This'll freak some people out: makeshift VO 'booth'

O

olindacat

Well-known member
I'm super crunched getting a job out and have to leave my home in a week for 3 mos, but was gonna try and post ANYTHING in the Villainfest. I'm considering doing a lot of narration as I have no time to do any casting. But, I have no sound booth, no decent mics. I do have a cheap hand held plastic mic w/on-off switch and an Olympus w/USB that I can use. It'll be horrible but I'm starting with the absolutely worst gear first so I can work my way up :-) Now to my question: can I literally do my VOs under my sheets??? I know this sounds ridiculous but everything I see online shows angled and absorbing walls, etc. Is this absurd for a zero-based budget situation where I have no time or resources? (Okay now, let the abuse commence ;-)
 
Which Olympus?

As far as a makeshift VO booth, there are several ways around this. Under bedsheets may not be the best option... but consider a closet that has plenty of hanging clothes. If you have any budget at all, there's a great plan online at Steven Klein's Sound Control Room for a DIY vocal booth (really, it's a gobo). I built one several years ago, and it's very handy.
 
Yeah man... under your sheets, wrapped in a Curtain, whatever cancels that room noise.

With an el cheapo microphone, experiment with proximity to find it's 'sweet spot'.

I hope your room isn't a Cathedral or a toilet... then you'll need a blanket or something.

If the room reverb isn't so bad, you can just hold the mic so that you are speaking straight into your curtains (or a Blanket hanging up somehow).

Your goal is to get as unaffected a vocal as you can so that you have as much room as possible in your editing software to give it the characteristic you desire.

When you determine your recording volume, aim for as much signal as you can and as little noise as possible.
What this means is that you must speak a bit louder than usual and turn you mic down a bit.

Hope that helps :)
 
You guys are the best! Mahalos!!! (I thought for sure I was gonna get it on this one. Searched before I posted but didn't see anything as lame as this :-)
 
Great suggestions all; I would just add a couple of ideas, having worked with a lot of junk (!):

Cheapo-Mike Concepts--

1) Use a microphone stand if you can. Reduce as much handling noise as possible.

2) When finding that "sweet spot," remember to watch out for "plosives" and "sibilance"
(low end distortion, "popping" sounds, and "sszzsss" high-end pitchy sounds). If you're having trouble recording cleanly and clearly when you are working with those sounds, practice backing-off or turning your head for those words or phrases, which is called singing or speaking "off axis." Also good microphone technique in general-- back-off when you are speaking or singing very loudly or with extreme high pitch; get closer when you are working quietly, but watch for too much bass if you are too close (dynamic mikes have something called the "proximity effect;" the closer you are to the microphone, the more bass response there will be).

Cheapo- sound treatment techniques--

1) can you get a packing blanket or two? If not, can you get a very thick sleeping bag?
Throw that over your desk/workstation/computer table and chair (with you underneath, of course)... That will be as effective as being under your sheet and blanket on your bed, but will sound just a little less creepy when you tell people about it...

GJ
 
;-) The bed concept arose when I realized I didn't have anything to hang much from, and I was thinking of when I was a kid with the whole flashlight thing at night.... I have strobes and five tripods but no boom-like gear to hang anything on and don't have the lux of time right now to rig anything. Even the clothes pins out back are cheap! Thanks for the technique tips. Just what I need to hear.
 
Alex H. said:
Which Olympus?

As far as a makeshift VO booth, there are several ways around this. Under bedsheets may not be the best option... but consider a closet that has plenty of hanging clothes. If you have any budget at all, there's a great plan online at Steven Klein's Sound Control Room for a DIY vocal booth (really, it's a gobo). I built one several years ago, and it's very handy.
Click to expand...

I'll let you know. It's in my office and I'll there in couple of hours. Just something I picked up at office max. Used it for interviews for my mag of golf luminaries and boy do I wish I knew better....
 
You can always take your bed and put it behind your mic standing up against a wall! I've seen Trent Reznor do this when he was working with Saul Williams in a hotel room!

I bought a Reflexion http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=447164&is=REG&A=details&Q= which I put my mic in. It works AMAZINGLY well, and probably just as good as the other idea mentioned here earlier (with the egg crate foam). I was skeptical about the Reflexion until I saw a video of Erasure using one in their studio so I bought on to try. We use it on ALL our ADR sessions.
 
olindacat said:
;-) The bed concept arose when I realized I didn't have anything to hang much from, and I was thinking of when I was a kid with the whole flashlight thing at night.... I have strobes and five tripods but no boom-like gear to hang anything on and don't have the lux of time right now to rig anything. Even the clothes pins out back are cheap! Thanks for the technique tips. Just what I need to hear.
Click to expand...

Well believe it or not that is a not uncommon Radio Doc trick. The NPR studio show of course aren't doing it but a LOT of freelance radio doc narration is done either under some comforters on a bed or in a closet full of cloths. Depends a bit on what your more comfortable with. Works great.

See pros are not always about slick expensive gear ;~)
 
Now my mattress is a cal king memory foam jobber that is so heavy my wife and I just ran away when it popped out of the carton! I don't think that puppy's going up on any walls, unless you're over to lend us a hand :-)

That Reflexion is a great idea, Rick. Very cool little set-up. Thanks!

BTW: (I wasn't joshing the FS100 group... I still have my $6 grand @ B&H + a $250 deposit @ EC Pro for the FS, but have my hands are full with my next issue & a big trip to NY + the VG10 I recently got is plenty for me to deal with in terms of learning all about moving DOF, which was never an issue as a still photog or when I taped with the loaner Sony cam I used from our community station. I'll eventually get the FS... just as soon as I graduate from kindergarten ;-)

For everyone who has helped, my sincerest thanks. Some of you may not know this but I actually have a SD 702T (http://gallery.me.com/mauigolfreview#100167/IMG_0479&bgcolor=black). But it is too much machine for me as a beginner and so I listed it for sale and have a buyer for it (which explains the iPhone clips). Sadly, I am actually excited about the art of audio and so I may miss the thing.

Truth be told: I'm eating all kinds of yummy humble pie as the gear I have bought rolls in and my stupidity becomes ever more apparent. What a dunce!
 
It's all about learning. I've been doing audio long before I did video. I've made bad purchases even when I thought I had the right answer, and that is both audio and video. I'm just glad I have eBay to help me move the things I decide I don't need :)
 
olindacat said:
I have no sound booth, no decent mics. I do have a cheap hand held plastic mic w/on-off switch and an Olympus w/USB that I can use. It'll be horrible but I'm starting with the absolutely worst gear first so I can work my way up :-) Now to my question: can I literally do my VOs under my sheets??? I know this sounds ridiculous but everything I see online shows angled and absorbing walls, etc. Is this absurd for a zero-based budget situation where I have no time or resources?
Click to expand...

Well this works extremely well in all average/hotel rooms, you can repeat voice sounds, saves time = money .. with the compression sacks travels in a suitcase. IMO 'under the sheets' etc. will sound dreadful with no presence .. worthwhile getting a loan. After, you could stick it up on Ebay.

http://harlanhogan.com/portaboothArticle.shtml

Cheers.
 
Actually it gives you a very up front in your face sound that is very NPR VO. It's not a whole lot deader than a vocal booth. But it has limited use. It only really works for VO and Naration. Even if you could get your leads to do ADR under a blanket with a monitor it would be very hard to make it fit the other dialog.

The Portabooth is supposed to work well but it only solves one of the two issues a lot of radio doc producers face. It gives you a much less reflective space but these guys are often doing the VO's in hotel rooms or apartments and they also need to muffle down the ambient noise. The Portabooth isn't going to do that.
 
Last edited:
I don't have the article in front of me, but one of the video magazines had plans for a PVC booth. Basically three rectangular PVC frames, then hang furniture pads over them - rent or buy from Uhaul or something - and you got a nice little portable booth. I'll see if I can find a link somewhere...

Here you go: http://www.videomaker.com/article/14618/
 
Noiz2 said:
Actually it gives you a very up front in your face sound that is very NPR VO. It's not a whole lot deader than a vocal booth. But it has limited use. It only really works for VO and Narration.
Click to expand...

That's what the OP originally said he's going to do .. narrration, because he has no time for casting.

Noiz2 said:
The Portabooth is supposed to work well but it only solves one of the two issues a lot of radio doc producers face. It gives you a much less reflective space but these guys are often doing the VO's in hotel rooms or apartments and they also need to muffle down the ambient noise. The Portabooth isn't going to do that.
Click to expand...

We use a Hogan Portabooth for client clips and narration in their offices, on location, script changes etc. .. never had a problem except from collegues who borrow it and one in particular, who took it to Indonesia on a gig and returned it minus a slice of its acoustic foam. Hogan must buy that particular type in bulk, cause it's damned expensive by the slice.

We take a portable battery light to read by as sometimes you set up in more suitably quiet but darker areas. Also for clients, a selection of different mics might help make his/her delivery more acceptable. Good for client relations and PR too.

Cheers.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top