what is the best audio gear i can use to record audio book in my bed room?

[Mohamed GadAllah]

Originally Posted by Richard Crowley

I fear that you started out with the wrong question. "Gear" may be the lesser of your problems with recording in your bed room. A much bigger issue for you (and most other people who want to do this) is creating an acoustic space suitable for recording. You will be far better off creating a suitable space vs. buying big piles of gear which you don't need.

Many people in similar situations find that they must do their recording in the middle of the night or early morning when their house (and their neighborhood) is quietest. It may even be the case that getting decent quality recordings is simply not possible in your bed room.

You mean to have something like this

My New Homemade Portable Vocal Booth - YouTube

Vocal Booth Part 2 - YouTube

Does something like this may solve the problem?

[Jon Fairhurst]

Another option is to drive to a remote location, hang blankets inside the windows, and to record inside of the car. That said, I don't know that I'd want to be in a car with the windows rolled up while surrounded by blankets in the Cairo noonday sun! #heatstroke

[Richard Crowley]

Originally Posted by Mohamed GadAllah

Does something like this may solve the problem?

An acoustic enclosure like that is the solution to the room resonance and reflections. For example it will probably greatly reduce that resonance that we heard in all the samples of the better microphones.

But it will do NOTHING for the ambient noise in your bedroom. The traffic noise from your street, your neighbors having a party, your kids running around the house, etc To block ambient noise you will need HEAVY material to block the sound. Generally that means double walls with double-thickness plasterboard, and other heavy building construction materials, etc. And that is why people record in the middle of the night, because the alternative is so very expensive and disruptive to your room.

The vocal booth video was interesting, but not necessarily something to blindly copy. In particular, inserting those pieces of wood back inside the booth practically reverses the whole benefit of the curtains. It was a poor choice for hanging those pieces of diamond foam. Furthermore, she wouldn't have needed the foam at all if she had hung the padded blankets in deep folds (like curtains). The folds duplicate that effect of the diamond pattern, and are effective to lower frequencies than those rather thin foam pieces.

But down in the basement there, she seemed to have no problem with reducing ambient noise.

[Greg Miller]

I agree with everything Mr. Crowley says about acoustic theory and soundproofing.

Be that as it may, a lot of people record audiobooks (e.g. for Librivox) in rooms that are not very well soundproofed. They just stop when there's noise, and re-do the part of the text where the noise began (probably going back to the beginning of a paragraph). And a lot of the results are surprisingly good. There is a lot of discussion about this situation on the LIbrivox forums, which I used to follow for a while before becoming frustrated. I found I was reading the same questions every week from a new set of posters, with the same numerous conflicting and confusing answers. There was no clarity, just a tower of babel. (To an extent the same thing is happening with the present thread, except that the advice here is on a much higher level with much excellent technical information ... but still probably quite confusing to the OP.)

Is that "the best" way to record? No. Is it "the most professional" way? No. But Mr. GadAllah's original question was how to get the best results recording in his bedroom. If he wants to deal with the inconvenience of re-recording sections to eliminate street noises, house noises, noisy children, etc. ... well, that's his choice. (Better him than me!)

So, since I don't know anything about building codes, materials, and labor in Egypt, I think we can either beat ourselves to death talking about soundproofing, or we can move on to another facet of the original question. And if Mr. GadAllah eventually concludes that his original guess was wrong, and he does need better soundproofing, we can return to the topic then. Just my 2¢ worth.

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Jon Fairhurst

Another option is to drive to a remote location, hang blankets inside the windows, and to record inside of the car. That said, I don't know that I'd want to be in a car with the windows rolled up while surrounded by blankets in the Cairo noonday sun! #heatstroke

What about recording inside one of the pyramids?

Actually, back in 1977 Paul Horn recorded an album of flute music inside the Great Pyramid of Giza. It's really stunning to hear; the reverberation is spectacular. But while the mass of the pyramid provides good isolation from outside noise, I fear the reverberation would not be appropriate for Mr. GadAllah's audio book project.

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Its not just a case of making a 'sound proof' space to record in it needs to sound natural and uncoloured.
I have a friend that occasionally records in a closet with clothes in it and often sound quite wrong, the reason is they are talking in a very low level when they actually need to be projecting, just like dressing an audience of 50-100 people.
Doing a recording in a home at night with children sleeping will make you talk in a very low level, you need to find a space that you can project your voice if needed......

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Brian P. Reynolds

they actually need to be projecting, just like dressing an audience of 50-100 people.

I assume you mean addressing.

Audiobooks I've heard are read in a much more intimate, conversational tone, as if the reader is sitting at arm's length from the listener. I think listening to an audiobook that was projected as strongly as you suggest would be rather disconcerting. I would subconsciously wonder, "Why is this guy yelling at me in my living room?"

As we've heard, Mr. GadAllah's tone is rather quiet and peaceful. I think that's his choice, since he knows the material he's reading and presumably has some idea of his intended audience.

At any rate, I don't think I would ever want to record in a closet full of clothes. In the first place, it would be cramped and stuffy. Then, consider the difficulties with lighting and holding the copy. And a typical closet has a hollow-core door at best, so it still won't be soundproofed.

[Gary Nattrass]

Just as a side note when we do sport on TV in the UK we use lip ribbons for the best background isolation but for sports like snooker when the voice has to be quite low we use an SM58 with a large foam wind gag as a hand held commentary mic, the SM57 sounds best and it may be that the addition of a larger wind shield and som EQ to filter the proximity effect and to add some sparkle may yield decent results?

[Greg Miller]

I've read about lip ribbons for years, but I have never heard one (as far as I know). How is the audio quality? Compared, for example, to the ubiquitous SM57/58? (Not that I really like those Shure models, but at least everybody knows how they sound.)

[Steven Digges]

Gentlemen,

WOW, what a strange thread, for many reasons. First, I have a self imposed rule I place on myself in regards to this forum. I NEVER make a post unless I have read every post. So I just reread and read this entire seven headed monster. Interesting.

Mr. Gadallah, you would not have any way of knowing who you are communicating with here. I know a little bit about the background of some of the main contributors trying to help you. Some of these guys are true audio professionals with many years of experience in the industry. They work in it and charge for what they do, it is their living. Here on this forum they choose to dispense their advice and share their experience for free. Just one of the things that surprised me about this thread is that they are STILL hanging in there with you. I’ll put it this way….When someone repeatedly throws a life preserver to a drowning man and he continually swims away from the rescue attempt the rescuer eventually quits throwing the life preserver. A couple of these guys, Richard in particular has made a heroic effort in time and patients to try and help you. You say he understands how you feel. I am not so sure you understand how he feels. Anyway…bla, bla, bla….

Now to everyone, Richard, you made an attempt a little while back to focus this thing and bring it back to the basics. One of the MAJOR basics is still missing, MONITORING. We all know the three major components of basic recording: input device (mic), recording devise (H4n), and monitoring (speakers). As far as I can tell he has ignored all suggestions to replace his bad Samson cans with the Sen HD280s everyone is suggesting (an excellent choice). And he needs a decent pair of near field monitors for playback. Audio 101, record it, monitor it while you record, and then listen to what you TRULY recorded. He owns a rack of useless processing gear he can’t use and there are few mentions of monitoring!
There is much more I would have liked to say but I exercised restraint in the name of good judgment.
Lastly, I think pictures of your gear set up and the entire room would be very beneficial in helping us, provide further advice.
Kind Regards,
Steve

[Rick Reineke]

Originally Posted by Greg Miller

I've read about lip ribbons for years, but I have never heard one (as far as I know). How is the audio quality? Compared, for example, to the ubiquitous SM57/58? (Not that I really like those Shure models, but at least everybody knows how they sound.)

The Coles 4104B-XLR Commentator'a ribbon mic is highly regarded and has been around for as long as I can remember.. I've never had the opportunity to use one either. The Coles lip mic can be prominently seen in the sportscaster scenes in the Ron Howard film "Rush". I don't know if it was a prop or an actually working prop. FWIW. I have on occasion used SM57s for courtroom scenes along with the boom and/or body mics

[Greg Miller]

To Mr. Digges I say, "Amen to that."

You make a very good point: we seem to have overlooked monitoring except for one brief mention early on. Certainly a set of Sennheiser HD-280 Pros would be the absolute minimum, and some reasonable speakers really should be on the list as well. Much more important than all the toys in the effects rack. I urge Mr. GadAllah to buy a set of these headphones (my personal favorite) at once, so he can clearly hear what he is recording.

I often get the impression that Mr. GadAllah, rather than asking us what he should do, tells us what he has done or what he wants to do, and then everyone else explains why it's not a good idea. The concept of "as good as possible," without defining any limits, just adds to the confusion. We really need a ringmaster for this circus.