Building Your Own Vocal Booth

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You have the makings of a great audio production booth right in your own home!

Your holiday vacation to scenic Elizabeth, N.J., left you with hours of spellbinding footage: the tempest of turnpikes and toll booths, and the razzle-dazzle of refineries. Your video is so vibrant, you can almost smell the air. You have edited the visuals of your masterpiece, and now it’s time to add some narration.

You know how to set up a mike, and you know what buttons to push to dub in a sound track, and you may even have a mixer permitting you to combine music and sound effects with your voice over. But where do you go to voice your little script? The kitchen, with its refrigerator motor cycling on and off? The office, with the telephone ringing and the kids clamoring to use the computer? The basement is pretty quiet, except for the furnace that sounds like a space shuttle when it fires-up. And, even if you send the family to McDonald’s and turn off the phones, heat and other noisemakers, you still end up with an echo-filled, hollow sound that reeks of amateurism.

You need a sound booth, a place impervious to outside noises, but with the acoustical treatment to reduce the echoes made inside. And while you are at it, a little ventilation, some light and a place to sit might be nice.

But who wants to build a regulation sound booth for just one production? (Some of you would may convert your entire home to a sound and video stage, if it wasn’t for that unenlightened family that lives with you.) Is there a way to create a booth for occasional use? One that is easy and cheap to build, doesn’t require much space, and can be set up and removed easily? Yes, there is. And, there are several ways to do this.

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