Ulf,

email me per my profile and I'll be happy to send you some pics of my set up. Very similar to what Spot had built. Works very well. I can set it on a table or in most cases, I mount it on c-stands.

cheno

...converted at work a small unused closet into a voice over booth...lined the insides with auralex...not expensive at all

at home i use a walk in clothes closet ...

Thanks guys,

Found some resellers of the foam in Denmark - will try to work something out.

/Ulf

I actually bought one of those units a few years back. They're not overly expensive if you shop around. Seems to work as advertised. Realistically I thought about rolling my own but by the time I paid for the good acoustic foam and mounted the thing on a stand it was just cheaper to go buy the SEL unit. And it does look very spiffy!

If you do buy one be aware, no way would I fit it onto a mic stand, I use mine with a Manfrotto light stand, it is fairly heavy and add a pop filter and a Rode NT1A and it's just too much for the average mic stand.

Regardless of if you buy that unit, one of the even more expensive ones or roll your own one thing to be aware of. They stop much of the reflections, enough to not need much more deadening of my wooden floored room. What they do not do is make the room sound proof. I've recently again been caught out twice by rooms that sounded quiet being really noisy once I got to listen to the recording back at base.

Bob.

Spot's box rocks. Built one and it works better than anything else I've tried.

-k

I built Spot's box also after he published his plans, and used it with various microphones from Røde NT1 to Audio-Technica AT825 to Sanken CS3, and a pop filter in front.

It worked quite well, but I'm 6'4" tall and I found it a bit messy to set everything up at the perfect height for me, and it took up a lot of space when not in use (even folded up).

So I bought a Countryman E6i microphone, which has a number of advantages.

It attaches to one ear and goes down around your cheek to the corner of your mouth. Highly adjustable.

It is used frequently by opera singers and many others who want the best sound without being bothered by clunky devices.

Incredible rejection of room reflections, and excellent rejection of outside sounds (it is not a noise-cancelling mic but it does very well in this area).

I paid less than $300 for mine at a pro store (NSL).

Outstanding sound quality, and I don't have to worry about holding my mouth at a constant distance to the microphone. It weighs about 0.1 ounce, so it doesn't exactly make your head droop to one side.

No breath pops ever.

Afterwards it goes back into its tiny carrying case that comes with different caps for different frequency responses, so you can adapt it to your voice if needed. XLR at the end of the cable for me, but lots of choices. There is a very thin but strong cable from the mic to a micro connector that attaches to a sturdier cable with the XLR in my case. This makes it easy to disconnect to take a break while keeping the mic on.

The best in compact living!

In fact, the whole case fits in my shirt pocket, so it is maximally easy to travel with.

Anybody by chance have a link to Spot's box?

Thanks.

/Ulf

This link used to work:

http://www.vasst.com/streaming/keystonecops-voicebox.wmv

It showed a [high-speed] video of the assembly process.

I couldn't get that link to work. Try this one:

Build a Voice-over box

<I want to make a low budget homemade acoustic absorber for voiceovers.>

If your goal is to eliminate background noise, you may find it faster/easier to try a different microphone.

Setting up a permanent VO booth in my office would be impractical, so after years of temporary, but less than satisfactory, sound deadening devices, I finally went in search of a new mic to replace my RODE and Oktava condensers.

I evaluated several and found that EV's Cardinal (large diaphragm cardioid condenser, ~$200) sounded very good with my voice, yet eliminated all the background noise.

Placed in the same location as previous mics (adjacent office), and without any sound deadening devices, I have zero background noise. My typical working distance is 12" to 18", just as before.

-Guy

Very interesting Guy - I just talked to a friend reg. this and he also mentioned the mic. factor reg. backgr.noise.

/Ulf

As a "low cost" alternative to auralex and other high price treatments, I have used convoluted foam from www.uline.com in a closet and it works great.

http://www.uline.com/Browse_Listing_863.asp?desc=Gray+Convoluted+Foam

JAB

<I just talked to a friend reg. this and he also mentioned the mic. factor reg. backgr.noise.>

There can be large differences between mics.

I use a hardware compressor when recording and a software compressor in my timeline, so any noise at all would be painfully obvious. It has been an issue with every mic but this EV, and that includes my handheld dynamic mics.

Use a http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/segment_detail.asp?sid=126&sortby=&page=11&kwid=0&show=all_videosPadded Room[/link].

Make sure the foam is fire retardant.
Boxes are great for travel make sure not square shape.

>>>>Countryman E6i microphone, <<<

When Coursedesign originally reported this, I followed up and entirely agree.

Serena, glad it worked for you also!

Northern Sound is a great pro shop with both great prices and great service. Much better than any of the famous names often mentioned here (that I have been also using for the last 20 years).

They're at http://www.northernsound.net, and note that you need to get an online account (free) to see the really good prices.

Some people think I belong in a padded room, lol. And probably right :p

-k

Some people think I belong in a padded room, lol. And probably right :p

Mee too :-)


This is really a great thread - thanks to all :-)

A lot of good info

/Ulf

I bought some foam yesterday and I'm now redady to do some tests.

I am now thinking of next step - the recording itself. How do you guys record your VO's?

Do you go straight into a PC or on a recordingdev. I have a quite quiete laptop that I could use, but I also have the M-audio recording device.

Thanks again.

/Ulf

That's a good question that involves more than the recorder. If your VO guy wants to watch the video while recording the VO, then maybe recording into Vegas is a good idea if your machine has a good soundcard. I prefer to record "wild" onto a digital audio recorder (an Edirol) and then transfer the wav files, cutting them up in the trimmer or in SoundForge. Recording wild allows retakes (fluffed lines, expression, etc) without having to worry about maintaining sync with the video. Makes it a lot more relaxing for the talent (if this isn't their day job) and less hassle for you. Others will have different workflows.

Hej Ulf!

Here is the cheapest way to do a great voice-over (I have done this a couple of times, with excellent results):

You just need a decent microphone (that you probably already have) - and a car. Ok, and a somehow silent backyard!!!

I urgently needed to do two voiceovers, and this trick proved to be both cheap, fast and gave excellent audio quality:

Clip the microphone to your steering weel's top. Attach the text you are going to read with tape to the steering wheel (not necessary - but avoids any paper handling noise). Use a separate recorder (as a Minidisc) - normally you just do the sync in post anyway. If you need to do the voiceover with video, just bring your camcorder with you and place it on the dashboard, behind the steering wheel. Then you could ever dub to the camcorder - directly.

A modern sedan-type car has very good acoustics and sound damping, that's taken care by the car manufacturer, they want to make silent cars. The car also isolates you pretty much from the surroundings, albeit you cannot do this when parked close to a busy road. The windows gives you some kind of reflections, but they are not parallel, so there are actally no standing waves.

Having the mic at the steering wheel distance is quite optimum. I did my voice-overs during the night when there was no traffic. There are even intergrated lights, in this easy setup ;)

But, prepare yourself and have a good explanation, when your neighbours asks you why you are sitting in the car in the middle of the night, talkin to yourself...

No setups, nothing to purchase, works great for occasional voice-overs!!! To prepare and ordinary room to give you the same damping, is really cumbersome. I wouldn't never do a voiceover in the same room as my computer is. Even if it might be a quiet one, there is always some kind of noise from external HD's and such. Try this and be surprised.

Christian