Building An Audio Booth
Or: How to prevent from sounding like you’re inside an aquarium…
Reading time, 6 min.
The Problem
Building a studio, or even just removing echo from your living room, is a professional job, and can be done by a sound proofing expert (which I most certainly am not). It requires measuring, mathematics and a general grasp on the concept of audio waves, as explained by this legend for example.
My home built booth is the single most important part of my audio set-up after the actual microphone. And it’s far from perfect. The main issue with my current built is that the audio sounds a little too dry and a bit cramped to my taste. But at least it doesn’t sound like I’m recording in a church.
My current set-up and the content of this blog will be about building a studio from:
A former IKEA Aneboda wardrobe fitted with second-hand Basotect acoustic insulation. And then a bit of decoration…
Total price €50,-
And when I say ‘building’, that’s a bit of an overstatement. Not a single nail or screw is necessary.
Why the studio?
You mean, apart from wanting to sound like Ira Glass on This American Life? My biggest reason for having my own sound booth is flexibility.
Especially when you’re producing with a high turnover - I’m currently releasing three episodes of The Low Season every week! - having your own sound booth can be a life saver. I can’t remember how often I recorded something, needing to re-do one or two sentences. I would just walk back to the bedroom and hit record.
The other big plus is that I can record whenever I want. When I feel like a quick morning narration, or when I’m interviewing somebody late at night, my trusty studio is always ready.
So what we’re aiming for today is to create a super simple sound booth. Not large enough to fit multiple people, but for those producers that often work on narrative solo projects. We’ll be talking blankets, cloth racks and a tie-covered Ikea-closet.
Climate change goals.
The Beginnings
Like almost everybody else working in audio, I started under the sheets. And there is a very good reason for that. It actually works! Thick blankets do an amazing job of removing the echo (or, more specifically, reverberation) from your recording. I remember the joy of being able to create a warm and coveted sound, right from my own living room.
But, what I also realised is that sitting under thick blankets can become very exhausting, very quickly. Even a ten-minute recording session left me sweating and panting under the heavy cloth. And listening back to the recordings now, five years on, that rich studio sound, although a good first attempt, was still very far from what I’m recording now.
The Evolution
Now that I decided I didn’t want to record under the blankets any more, I had to find another space. And to be honest, that can be quite a challenge living in the high-ceilinged apartments of Berlin, with it’s polished wooden floors. (I’m not complaining)
For a while I had the luxury of recording in an actual recording studio, not too far away from my house. And boy, did that immediately make a difference. The problem though; I would record for about half an hour, 45 minutes in the studio, go home and then realise I forgot something, or something didn’t sound right.
Instead of going back to the studio, I would create myself a tiny little nook where I’d record the one or two sentences that needed to be redone. And where did I do that? Well, in my clothes rack of course.
For quite some time I used to record my narration into my clothes, with a blanket hanging over me from the top. Far from ideal…
Your Own Booth
But, even the clothes were going to wear off at some point. So, there was nothing left to do than to built my own little booth. So what exactly have I ‘built’?
Well, it all started with a left-over IKEA closet standing in the hall way. I realised that if I could pad the insides of the closets with foam, I’d have my little narration studio done. And that’s what I did…
I just crammed the foam in there until it stuck. For the finished result, see below.
I have to say, that this is far from a perfect set up. Sound has incredibly illusive qualities and still bounces all over the place. So unless you’re enveloped with sound absorbing materials, you’re going to have some spills and echo’s in your recording. That means that, even with my current set-up, I still need to do some editing.
But, to give you some idea of the amazing powers of acoustic foam, below are some sound bites. I recorded using my iPhone 6s (and without any additional equalizing) to give you an idea of how far you can get on a budget. Headphones on!!
Here’s a little bit of sound I have recorded in my bedroom. I’ve used my trusty iPhone 6s to show you what difference a sound booth can make.
Here’s a little bit of sound that I recorded standing in front of my audio booth. You can still here the reverbaration coming from the ceiling, the floors and the wall behind me.
Here’s a little bit of sound that I recorded sticking my head inside the booth. The sound is not perfect, but you can hear how much of the reverbaration is absorbed by the booth.
Acoustic Foam
After a bit of research I decided on getting Basotect foam. It’s an incredible sound absorbing material that is very light, but unfortunately, also very expensive. So I had a look on my local Ebay and got a whole bunch of second-hand foam for less than 50 bucks.
Initially I wanted to create a larger space in which I could record and invite multiple guests. And maybe I will get there some day. But I had a lot of issues sticking the Basotect on the walls. Glue on Basotect, Basotect on cardboard, sticky tape, it was a real nightmare trying to adhere them to the wall and ceiling. I think your best bet would be to create little frames for the foam, that you can then hang up. (Future projects!)
A batch of the Basotect after I’ve cut it in strips.
Result
I absolutely love having this booth at my disposal. It has allowed me to jump on whatever crazy and spontaneous audio project I have in mind.
And whether it was re-recording the same 30 second clip for about 25 times, or conducting 130 remote interviews in 4 months, the booth has never disappointed me. Always silently waiting to envelop me with velvety smooth audio cushions.
Think it, dream it, make i…. Oh no wait, there goes the Ira Glass in me again.
