Vocal Isolation Box

[midKnight]

Hey gang,

As part of my evolving studio room, I came across this idea originally from reading some techniques that voice over artists use during their recording sessions.

The concept being that while a fully treated control room is of course the best way to go, short of that, you can treat the space around your mic, and that is nearly as good.

So, that's what I've done. Based on a design from Douglass Spotted Eagle's version, I built a "Vocal Isolation Box" for my mic.

Here is the box in all it's glory, pic #1


The box is 2' x 2' and "sits" on the mic stand. It is fully adjustable with the stand for vocalists of various heights.

Construction materials include: white poster board, box of straight pins, duct tape, spray glue, 6 pyramid wedges, screws/bolts/, 2 lightswitch covers, a connector and an extension rod. Total cost about $60. ($30 for pyramid wedges, $20 for box materials from target, and $10 for home depot parts.)

Pic #2 shows a closeup of the MacGyver style attachment. A standard lightswitch cover has a hole in the center that is just about the exact size of a standard mic stand, so the fit was nice and snug. The connector and mic extension are a little flimsy, but as one doesn't play rugby with their mic stands, it's fine for this purpose.



On to the most important part of this post, how does it sound? In a word, fantastic.

My control room is already pretty quiet, but I do have the usual background noise (recording pc, stereo amp for monitors, etc. etc.) and I found the box probably cuts down on this noise by 50%.

I have made some test recordings of the room, but quite honestly I'm not posting them as they really aren't all that interesting, and my experience with using the box so far I think is more valuable.

In a recording situation, I have found that the box of course does modify the "tone" a little bit of the person singing into it, but only ever so slightly.

As I tend to record vocalists about 1.5 feet from the mic, the box really just acts like a shield, blocking out external noise. If I were to ask the person I'm recording to get right up on the mic, say 4-6in or so, then you would definitely hear a big difference in tone, (it would sound very much like they had their head in a box) but again at 1.5 feet, it still captures plenty of the room sound, and with my normal routine of using a compressor and expander while recording, background noise is lowered dramatically now.

While I still plan on completely treating my room, this is a great first step in cutting down the amount of work I'll have to do later cleaning up vocal recordings.


Just thought I'd share this all with you, incase anyone else wants to try it out or has ideas on how to improve this design.

[Equilibrium8]

Hi, I stumbled on this while I was browsing through the pages. Co-incidentally I was in process of making one, as my room reflections are bad.
I also found the idea in VO pages as I intend to start recording VO artists soon.
My problem with the original idea was the mic positioning. You have covered that pretty well.
This is a pretty old post, have you tried any new things with the porta-booth? I am still deciding which is best way to build mine.

[midKnight]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium8

Hi, I stumbled on this while I was browsing through the pages. Co-incidentally I was in process of making one, as my room reflections are bad.
I also found the idea in VO pages as I intend to start recording VO artists soon.
My problem with the original idea was the mic positioning. You have covered that pretty well.
This is a pretty old post, have you tried any new things with the porta-booth? I am still deciding which is best way to build mine.

I understand your dilemma about how to attach it, and I grappled with that for a while (and Im still futzing with it every now and then.)

My solution works "reasonably" well, although it's not super sturdy, basically I used a couple of lightswitch covers (the holes in the center are amazingly enough the EXACT size of a straight mic stand), so they fit snug down on the mic stand, and then I have it bolted together with screws and bolts, and it moves with the stand, so I can adjust for different singers.

I think it functions quite well for what it is, it definitely cuts down on background noise and unwanted reflections.

I'd highly recommend experimenting with one, as it was super cheap for parts and only took me about an hour or so to build the box.

I'm happy to share any of my construction tips, or you might have some better ones than I came up with).

-N

[Equilibrium8]

I understand your dilemma about how to attach it, and I grappled with that for a while (and Im still futzing with it every now and then.)

What I originally wanted to do was be able to put a boom stand through the top, but given that this will be in my SMALL makeshift vocal semi-booth, the boom won't extend there anyway and is ompractical to put use the boom inside due to the size.

My solution works "reasonably" well, although it's not super sturdy, basically I used a couple of lightswitch covers (the holes in the center are amazingly enough the EXACT size of a straight mic stand), so they fit snug down on the mic stand, and then I have it bolted together with screws and bolts, and it moves with the stand, so I can adjust for different singers.

I will try that out. I was toying with the idea of attaching it to an upright mic stand with some big washers and just using a destop stand inside, or a gooseneck mounted on top of the box mounting. The first option I just find horribly unappealing from an aesthetic point of view (people love seeing mics hanging upside fro their boom stands while they singing.) and the second option is a bit of a squeeze with my box. I'm using a 10.5" box that's 15 " deep. It looked similar to the original one I saw on the website.

I'm happy to share any of my construction tips, or you might have some better ones than I came up with)

That would be great. I'll post some photos of what I do as soon as I get my foam this weekend.

[midKnight]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium8

I'm using a 10.5" box that's 15 " deep. It looked similar to the original one I saw on the website.

I believe I saw the same website, which is what inspired me to try it out, but I liked the idea of trying to capture a bit more room area round the mic, so mine is 2' x 2'.

Originally Posted by Equilibrium8

That would be great. I'll post some photos of what I do as soon as I get my foam this weekend.

Please do post some pics, would definitely love to see how yours comes out, and what you think of the results of it.

[Equilibrium8]

I liked the idea of trying to capture a bit more room area round the mic, so mine is 2' x 2'

I am aiming to use it for VO work mainly, so just trying to make as much dead space as possible.

Actually seeing your post made me get off my ass and experiment! The boxes have been laying in my closet for the last 3 weeks!

The gooseneck looks like it will solve my concern with positioning the mic with the shockmount, which was not do-able with the desktop stand. Some mics may be OK, but one I was trying, the shockmount would not let it lay straight.

[midKnight]

Originally Posted by Equilibrium8

I am aiming to use it for VO work mainly, so just trying to make as much dead space as possible.

Actually seeing your post made me get off my ass and experiment! The boxes have been laying in my closet for the last 3 weeks!

The gooseneck looks like it will solve my concern with positioning the mic with the shockmount, which was not do-able with the desktop stand. Some mics may be OK, but one I was trying, the shockmount would not let it lay straight.

Yeah, I paid like 25 for my gooseneck from Guitar center, and it actually works out great for this.

I'm glad this has inspired you to experiment, the post has served it's purpose.

[Equilibrium8]

I just finished my first one. It didn't come out as intended though. The box looked right when I started, but seemed smaller and smaller as I went along. This is only mic that will fit in it due to the size. I wanted to put a mic with a shock mount inside, but then the stand needs to go through at the back of the box, leaving it very unstable. I can't think of a way to do that and support it yet. But it is fully adjustable on the mic stand.

Here are a few photos.

ST833486 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

ST833487 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

ST833488 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[midKnight]

Yeah, mine has a bit of a stability problem as well, but as I don't really move the stand too much, it's not that big of a deal.

Let me know how your results come out, I'm pretty happy with my initial tests so far.