VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Steve O'Sullivan]

Howdy gang,

My lovely wife bequeathed to me (pre-humously) a small coat closet in our house that is about 40"x50"x96", which we will clear out and use as my voice booth. I am really excited.

The walls are not insulated, and the door is hollow core. I am thinking of replacing the hc door with a solid core door, with weatherstripping and a storm seal at the bottom. I am also planning on placing rubber locking tiles on the floor, and double thickness furniture blankets on the walls and ceiling.

Does this sound like a reasonable first home booth? Is there a snowball's chance that this will be an adequate sound treatment? Currently, in the closet with clothes inside on a standard Tuesday afternoon, I got about 45 dB of sound in there....

Whaddya think?

Regards,

SteveO
_________________
Steve "SteveO" O'Sullivan
stevieo@me.com
http://steveosullivanvo.com
http://voice123.com/steveosullivan1

[Frank F]

Some one inch rigid insulation covered with fabric would be an easy fix and an upgrade over the blankets.

I would suggest looking for some sort of ventilation as the depth and width are short. This will be a difficult area to make sound good due to it's size. It will probably sound bassy or boomy but it is a good step.

Your wife must be a darling as she is willing to give up valuable space. Thank her profusely.

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[Lee Gordon]

Before you clear the coats out of the closet, see if you like how it sounds with them still in it. Seriously.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[heyguido]

Good call on the door, Steve-O.... Make sure to place insulation on the inner surface to cut down on reflective surface, and add a good seal around the edges and base of the door.

While the moving blankets are not optimum absorption, they are pretty decent if doubled. Don't forget the ceiling, an often overlooked source of reflection.

Once you've done your best, try recording, and listen critically to the sound of the room. Clap your hands. Listen for reflection. Talk and sing. Listen for boominess. Then try to identify needed improvement and come back to us for ideas to solve your problems.

Once you've got a good place to record, you can more readily concentrate on making quality recordings.

BTW.... Thought about light yet? It gets pretty dark in a closet.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[bransom]

[Steve O'Sullivan]

[georgethetech]

Steve:

You can always provide the resulting sound file for evaluation here.
Small closets can be tough, since you need a lot of bass trapping, which takes away useable space. Create a cloud of 4" thick rigid insulation like Roxul 60 overhead with 2" gap between it and the ceiling, that should pretty well do it.

EDIT:
For clarity, a "cloud" is a panel that is suspended from the ceiling, parallel to the ceiling (or at an angle). This is the best way to deal with a tiny space as, unless you are 7' tall, you'll not lose usable space.
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If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

[Dayo]

Big man, big voice, small booth?

Sounds like a big risk!

Use as much bass trapping as you can. But then you may find that you've sucked all the mid range out of your voice.

Tough one! Is there no -other space you can use?
_________________
Colin Day - UK Voiceover
www.thurstonday.co.uk