Portable/Mobile Vocal Booth?

[Shadoweclipse13]

I'm wondering how many of you guys have or have used one? I saw one online and thought for someone like me, i.e. hobbyist, not professional musician, this was a neat idea. Especially since I'm living in apartments at this point and not a house yet. I was also thinking I could build one myself as well, but haven't gotten far into the designs on anything.




I like the type that's a stand, as opposed to the mic in a box, but have never used either. I'd mainly be using it for a little singing recording, and maybe some podcast stuff.

[Embenny]

That type of shield is for absorbing reflections and reducing the flutter echoes that reach the mic from an untreated room. It does nothing for sound isolation. What are your current challenges you're facing when recording vocals? Are you getting too much "room sound" from an untreated room? Or are you getting bleed from neighbors, cars on the street, etc?

It can help, a bit, with the first, but won't help the second at all.

[marqueemoon]

^That.

I personally wouldn't bother.

[Shadoweclipse13]

Thanks for the replies guys! At this point I'm not trying to solve any issues. I've got some of the basic necessities (pop-screens, extra cables, etc.), but I'm just starting to collect things for recording. Haven't done any vocals in a long time, and just thought that I'd look into things I might need, and for things that don't take up much room. Just researching at this point.

That said, I'm not going for perfect, pristine recordings of anything when I get there. My recording spaces will likely be untreated until I get a house/home/something other than apartment.

[Embenny]

Thanks for the replies guys! At this point I'm not trying to solve any issues. I've got some of the basic necessities (pop-screens, extra cables, etc.), but I'm just starting to collect things for recording. Haven't done any vocals in a long time, and just thought that I'd look into things I might need, and for things that don't take up much room. Just researching at this point.

That said, I'm not going for perfect, pristine recordings of anything when I get there. My recording spaces will likely be untreated until I get a house/home/something other than apartment.

These things, like any acoustic treatment, are something to be purchased to solve a specific issue. After you've experimented with recording in various ways in your own space, you'll be able to listen back and decide where to put your money into making improvements. I wouldn't worry about purchasing it before laying down any test tracks in the space(s) you have available. You might find that you have a surprisingly good-sounding room in your apartment, as far as reverberation/flutter echoes go.

[Shadoweclipse13]

That's really good advice Thanks dude.

I always figured that when recording vocals most people would record as dry as possible, and add anything extra (reverb, etc.) later during mixing.

[julius2790]

A recording engineer just told me to sing into a mic facing the closet (with clothing obviously) for apartment recording. It seemed to work out ok considering I was using a cheap mic and preamp. I later tried the same approach with a mattress posted behind where I was singing and it seemed to work even better.

I've also read that filling a room with books and book cases will do a great job of minimizing unwanted noise.

[marqueemoon]

I hate that dry proximity effect sound on my own vocals. It just never sits right in the mix. I usually use an omni mic. No proximity effect and no weird tonal shifts when I vary my distance from the mic to sing louder/quieter. Yes, you get more room sound, which is accentuated by the use of compression so if the room sounds crappy it will pick that up more, but compression can bring out a lot of unflattering stuff with a close cardioid mic too. It definitely does with my voice.