DIY reflection filter

[McCreed]

I've previously recorded vocals in my walk-in wardrobe.
With all the hanging clothes and doors closed and couple of blankets, it makes a fairly dead "booth", but I got a new large diaphragm condenser mic and thought I'd make my own reflection filter also.

I wanted to make it as lightweight as possible for balance and minimise strain on the required bracketry. I was able to use three materials: coreflute, aluminium flatbar and acoustic foam.

I only finished it today so I haven't had a chance to try it. Hope to re-do some vocal tracks this week.

[blinddrew]

looks good, let us know how it works.

[McCreed]

Thanks Drew. Will do.

I could have bought one for as little as 100 bucks (no idea what quality). This cost me $58, of which $35 was the foam.
As many of us here know, it's not always about saving money, it's more about the process of making something.

[jugglindan]

Thanks Drew. Will do.

I could have bought one for as little as 100 bucks (no idea what quality). This cost me $58, of which $35 was the foam.
As many of us here know, it's not always about saving money, it's more about the process of making something.

Absolutely. Sometimes I can buy things cheaper than I can build them, but build them anyway. Like the noisy cricket amp. I saw a second hand Fender Champ 10w practice amp for $20 on the weekend, but why would I want that when I can build something cooler and worse sounding?

Your filter screen looks good. If only I could sing ...

[Simon Barden]

Don't forget to hang up some duvets, certainly have one behind you.

A reflection filter is primarily there to stop reflections from your vocals from hitting the opposite wall and bouncing back into the rear of the mic. Not a major problem anyway with a cardioid pattern mic. but if you like the gentler sound of an omni, or fig-8, then far more useful.

More of an issue with a cardioid are reflections coming from the rear, which is where a soft duvet hanging behind you makes a lot more difference to the sound quality.

Don't put the mic anywhere but just slightly inside the reflection filter. Too far in and you'll get a boxy sound. So roughly at the centre of the curve. Something like this:

[McCreed]

Thanks Simon. That's good "sound" advice.

My mic is a cardioid only, and I use a double bed size mattress topper (foam) fixed to the wall behind me.

The walk-in robe gives me 1.9 x 1.2 metres of open space (meaning area that is not occupied by hanging clothes/drawers/shelves) so it's quite manageable.

[Simon Barden]

Unless it's properly acoustically treated, you are normally better recording vocals out in a larger room than a small booth. Vocal booths are only really of any use when recording vocals alongside live instruments to reduce spill, as they can make the recording sound boxy due to the resonant modes of a small space being in the mid frequencies. Though hanging clothes do make good HF/mid range sound absorbers. I'd suggest you try both locations and see what sounds best to you.

Do you know if your topper is open or closed cell foam? You need open for acoustic treatment, closed is OK for reducing sound transmission through it, but is poor for reducing reflection levels.

Depth is also very important with foam for wider band frequency absorption; the thicker it is the lower the absorbed frequencies. Which is why a duvet makes such as good absorber as it's all open cell construction, allowing sound waves to penetrate all the way through (and absorb more on their way back). Plus it can also be folded to increase depth.

[McCreed]

re: vocal recording - I've done a fair bit of recording in my time (as a performer, not an engineer and in professional studios). I have always recorded vocals in a booth whether recording live or after the fact.

I definitely don't have a room anywhere in the house that wouldn't have weird acoustic artefacts without serious treatment, or provide "nice" natural reverb. I think I'm better off capturing a flat vocal sound and artificially adding reverb and EQ.

As for the foam, it is open cell. Truthfully, I'm not looking to recreate Abbey Road. These recordings are simply to achieve a good demo quality to be given to musicians to learn, then taken into a real studio and recorded properly. I'll never be, nor have the desire to be an engineer. I'm happier just playing and creating the music.

[McCreed]

Well I got one out of two vocal tracks done in my "booth" yesterday. I used the reflection filter but didn't do any A/B testing with/without. I probably should have, but I was more focused on just getting the tracks done.

It was my first time using my new condenser mic, which I'm pretty pleased with. Compared to previously recording with standard dynamic vocal mics, it's hard to say whether the filter made a difference or if it was just using a better quality mic.

I actually worked on two songs, but second was abandoned after deciding to take a different approach. Sometimes you have to hear it recorded before you know whether it works or not...

I had all the instrument tracks done already, so now it's mixing time.