THE TRUTH: DIY Vocal Booth VS Reflection Filter (+ Video)

B

BangOnPads

New member
Hey,

I guess there comes a point in every aspiring producer's life when you start wondering if you should build yourself a vocal booth.
There are tons of blueprints out there telling you what things to buy etc.

Personally I've been down this road.
I did build a recording booth on my own.

I would like to share my expierience with you guys by comparing DIY vocal booths with reflections filters:

Click here to read the full article

If you also want to watch a short video on this topic:

Click here to watch the video comparison - vocal booth VS reflection filter

Who else has made expiriences with these things and what is your opinion?

What do you prefer and for what reasons?
DIY vocal booth or reflection filter?

Let the games begin :victory:
 
Hmm...I'll have to disagree with you. Sorry, but there's no testing data comparing either, and there is not even a recording to judge whether I need one or not, so as far as I'm concerned, there's no real reason to want to do either from the video. I will tell you however that there are MANY reasons to use an iso booth in a studio when you're recording, regardless if you're recording more than one person or not. Also, foams aren't good for treatment in a booth anyways - hardly any professional rooms use foam. Instead, you'll likely see mixtures of fabrics and wood - but this isn't the treatment either. Behind the wood, behind the fabric, you'll find fiberglass or mineral wool insulation. In bigger iso booths, you'll see the use of diffusion as well to keep the space alive but controlled. Reflection filters themselves also don't offer much better results than the plain room. Sure, you'll knock some reflections down, but so will a blanket. They won't stop standing waves in the room, won't bring up any nulls in the recording, don't offer any isolation, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for recording in a bigger room rather than a closet - and most people tend to try to use their tiny 3' x 4' closet as a vocal booth (which will give horrible results), so I recommend not to unless you've got a large space and the products to treat the room. Otherwise, I'd rather see someone use gobos or portable panels rather than a thin foam semicircle around the mic.
 
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+1,000 with what GIK said....
A real quality Iso-booth would be preferred over a reflection filter.
The reflection filter would not prevent the reverb/echos, that may be bouncing off the wall from behind the artist, which is where treatment or gobos come in.

However, if on a budget, the reflection filter will work, just be mindful of
the rooms surrounding acoustics, and if you need isolation, or not.
The reflection filter would also be better than a 3x3 closet.
 
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This is simply another marketing video, plain and simple. Reflection filters are a gimmick. Vocal booths are needed for so many reasons. I used used to live in a loft with tall ceilings. Had killer acoustics for drums but was horrible for acoustic guitar and voice. Bought a reflection filter when they came out and they did nothing but tame the promixity effect of my vocal mic. The backround acoustics still sucked. Loud, reflective comb filtering all over the place on top of that residual noise issues that you can't fix in the mix or with plug ins. UPS truck, garbage truck, plane flying over head, microwave, next door neighbors, the list goes on and on, noisy laptop and computer. Vocal Booths isolate and get rid of this problem. Others talk about treatments of foam not working? No acoustic treatment works if it is used wrong. Owens 703 wrapped in the wrong fabric will not work correctly. Owens 703 is expensive and if you use the correct corner trapping and 2-3" acoustic foam, the good stuff in a smaller booth your vocals turn out amazing. The key is the right booth and not all booths are made the same. MDF, OSB, Plywood all yield a different result. Bottom line is a vocal booth is tried and true and when built correctly and treated correctly works like a dream! No more backround noise, my girlfriend get's her sleep while I record all night and when my lease is up I can take it down and move it. I built my booth for under $1000 including the foam and it actually islolates. I have done acoustic guitar sample loop recording in it, conga drum stuff, harmony parts, rap, & voice over. It has also helped get me clients that take me seriously. A treated bedroom with a reflection filter used to lose me clients left and right. Now they see my booth and they know I'm dead serious and it's dead silent in there!
 
Allen124 said:
Cheaper just to find a bigger room to record in.keep it upp
Click to expand...

I've never built a booth anywhere I've stayed. I always set up my equipment somewhere where I'll have a free room next to it to transform into a booth. All you need is a decent size bathroom, a big enough walk in closet, or even a hallway or den if your equipment is in the room next to it.

I will also say...foam gets a bad name from acoustic guys. It's a CHEAP SOLUTION, but it is a solution. Just like thick rugs, and tons of other things(Including building your own fiberglass panels). The point is to tame the room by any means, not everyone is in a situiation where they're able to gut walls or want to hire acoustic specialist for their home setup.

A properly placed auralex kit and carpeting/rugs will make alot of rooms sound 100 times better fair enough if fiberglass and rockwool filled walls will POSSIBLY sound 200 times better(depends on the room and placement), but any option is better than nothing.

Problem is, if you have no clue of what you need placed where to tame what...you'll be taking shots in the dark until you figure it out.
 
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