cut the 703 into triangles and stack them in the corners- here is an example of it here in Cashman's booth.


Though 6-7 inches is ok, I would call that almost working it close, a little more distance will help - 8 to 10 inches is about right.

The cloud will help a great deal. You're just going to have to bite the bullet and install screw hooks in the ceiling. 4" of 703 with a 3" air gap will help a great deal. Do the ceiling before the corner traps and let's hear what you get.
_________________
The Blog:
http://voiceoveraudio.blogspot.com/

Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.