VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[cyclometh]

Hey folks- I'm looking at purchasing or building a vocal booth, and I'd like to solicit some advice on the practical side of setting it up for use.

Assume that the booth is built/installed, etc- it's not about acoustics this time!

When I work, about 95% of the time it's long-form stuff doing punch and roll. I sit near my desk with a keyboard on my lap so I can start, stop, mark and pre-roll as I read. I have keys mapped on the keypad to forward, back, mark, and turn pre-roll on and off. The keyboard sits on my lap but I can operate it with one hand quite nicely. The monitor is on my desk to the right so I can simply glance and see my DAW window.

I read from an iPad on a music stand and sit in a nice comfy chair to read, but one that keeps my back straight and gives me good posture for breathing properly.

When I move to a booth, I need to be able to view and operate my DAW (Cubase 7) from the booth, using simple, quiet controls that I can operate from my hand and/or lap. I'll have monitors in the booth so I can hear the pre-roll, as I don't use cans when I record unless it's a directed session or something similar.

So I assume I'll need some kind of monitor from my PC in the booth, and controls to allow me to operate the transport on my DAW.

Thoughts, suggestions and experience would be welcome, and thank you!
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[graemespicer]

I use an iPad a called V Control Pro to operate ProTools from my booth. It claims to work with Cubase. Might be worth a look.

http://www.neyrinck.com/v-control-pro
_________________
Graeme Spicer
Voice Actor

Member of the World-Voices Executive Board

tel • (416) 716-2246
email • graeme@graemespicer.com
graemespicer.com

[DougVox]

Corey, have a look at this wireless DAW remote controller:

s/Cubase" target="_blank" class="postlink">http://www.frontierdesign.com/products/tranzport/As/Cubase

Also, if space/heat issues are a concern inside the booth, you could always mount (swing arm, etc) a monitor outside the booth, and then swing it up against the booth's window when you go in to record.
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Doug Turkel (tur-KELL)
Voiceover UNnouncer®
UNnouncer.com

[cyclometh]

I love the idea of an iPad a for controlling my DAW but since I'm using it to read the copy, it's kind of impractical.

Doug, that controller looks very interesting. I use a multi-monitor setup already, so it might be possible to add another video card and a monitor in the booth that mirrors the main one.
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[heyguido]

Uh.... Bluetooth keyboard (that doesn't clickety-clack), cpu outside the booth, flat panel monitor run to booth, small desk. Am I missing something?
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[cyclometh]

Probably not, just looking for the most optimal setup and experiences with it. I figure if I'm setting up an environment that I will be sitting in 3 to 5 hours every day (which is my usual stint behind the mic), I want to get it right the first time, and it's always little things that are the big annoyances.

I prefer to keep my desktop on a desk outside the booth and have just a monitor inside it. A Bluetooth keyboard is a good option, although the little gizmo Doug linked seems like it could be a nice replacement that doesn't need to sit on my lap.
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[Jason Huggins]

You could always add little tray that mounts to the wall to set the keyboard and a touchpad on. Get a stand mount for the ipad, and clip the small tray onto it, and you could keep everything neat and tidy.

[heyguido]

I think we have a semblance of a plan....

One question.... why a booth as opposed to treating the room?
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[Bish]

Gotta go with Don here... I'm a room sort of guy myself. There are a couple of practical points here... as you say, most of your stuff is long-form, and a booth may not lend itself to long sessions too well (five hours is a long time). Couple with that the fact that you're quite a big guy and my gut reaction is that a booth may become everything that makes people call them coffins.

Plus... your sound ain't to shabby to start with... a couple of hundred on treatment may be a better investment.

$0.02 ... a bargain!
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[heyguido]

I'm an environment kind of guy. Came up in rooms. Like it that way. Room for your tools. Room for your stuff. Room to make noise. Room to whisper.... and capture it.

Probably wouldn't cost much to make your room a better space. Scott just did it for peanuts. The results are in the threads. We can all argue our modes of choice to make our spaces work, but, in the end, we make our spaces work.

Bish did a great job, and could probably move most of it out next week. Monk gave up his weekends and his evenings and built a tank. He whose name rhymes with sour works in a space entirely his own, with books on the wall, and his world spread around him. And he who shall not be named, who bribes his mates with Brit sweets, makes enough to have a much more technical space than he has, but manages to send out paying work from a corner in his wee huttie, when he's not jetting aboot.

Think it out. I think you can do a lot more with what you have. And odds are, it'll work better.
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Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"

[cyclometh]

Well, I currently work in a room and it is acoustically treated- internally. I could do more with some bass traps, etc. I like working in a room. However, the real problem is that the room is not very well isolated.

When it's quiet in the house, it's a WONDERFUL space to work in. However, when I'm working, nobody else in the house can walk around or have anything more than a very quiet conversation, because sound carries right through the floor. If the phone rings or someone knocks at the door, I have to stop what I'm doing and wait. Saws, lawnmowers and the little rinky-dink airport ten miles from here can cause trouble also.

I have looked into making the room more isolated, but it would involve at a minimum tearing out all the drywall and the ceiling, putting in double-layer drywall on the interior surfaces, adding rockwool or foam insulation, and then two more layers of drywall- then taping, mudding, painting and finally treating the interior again. That's one option- there's a couple of others, but they don't involve any less effort or expense.

Essentially, I'm not facing so much of an interior acoustic problem as an isolation one. I have drawn up some plans for doing a total teardown of the room and rebuilding it with sound isolation and addition of mass to accomplish that in mind.

However, looking at the amount of work it would require (at least a week, possibly more) and the expense (pretty high), Not to mention that I'd have to do the work myself. I'm pretty capable but I don't know that I can afford to be unable to work for that long. My current budget isn't high enough to use a contractor.

I haven't made a decision yet. If I had my druthers I'd go with a full-room treatment, but I'm not sure it's realistic given my time and budget.

I can continue with my current setup- it obviously works, but the challenges it poses to my family are my chief concern at the moment. I'd like to be able to work without having to tell my daughter she can't play in her room (because it's right over my studio).
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Corey "Vox Man" Snow
http://voxman.net

[Yonie]

Corey, if you want to go with a booth, I have an idea. Credit goes to the replies here, as it sparked my plan.

Depending on how big your booth would be, there are a couple of options:

1. iPad is for scripts only. A slave monitor that clones your main monitor's screen is attached to the window of your booth. Wireless keyboard and mouse are available inside the booth.

2. iPad controls the desktop via as such as Splashtop, or the ones mentioned here. Splashtop turns your iPad into the controlling device, forcing your computer to act as a slave. Monitor by the window/inside the booth contains your scripts. Keyboard and mouse are still there.

3. You use the iPad as both script reader and master control system. Would be harder to punch 'n roll with that setup.

Any ideas sparking from this?

[Frank F]

Just another thought or point of view...

Use the room! Isolation can be achieved by adding spray or injection foam in existing walls. This solution will not be perfect, but will create a definite difference for those times when others are in the house.

Add screws instead of nails (or in-addition) to existing flooring and joists.

Another option is fabric walls with removable insulation. Add an additional layer of mass vinyl or rubber to the floors IN the room to help secure and quiet the flooring. One half inch covered with carpet should work. One inch is better.

Or build a BIG booth.

Whatever you choose - Have Fun!

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

[Neil K. Hess]

I'm with Corey on this one (I'm not trying to jack the thread, just piggy back as my situation is similar), as my wife and I hope to have children soon and need to have access to AC and the heater it seems like just treating the room would not work (unless there is another solution I am unaware of).
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http://neilkhessvo.com

[heyguido]

Frank beat me to it. You don't necessarily have to deconstruct the walls to improve isolation. Or the floors.

Sounds like you're downstairs. New carpet and a thick pad in your daughter's room can be done for a few hundred bucks, and Lowes installs in a matter of hours. If you pull it up yourself, you can track down and renail any squeaky spots. Additional insulation for the walls can be blown in (remove a small strip of wallboard along the ceiling joint) or done with injectable foam. I'm betting you're getting a lot of exterior noise from a window or two. Window plugs are cheap and easy, and done right, look no different from curtains to the outside. Check the Habitat Re-store for a solid core door to replace the hollow one you probably have, and place felt weatherstrip along the door jamb, and a snug multi-strip sweep along the sill.

None of these things need be expensive, or destructive. And they can be done one at a time, on weekends, for considerably less than the cost of a booth big enough to be comfortable in. You'd be surprised what you can achieve without rebuilding your house.
_________________
Don Brookshire
"Wait.... They wanna PAY me for this?"