Do you need to spend over $10,000 for a great acoustic setup? Voiceover vocal booths will be the subject matter of this article and in this, we will look at quality, price, and what's available. One point of consideration before we begin sits with the truth that you should not spend outside of your means when it comes to investing in your studio. Yes, it is true that a lot of this stuff is tax deductible as a business expense, however finding the balance between investing in your business and enjoying what you earn can be a thin line sometimes.
Many of the main booth-building companies out there today have a range of products. The bigger the booth, the more expensive they become. As well as this there is often a wide range of accessories which are purchasable with the booths. These include bass traps, shelves, stands, air con units, and so on. Really, booths can range from $5,000 to $50,000 depending on the spec and who is building them. Many voice actors aspire to have a top tire booth and the point of purchase normal resides with when they are making the big bucks in their voiceover business.
Portable vocal booths are a much cheaper alternative to a fully-fledged vocal booth. They are also the solution for those who rent accommodation and have to take things like the weight of a booth into account. Not only this they are great for traveling with. Not all portable vocal booths are made the same though. Most flat packs however portable booths are not always built out of reinforced materials but instead are assembled by thick vocal blankets. Both options come with pros (Such as convenience and space-saving) and cons (That they will never quite be as good as a top tire vocal booth).
At a similar price to a portable vocal booth, you can build your own vocal booth in your home. The trickiest part is putting in the stud walls needed to facilitate this. The walls should be built in the corner of a room (Preferably the quietest room in the house). If it is built in the corner, those two corner calls can be insulated with acoustic material prior to building the two new stud walls. It is important all four walls are treated with acoustic materials. When the walls are done, soundproofing inside of the booth will be the next step. You can conclude this with some nice bass traps and suddenly you have an affordable option for a fraction of the top tire vocal booth cost.
So there you have it, three avenues of how to achieve a working vocal booth space inside of your own home. All coming with their own pros and cons. Though the portable vocal booth might fall short of the DIY booth or one of the top tire booths from a quality prospect, it does stand as an alternative when there is limited space at home or when traveling is needed. Then our DIY booths might not have the same expensive materials as a top tire booth but they can deliver exceptional quality for a fraction of the price.
Voiceover Vocal Booths by Alan Shires
Voice Actor