Building a Booth, Sep 29th 2019
Echoes, reflections, saliva clicks, borborygmus (yes that is a real word) and the ever-present world around us are banes of audiobook narrators. When first starting into this field I didn’t know if it was going to be something I’d enjoy doing, so I did the prudent thing; I used my resources wisely to get what was required to do a good, if not perfect job.
My first “booth” was little more than moving blankets and a duvet, suspended around and over my desk. Some cheap (but not inexpensive) acoustic foam glued to coroplast served to dampen some reflections from the small area of drywall that remained exposed. This set up worked well enough, but was not sound-proof, i.e. external sounds such as a private plane flying overhead, a large truck, farm equipment, or a Harley with open pipes, required recording to be paused and/or a great number of retakes. Then there was the military. During artillery practice, even at 12 miles distance, the windows of the house will rattle when the heavy guns are fired. Still, I got my first two books completed with that humble make-shift booth and learned that this was a career direction I enjoyed, so I did the only logical thing. I scoured the Internet for more ideas on making a better booth.
Our house has an unfinished basement with eight-foot-high ceilings with only 2 feet of concrete exposed to the outside air. The interior walls are “roughed in”, that is to say, they have framing and fibreglass insulation, so picking the quietest corner would mean only two walls needed to be constructed. Two by Four studs on 24-inch centres were used and two walls constructed, each 60 inches long and 75 inches high, so three studs, 2 24 inch on-centre gaps and one 10 1/2 inch centre gap. The walls were faced with 1/2 inch drywall and Rockwool Safe’N’Sound insulation placed between the studs. Landscape fabric was then used to cover the side on which the Rockwool was exposed, and the moving blankets covered the landscape fabric.
The roof of this little space consists (for the moment) of 2 two by fours (also on 24-inch centres) and a moving blanket that wraps up and over each two by four and is stapled in place.
The result? I no longer have to “work the mic” as much and have greater latitude with character voices. Outside sounds like motorcycles with open pipes are no longer a problem. The moving blanket roof will serve as the support for future Rockwool insulation and more drywall; which will eliminate most of the noise from the HVAC, the last remaining intrusive sound.
The project I am working on now is “The Covenant of Wickersham Hollow”, which “takes the reader on a horrifying journey into the depths of evil“. Look for it on Audible soon, hopefully by Halloween 2019, but with the time taken from the recording schedule to complete the new booth/studio, that target might not be achievable. The author, Thomas A. Bradley was very understanding and gave me enough time to get the job done, thank you Tom.
Now I have to get into my little 35 square foot studio and get back to work, there’s self-imposed deadline I want to meet.
