DIY vocal reflection filter/booth

Have you ever been recording vocals and found yourself struggling against background noise. Or does you microphone pick up too much of the ambience of the room when all you want is a clean and dry vocal take?


This is the blog for you!

There are a number of options. You could acoustically treat the room but this is expensive and quite a hard task if you don't understand acoustics. Also if the treatment is done badly it can cause further Problems and luck very messy.

You could also turn a closet In to a vocal booth and line it with carpets, foam, blankets and all sorts of other thick materials.. What if you don't have a spare closet then what do you do?

You use a vocal reflection filter. With your microphone in the middle and the acoustic treatment of the filter around the back and sides the amount of background noise it picks up will be greatly improved.

SE electronics are a notable company for making these as are many others. I really like the editors keys version and will include a link to there website below.

Unfortunately these things cost money. This is where some recording studio DIY comes in.

Materials

Old drum 

The size is up to you as each size will give you different end results.  i used a 16" floor tom.  You can pick up cheap drums on eBay or on many other places online.  Some drum/music shops sell broken drums for spares and repairs that you could use depending on there state.

Acoustic foam

eBay is also a great place for this.  I used some auralex egg box foam but most acoustic foam will suffice just make sure you get a size big enough for your drum.  any excess could make smaller versions or a number of other things.


Wood glue/Hot glue gun

For glueing the Acoustic foam to the drum shell.


Brackets/clamps


Head to your local hardware or DIY store and buy something to attach it to a stand or wall.  i attached mine with butterfly style clamps to a straight microphone stand but the possibilities are huge.

How To

Step 1

Saw your drum in half

This will give you the contour you need for your booth.

Step 2

Grab your acoustic foam and glue it to the inside of the shell. Make sur you use plenty of glue to keep it glued down.

Step 3

Cut off and excess foam. This may vary depending how much you want the filter to wrap around. On mine I've left a bit past the drum shell edge.

Step 4

Attach your brackets or clamps to the drum in the position you want. Depending how and to what your attaching your reflection filter the results will vary.

Step 5

Record some crisp vocals with less worry!

Here's a picture of how mine ended up:

This is a link to the Editors Keys Vocal booth if you were looking to go to the next level and purchase one.

Michael Paul Stavrou - Microphone Hardness (Meaning or Interpretation?)

A few years ago i purchased a book entitled Mixing With Your Mind by Michael Stavrou.

The book was a lot of different ideas for setting up a studio and techniques for approaching a recording session.  How to set up your monitors, how to mic up a guitar and many more.

We looked at this book briefly as part of my degree and one section in particular sparked debates.

MICROPHONE HARDNESS

In the book Michael Stavrou talks about his microphone rating system.  The theory is create a chart of microphone hardness, if your using a soft instrument use a hard microphone and visa versa.  This way you can try and get as natural a sound as possible.

What on Earth Is Hardness?


This is the section question that caused a debate.  In the book Michael Stavrou doesn't state exactly what 'hardness' is.

This could be for a few reasons:

• Maybe he just wanted it to be his little secret (but then why right a book?) 
• Maybe he made the whole thing up to fill a chapter?
• Maybe he wants it to be your choice,  your interpretation.

Personally i think the third idea is probably the most likely.  The way i see it, by not defining it, nobody can go wrong with this technique.  Aslong as you perceive your hardness for your microphones and instruments the same way and apply this perception accordingly then that should in theory work for you.

if you struggle to think up your own interpretation of this then here are some ideas that could get you started:

• Does the microphone hurt at loud volumes,  does it get 'harder'?
• Does it sound dull or bright?
• Where are the harmonics?
• Does it sound smooth or crisp?

in the book Michael Stavrou does list things that he says hardness isn't but like i said above if you apply it in the way in which you perceive it then it is a technique that could work extremely well for you.

How Do I Find My Microphone Hardness?

Get all the microphones at your disposal (studio, home, friends).  using the manufactuers websites and manuals look at the frequency response to see which one will colour the sound as little as possible.  Ideally get hold of a flat response microphone if you can.  This microphone will have a hardness rating of 0

After this you can cary on with all other microphones until your left with a rating that goes from what ever number you want.  If your only doing home recording and/or learning about music technology i recomend a -5 to 5 rating.  If you want to do more thats entirley up to you.

as you do the other microphones decide if they sound harder or softer than the flat response microphone rated 0, then give them a rating accordingly.  

How Do I Apply This To My Next Session?

Now you have that rating chart lets put it to good use.  Print it out and stick it on your wall if you want especially if you have a lot of microphones.

Listen to your audio source (guitar, vocals, piano, etc...) and using the same perception for hardness decide if your source has a hard or soft sound.  if your source has a hardness rating 2 then use a microphone with a hardness rating -2.  basicly use the opposite of the source to help get the most natural response.

Make sure you remember that not every vocalist will have the same percieved hardness just like no 2 of the same guitars or instrumentalist will either, however if you use this system you can get good results everytime!

One more thing to remember is that, like most other things in this industry, this isn't set in stone.  You may want to capture a hard or soft sound so will use a hard mic on a hard source or visa versa.

Where Can I Get That Book?


I highly recommend purchasing this book if you want to learn more of Michael Stavrous' innovative techniques.  The book is full of great ideas and a lot can be taken away from it.

The book can be purchased from one of the two links below

Michael Paul Stavrou - Mixing With Your Mind - Official Author Website