How to decide on acoustics for a Voice-Over booth

Is a vocal booth for VOICE-OVERS (VO) build on the same acoustic treatment parameters as any other booth for musical instruments? For this discussion lets just call it Voice-Over Booth, instead of Vocal Booth Rephrasing the question: Should ALL the inside walls and ceiling of a Voice-Over Booth be covered by acoustic absorbers or only part of them? Going a step further: How to find out the right quantity and quality of absorber for this purpose? (Rather than just going by trial and error, as I have been adviced) I need advice on this matter (as probably many other VOs). Any advice based on professional experience will be quite welcome, and I would be able to pass this info to other VOs, in their forums and blogs. Reasons for the question: 1. A Voice-Over actor/talent uses most of the time a normal speaking volume voice and this produces different sound characteristics and challenges than musical instruments, even different to vocals (in volume at least) 2. To have or not to have a dead sound booth: Some acoustic designers argue that a vocal booth should have some sound color from the room itself; therefore they prefer not to use acoustic absorbers in all surfaces. Other designers prefer just the opposite covering all walls and floor. They argue that having this neutral or dead sound is better for later EQ and compress adjustments. I have seen this in some pro studios (where I do Voice-Over and where I feel like talking in outer space). I am building a vocal booth for only Voice-Over projects and I couldn't find any info on this matter. (I guess this is due to the fact that question & answers in many forums and also articles are only related to recording musical instruments). Vocal Booth size (Inside dimensions) and materials: Wall 1 - 3.41' ; opposite wall - 2.36' wall 3 - 5.54' opposite wall - 5.34' Height front wall 6.88' ; height back wall 7.70' Walls and ceiling: Gypsum >> mineral wool>> Gypsum. Floor: Floor cement (from the room)>> Gypsum >> wood (MDF 18mm) Walls will not be parallel (to avoid sound problems in a small place like this one) Acoustic material: • 3 Foam Polyurethane panels (1000 x 10000 x 35 mm) • 2 Mineral wool panels (1600 x 400 x 50 mm) • 2 Mineral wool panels (1000 x 600 x 50 mm) Questions: How to proceed on the acoustic treatment issue for this specific vocal booth? 1. Should I cover all walls and ceiling with absorber material (foam or mineral wool)? 2. The above acoustic panels would be enough for the booth size? 3. Any other way to find out the right quantity and type of absorber panels? (Rather than just doing by trial and error) If this question has been worked out in some other part of the forum or even in other article please let me know. Best regards, JC.Aramayo

Cover all surfaces. N idea about your material because you did not write how thick they are. 4" (100 mm) is good.

Avare, Thank you for your replay. I added new details (thickness including). I assume that based on your answer I should double the thickness of the material I was going to use. I assume also that the three Foam Polyurethane panels (1000 x 10000 x 35 mm) are not appropiate. Did I get right? JC Aramayo

Yes, double the thickness, and yes, the foam is not good. Without details on the foam, it probably not the right type of foam for sound absorption to begin with. Andre

Andre, Just for the record, the foam is used for acoustic treatment. It goes by the name or Sonex Flexonic, its made of Polyurethane (35 mm thick and 36 kg/m3 density) and it has alternate patterns in small squares. But I understood you point of view. Just to be sure: eventhough I'll be only using voice (in a normal volume), do all inside surface need to be covered and have kind of a "dead" sound space? Thanks for the advice, JC Aramayo

azul33 wrote:

Just to be sure: eventhough I'll be only using voice (in a normal volume), do all inside surface need to be covered and have kind of a "dead" sound space?

Yes Andre

Andre, Thanks for the reply. But even being aware that we don't have time to explain things and that we should be pragmatics, I'd like to go one step further and ask some details behind the facts: are there differences for capturing (recording) plain voice and instruments? Or no matter what I record, I must have a total acoustic wrapping (10 mm thick panels of mineral wool) inside the booth? We are talking about physics and waves don't behave the same way, that's why I still have doubts and I'm coming back to my first question. Besides if this is clear for me and for other VoiceOvers involved in building their own working space, time will be saved (and may be some money). As I said before, no info avaliable on this. So this will be o real help. Again, if any one knows articles, etc on this matter, please let me know. By the way I haver ordered: • Rod Gervais' "Home Recording Studio: Build it Like the Pros"; • Mitch Gallagher's "Acoustic Design for the Home Studio" It should be arriving any time by now. Any one for more professional points of view on this subject? thanks in advance Regards, JC Aramayo

Congratulations on the books. You are now asking questions that require books just to answer them, The short answer is in that small rooms, which is what a booth is, have such strong acoustics that anything recorded in them will sound like it was recorded in a small room, unless the room is dead. The sound of a small room is terrible. I recommended 100 mm thick, not 10 mm. Andre

Andre, The books just have arrived (I've ordered on August 8th) and having in mind that I live in Latin America it's just amazing. (Of course the mailing cost was way high). Sorry for the mistake. I'm aware it has to be 100mm. Thanks for the explanation. Now the "why-have-to-be-this way" makes sense. Best regards, JC Aramayo

Enjoy the books and keep asking questions. Andre