I Learnt How To Build A Sound Booth So You Don't Have To

We all have those moments where we catch a look of ourselves from the outside, and say “What the f#%k are you doing?” Me crouched in a wardrobe, wearing only a pair of red underpants, sweating like a witness for the prosecution, whilst shouting into the mic like I’m Anthony Hopkins on the high sea was one such occasion.

Anyone who has tried any form of home production will be able to relate to such an image. We have all had to find our own ways of cobbling together, working around and winging it. Whether it’s camera phones balanced precariously on swaying towers of textbooks, or ancient handheld recorders, clinging for dear life on an arm of pencils, taped, and taped over each other, to form a boom mic stand capable of withstanding anything up to a light breeze.

Even before lockdown began, there was an increasing expectation of creatives to be their own agent, marketing strategist and creative producer, on top of honing their craft whatever it may be. Social life? Oh, you are funny. But now, with the third lockdown dragging on in perpetuity, more and more people are trying different ways to produce work independently. Home recording is one such avenue for actors and musicians alike, and many voice-talent agencies prefer or even require their clients to have their own recording space. No doubt if you’re reading beyond this point then you are one such person.

Perhaps like me you want to emulate your voice-acting heroes like Rob Paulsen and Nancy Cartwright, but perhaps, also like me, the last thing you built was a clock in Year 8 DT that had only one hand and no numbers. Well let me tell you not to worry, building a sound booth is surprisingly straight forward, simply follow these tips and before long you’ll be landing professional work and hopefully one day having someone else operate the knobs and dials and say, “Just have fun with it”. One can still dream.

First of course, there’s the mic, take your time, and above all, do your research. You need to know what kind of mic is best suited to your specific purpose, and just as important you need to consider how serious an investment you want to make. It’s no-good splurging £1000 on a sexy top of the range Neumann TLM 103 if you aren’t sure if voice-acting is right for you. But on the other end, if you know that voice-acting is something that you truly want to do for the long-term, then you want bang for your buck; a £70 USB mic might seem great to get you started, but unless you want all of your clients to be 12-year-old flash animators from Basingstoke, it’s in your best interest to invest in equipment that is of a professional standard. Set yourself a budget, and then use up that budget or go ever so slightly over in order to get yourself something of real quality, remember it’s all tax-deductible. I bought a RØDE NT1-A on sale for £179 and I love it with all my heart. On top of it being a quality XLR mic it also came with a mic stand, and crucially, a pop-filter, which you will definitely, definitely need.

(Neumann TLM 103 and RØDE NT1-A set)

In your search for your mic, you will hear many numbers and acronyms, but the main one to pay attention to is whether a mic is a USB or XLR. Put simply, every mic needs a mechanism that changes the sounds into the ones and zeroes which you can play back and edit. An XLR mic requires an audio interface in order to do this, whilst the USB mic has it inbuilt and plugs straight into your computer. If you really need to pinch ever penny, and you aren’t serious about professional work, then a USB is acceptable. However, the quality of the raw recording will be compromised, so I’d recommend XLR all the way. There are many interfaces to choose from, but I went with the Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen, it’s sleek, and set me back just under £100. I would also recommend buying a mic stand so you can record standing up, it makes all of the difference. Trust me.

Now, while you’re waiting for your equipment to arrive in the post, it’s time to have a hunt round the house and find out where your space is going to be. At this stage all forms of experimentation are welcomed. So, take the time to playback your voice on your phone in different spaces throughout the house, and you’ll be able to contrast and compare. Recommendations include, but are not limited to: attics, wardrobes, garden sheds (with a lot of insulation), garages, cellars, and airing cupboards. You will have a better idea as to what will work in your home, but essentially, it’s anywhere where it’s easy to stop the sound of bouncing off of surfaces, how do we do that? Insulation.

Sound is like a tennis ball, if you fire it against a hard surface, it will bounce back and create an awful reverb. But if you were to fire it against a thick blanket say, then it will be stopped in its tracks. I use a wardrobe at the back of my house, and I leave most of the clothes in as they soak up the sound in this way, but this still leaves some hard surfaces in the back of the wardrobe and on the inner sides of the doors, this will require glorious marshmallowey foam. You can buy it wholesale online, but there’s no need to break the brank on deluxe stuff, by and large foam is just foam. I got lucky, scrounged enough foam for three panels from postal packaging with some leftover for the corners. I must stress, plug up those corners. It’s so essential to fill them as they will cause the most reverb, so shove them with foam like you’re shoving notes into the wailing wall on Yom Kippur. Finally make sure to have the space behind you treated as well, otherwise you’ll not only lose sound but invite unwanted sound in. For this I attach a thick duvet to the doors and that works a treat.

(Harry's sound booth)

Once you’ve created a booth that works for your specific needs, you should be able to recreate it in other houses and hotel rooms, and frankly, you’ll amaze yourself with your newfound acoustic knowledge. I recorded half of Imaginarium in London, and the other half in a French farmhouse, and you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference; this brings us to the final tip which is outside noise. Whilst setting up your space, make sure you take the time to listen for even the faintest noises that you might pick up: “kitchen appliances, relatives, pets, traffic, aeroplanes and of course the worst of them all: motorbikes, (if you record for any period longer than a few months, you will hate motorcyclists with the fire of a thousand suns). And now you can understand why I was in my underwear at the start of this little blog; if you’re recording in a wardrobe, in 30°C, unable to turn on a fan or open a window, it’s anything you can do to stop fainting.

There you have it, everything you need to build your own recording booth at home. May your journey be filled with excitement, and if anything weird happens to your system, more often than not, just turn it off and back on again.