My Ever Evolving Recording Booth
A little look at the evolution of my recording booth over the year.
Phase 1
I Had a Dream
It all began with a little stool, a camping table. Blankets, towels and duvets pinned to the walls and a tablet with the book on it.
Humble Beginnings
It was all connected to an old laptop outside of the booth to prevent the sound of the fan being too loud on the microphone.
Cosy
Although it was tiny, warm and cramped for a 6”6 guy, this was a really cosy and enjoyable space to be in where I could begin my career.
Phase 2
Improvement
When I started to receive more work, I decided to empty the cupboard and built a desk from an old shelving unit. I used some LED strip lights to light everything up instead of the old lamp which produced so much heat and made the booth so much hotter.
New Setup, Same Towels
I bought a second hand TV from the charity shop which hooked up to my laptop. This meant I could now use punch and roll editing, amending my recording as I went rather than record it all and edit afterwards.
Happy Space
All the changes led to a brighter and more comfortable place to work and continue to practice. It was also at this point I started a Narration course with the amazing Helen Lloyd, who taught me so much about narration and really improved my work.
Phase 3
New Sound Dampening
I decided I needed to upgrade my sound dampening. So after I had a number of towels donated by family and friends, i created my own using wooden frames screwed to the walls that were filled and covered with all the old towels. This gave a cleaner, more professional and brighter look.
New floor
I then bought some carpet tiles to replace the old blanket on the floor
Comfy BIG Seat
Finally I treated myself to a new comfier computer seat. I checked it would fit in the cupboard before I bought it, which it did. However, I never took into account how I would get in and out….
It was possible, but a hell of a squeeze. Once I was in, that was it.
Phase 4
New Workspace
I started to find working on editing inside the booth very cramped and awkward. So what I decided to do was make a desk on the wall of the booth cupboard with a TV that was also hooked up to the same PC via a HDMI splitter. This way I could now work on editing in the bedroom, and use the booth to only record.
New Seat, Better Fit
I bought another second hand TV from the charity shop and also found this awesome seat in the same shop which was ideal to sit on and record from. The TV and microphone were hooked up to the PC which is against the right hand wall via a hole drilled through. Just, don’t tell my wife that…
Double The Workspace
So now, with an editing desk just behind the door and my recording booth sperate, I can now record and edit my work from the same PC in two different locations. If I find mistakes in a chapter, it’s as simple as flicking the HDMI splitter switch and jumping into the booth.
Phase 5
One More Update
I always look at things and think about how I can improve it. Never can let anything just sit when I know I can make it a bit better…
New Shelves
The old shelving unit was starting to creak and crack during recording which was leading to longer time spent editing out cracks and creaks than was necessary. So I decided to replace the old shelves with shelves from an old IKEA unit we no longer used. These have been bolted directly to the wall to avoid excessive wooden legs or brackets like before.
The Final product… For Now
So here we have the booth as it appears now. As you can see a lot of work has gone into making it a functional and comfortable space to work. So long as I feel comfortable and happy in the booth, I believe that comes across in my narration and translates into better recordings.