Rob_P Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I am looking for a portable solution to allow decent voiceover/vocal recordings. I typically do amateur theatre sound, and often need to record the odd line of naration, voiceover, or off-stage voice, but I don't have access to a studio. Most of the places that are convenient for recording tend to be accoustically shocking (rehearsal rooms, dressing roooms, offices etc. Up till now my solutions have varied between begging a key to a wardrobe (tricky) to building a fort out of green room sofa cushions (silly), but I can't help thinking that there must be a better solution out there. Searching online it seems that lots of people seem to have built accoustic foam boxes to hold microphones and absorb reflections (like these:http://www.harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml) I would be happy to build one, but accoustic foam only seems to come in large packs, and I would only need a small amount. Otherwise I could buy a commercial reflections filter like this:http://www.dv247.com/microphones/se-electronics-reflexion-filter-portable-vocal-booth--31474 So, my questions are: 1) Has anyone got a cunning solution that they have used to overcome this problem?2) Is a commercial filter likely to be effective in a room with poor acoustics?3) Is a box lined with decent accoustic foam likely to be more effective than a commercial "C" shaped reflections filter? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timd Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 It's difficult to see how any degree of poor room acoustics (ridiculous background noise excepted) could cause problems with a well constructed take on the boxes you liked to! There's plenty of acoustic foam tiles on ebay, some singles and plenty of packs of ten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Red5audio do a portable acoustic screen similar to the thing you linked to, at about half the price. Haven't tried it, but their other kit gets decent reviews. http://www.red5audio.com/acatalog/Accessories.html (just noticed it's currently out of stock) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 In the control room of a nearby now closed venue, someone (a long time ago) lined the back wall with egg cartons. These were never any good an soundproofing, as anyone who believed the hype about egg cartons in the per-Internet era will testify, but they sure do cut down on nasty reflections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I'm a big fan of that sE Reflexion filter. I've been using one for a number of years and, set up in accordance with the instructions, find it's darn near as good as a real voice booth. If you can arrange things so there's not a hard reflective surface behind the person you're recording (soft curtains, that sort of thing) it's darn near perfect. FYI, sE also do a home studio version of the Reflexion filter--I'd characterise it as "80% as good for half the money". I've played with various home made designs for boxes lined with acoustic foam and they always sound, well, boxy to me. I've tried some of the imitators and have yet to find one that was worth the effort to set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallMike Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 My cunning trick to make a portable voiceover booth is get a foam lined flightcase and pop the mic in there - ideally a 'case in a case' lid - and they're usually lined with thick foam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldradiohand Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Recording in an empty auditorium can work quite well, keep well away from the walls and it'll sound reasonably dead in most theatres. If you want it deader you could always put the mic closer. If all you've got is a hall or plain room I've had some success using bed quilts suspended from mic stands to form a 3/4 booth, In the control room of a nearby now closed venue, someone (a long time ago) lined the back wall with egg cartons. These were never any good an soundproofing, as anyone who believed the hype about egg cartons in the per-Internet era will testify, but they sure do cut down on nasty reflections. ...and provide a serious fire hazard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted October 21, 2012 Share Posted October 21, 2012 Can you use the lip mike user for sports commentators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Can you use the lip mike user for sports commentators. ...otherwise known as a COLES 4104 RIBBON MIC. Not exactly cheap but they let you get a very acceptable voice over almost anywhere. When I was in TV news they were a standard part of every portable edit system we sent out and did a great job. We even kept a few back at base for times when the proper voice studios were busy--they let us do a good quality voice over in a noisy edit suite with air con and VTRs whirring away. I wish I'd thought of it for non TV use! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I've got one, and the only saving grace is the ability to reduce wanted to unwanted noise - it's excellent at that, but it's not remotely a high quality audio microphone. By design, it has a carefully compromised frequency response and low gain - and I've never made it sound natural - it emphasises speech frequencies to make it cut through, left on it's own it's a pretty horrid sounding mic. It's great when you add back in the location sound in a controlled way - but on it's own, it sounds pretty strange. Thomann do a version of the SE foam shield - I note. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Gordon Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I would be happy to build one, but accoustic foam only seems to come in large packs, and I would only need a small amount.I made my own Harlan style booth using Auralex foam from StudioSpares. Their 50mm pyramid foam comes in 2' x 2' sheets purchased singly for about £15 (currently out of stock - they have a 4' x 2' sheet at £30.80 +VAT). 2' x 2' gives you two 1' x 1' sides and a 2' x 1' piece for back and top that will fit inside Ikea's 'Drona' box for £2.50. The larger sheet will give you some for the bottom as well. Even without it (as in Harlan's original photo) the booth works well for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallMike Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 You don't actually want to put the foam in a box - it'll just add to the reflections. Use coat hanger type wire to keep it together. Also means you can fold it down.... If I'm not using the vocal booth at my studios - Just a piece of 200mm studio foam works, if you want one gratis, come and pick one up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 If you are an avid reader of Hugh Robjohns and Paul White's studio sos feature in Sound on Sound Magazine - you'll find they swear by duvets to control acoustics as a short term cure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerry davies Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 And I well remember dozens of army blankets hanging in the roof of Wembley arena. Bet there's research somewhere with Tog ratings and down or filament duvet fillings in relation to acoustic effectiveness. Meant to add for the OP that I discovered years back thatsome brands of roof insulation sold by Jewson's had the same technical characteristics as Acoustic Fibre costing 4 or 5 times as much. Check things out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallMike Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Rockwool RWA45 does - but it's not pleasant to handle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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