Simple set for voice-over

[jinks]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for a simple way to do voice-over narrations over my short doc's and travel show. I have a shotgun mic that I tried to plug into my computer and used vegas to record but it wasn't good at all, then I tried using the lav's which turned out to be very clear and loud but with a lot of raffle and a slight hiss with lots of pop. What's the best to go about voice-overs, what equipment do I need and what are the fundamentals steps in eliminating ambient sound during recording? I've heard of home "booths".... how easy and practical are they to make and what stuff do I need if I'm to go that route?
Any help is very much appreciated.

 

[Noiz2]

The dirt simple and cheap NPR trick is to use a handheld dynamic mic and record under a blanket on your bed.
That is about as low tech as you can get but it also works really well.

All that soft stuff kills all the bounce and you get a very up close in your face NPR sound. The dynamic mic needs to be close to what your recording and so eliminates a lot of background noise, they also have very good handling ability (don't pick up handling noise much). You need a decent preamp/ interface.

portable booths work pretty well from what I here but they also cost a bunch. Building your own is not a simple task and it won't be very portable. You could try a variation on the NPR thing by using a small tent and tossing blankets over the top.

The closest to a dead homemade portable booth would involve 2X4 frames filled with fiberglass insulation and covered with cloth. You could sort of build a "stackable" room that way. Personally I would stay with the blankets till I was ready to build a small permanent space.