So you’ve finally collected enough gear, your production skills are really starting to improve, and your mixes are sounding better than ever. You now have a home studio you are proud of. But even before you’ve become the slightest bit comfortable with all of this success, you’ve already started wondering if you ought to build an Isolated Vocal Booth for the singer?
Do you really need a Vocal Booth? No, It is certainly not a prerequisite. Additionally unless you have a significant budget allotted to have a soundproof, acoustically treated vocal room scientifically designed and built then it is probable that the effort to construct one would prove counter productive.
If you need to do something, there are things that can be done. If you want to do something then you certainly can, but if you are asking must you do something then no, it is not necessary.
Now to what you can do and the different ways to do it, but first lets start with…
The Basics
Perhaps the most fundamental and rudimentary thing we could discuss on this issue is the difference between sound proofing and acoustic treatment. Firstly soundproofing is typically an invasive project while treatment is topical. Soundproofing is building a room or rooms to be free from transferring sound vibrations from one to another. In effect you build a room with-in a room that does not in any way affix to any exterior wall, the floor “floats” and the ceilings “hang”. This is not a typical DIY project. It requires more then a fair share of planning as well as engineering know how and construction prowess. It is good to investigate this topic more to inform yourself. There will be a few valuable takeaways in doing so. So I do recommend that at the very least.
Sound treatment on the other hand is more or less dressing a room with various accessories that either diffuse frequencies or absorb them. There are many products available online and If you’re careful to follow the manufacturer’s recommendations then installation should not be a difficult undertaking.
MORE WHY NOTS
A lot of home studios are confined to small areas, many use a single room to do everything. Sacrificing any portion of that limited resource in order to frame in a vocal booth may not be in the interest of efficiency.
That is not to mention the affect that the newly constructed vocal booth will make on the already precarious sonic footprint of the room you are working in.
In most cases the best and most efficient solution will be to do your best to maximize and double down on your sound treatment and sound proofing efforts in the space you are already working in.
The On Occasion Other Room
A better option, when and if possible would be using a secondary room in the house or building for tracking vocals. By doing this you would create the isolation you’re looking for with out cramping up the vocals into such a deadened and tight enclosure. Effectively you would not need to make permanent modifications to the secondary room if the room is necessary for other functions than recording.
If you assemble a stockpile of mattresses, moving blankets and other sound treatment material, it could be kept in storage and on the occasion that a secondary room is advantageous you’d be all ready to go.
Tracking Vocals in the Control Room
If there are no secondary rooms to isolate your vocals and if you are leaning towards not building a vocal booth then the next best thing would be to optimize your ability to capture the best quality vocal recordings that you can from there inside of your control room.
At this point you should evaluate the current condition and overall quality of the sound treatment that you already have implemented in your space.
There are a number of companies online that design, fabricate and ship a variety of products directly intended to improve the sound acoustics of rooms just like yours.
Working with one or two of them to create a strategy that is right for you is definitely in your interest.
Once you have made all of the improvements and upgrades to the overall sound treatment of your space you can refocus yourself back on the task of achieving the best vocal isolation you can from inside of the control room.
The Reflective Filter
A Reflective Filter provides a nominal amount of Isolation at a modest price. It does come with limitations but may prove useful if used tactically and in conjunction with a few other pieces of acoustic treatment. A Reflective Filter is an acoustically treated half circle cylinder panel that mounts onto the back of the microphone stand directly behind the microphone.
It may not be the most scientifically useful tool because typically the back of the microphone is not intended to receive information but manufactures say that by mounting a Reflective Filter onto the back of a microphone stand the vocal reflections will be prevented from ever doubling into the diaphragm by dampening the vocals at the source thusly mitigating reflective noise from being captured.
That seems logical enough.
Using A Closet
This may seem like the eureka idea that you’ve been waiting for but its probably not. Assuming that the closet is a normal size closet and not a giant walk-in then you can surely expect the small space to act as a reflective echo chamber.
It is far more likely that you could buy and install proper treatment into your control room and walk away with a better sounding recording from there. The size of the room and the sound of that size would capture and translate far better then the boxiness of a small closet.
But if stubborn persistence prevails the strategy for preparing the closet would be to deaden that echo with sound treatment. The use of sound treatment will result in a very dead sounding room and a very well isolated vocal.
If you can make that work, or if that is what you are going for, then great.
Build A Booth With Blankets
If you decide you are better left to track in the control room then do that. As I’ve said before prudence would dictate that you do your best to treat the room as best as money will allow. You can use moving blankets or better still soundproofing blankets to cover windows and doorways. You can also look online for plans to build computer quiet boxes if you would like.
Buying a stack of soundproofing blankets would be in your interest. Not only would you be able to use them to treat problems in a flexible way as they came up. You could also use them to build a sort of pop-up sound booth. The common recommendation for doing so would be to collect some PVC pipe and cornering couplers to build a frame. And drape and affix the soundproofing blankets to that including one over the top. I think if it is going to be a regular solution for you rather then using PVC, look into curtain tracks which could be mounted onto the ceiling, treat the area at the top and within the tracking with any quality sound treatment or even another blanket, then clip the blankets onto the curtain tracks you can pull the curtain back when your done or take the blankets down and you would never have to clown with PVC like a rookie.
If soundproofing blankets aren’t your thing you can use futons rested into a good corner of the room.
Just Make It Work
In my experience, having a nice space that had an isolated vocal room made the room easier to sell to clients, so I get it.
But if you are only working on your own material, some of the later solutions would likely get the job done.
So, go and be great!
Goodluck