Desktop Acoustics for Voiceover
 

I'm just finishing Jay Rose's book on Audio production for DV, but I'm still not sure how to get set up for my voiceovers. Right now I'm planning on picking up an RE27 and doing voiceovers in my office.

I don't know if I need to construct a makeshift vocal booth in the corner or if there's some way I can do it at my desk. Surely radio broadcasters work in similar environments.

I already plan on following the book's recommendations on making the room acoustically acceptable for sound monitoring, but that won't help me at my desk. I'd like to be able to sit at my desk why I record directly into Vegas, but then I might have soundwaves bouncing off my monitor.

So, does anyone do voiceovers at their desk... any steps to make it do-able... and how much of an effect does the mic have on it.

I've searched the forum and I don't see anything on this topic.

DSE has a good article on building your own table top voice-over box.
** you need to sign into the VASST website to read it.

You can also check out Harlan Hogan's Voice Over DVD...it goes into several methods, and not only trains for what you need to know/do, but also goes deeply into what gear you should have, need to have, and then "lustful" gear that you'd like to have.
http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...b-7ef0ee68f877

I liked your article... the only problem is finding four 2'x2' peices of Auralex Metro... every place I look only sells it in large quantities.

I'll go take a look at that DVD.

Have you tried Markertek? They may not have the exact thing you mentioned, but they do have quite a selection, and not always in large quantities.

Wouldn't a prominent concern be computer noise?
Or have you sorted that out?

Nothing worse that hearing the buzz of computer fans in the background.

Most Musicians Friends, Guitar Centers, Sam Ash, or professional audio stores sell the foam stock in separate packages. You can also contact Auralex for a dealer in your area. If lil' ol' Salt Lake City has a place that does...I'm sure you do too, somewhere.

The box that Douglas describes in his article would help block the sound of the computer. I also have the tower a few feet away and could put a blanket between me and the tower. I don't think that will be a big problem.

They've got a good deal on sound blankets, but I don't really see a comparable product to the Auralex Metro. I think Douglas recommends those because they are foam diffusers.

I may just shell out the dough for something like this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=278867&is=REG to put in front of my monitor. Although, I don't understand how the large peice of plexiglass helps with acoustics. It seems to me, an square hole would be better. Then I could hang a sound blanket on either side of my computer tower to help with that.

I haven't had an opportunity to expiriment with any of this stuff yet. Are sound blankets good for anything other than absorbing sound? I was thinking, I could probably buy a bunch of them (since they're cheap) and put one behind my desk, hang one behind my chair, one between me and the computer tower, and even cut one up to make a voice box (instead of the Auralex Metro).

Markerteck has a good deal on the cheap stuff. Musician's Friend didn't have much. Here's what I think I'm going to do and if anybody spots any big mistakes let me know:

I'm going to construct the vocal box like DSE describes in his article and put it on my desk. In the top, I'm going to make a 3" hole to drop a mic in from above. I'm going to line it with cheap acoustic foam.

Behind my seat, I'm going to put some SonicClear Sorber panels standing up so that the corners are opposite each of my studio monitors. I'd like Auralex MAX-Wall's, but they're a bit pricey for what you get.

When I do voiceovers, I'll just throw a sound blanket over my computer tower (probably no more than five minutes at a time).

This should keep my voice and monitors from bouncing around the room.

The only thing I'm not sure about is whether I need some diffusion behind my desk. Many of the MAX-Wall pictures on the Auralex site show the walls set up behind desks. What specifically does this do?

Vor just voiceover work, you don't need the rear panels. These are generally for damping rear-wall reflections coming from your monitors, helping to drop the level of nodes.
http://www.vasst.com/resource.aspx?i...3-71f2c8418a6c has a brief discussion of this issue.

Thanks Douglas, the article pretty much filled in the gaps.