Have you ever heard barking dogs or traffic noise in a professional voice-over? Of course not. Professional productions use recording studios with specially treated sound booths. This gives them full control and clean audio. But what about the rest of us? Sure, we could rent time in a studio, but that isn't always practical or affordable. What if we applied the principles of guerilla filmmaking to our audio recording? If we told you there was a way to create a professional sounding voice recording space for less than the cost of one session at a big studio, would you be interested? Good. Let's get started.
Parts List
9 - 10' x 1" Schedule 40 PVC plumbing pipe
12 - 1" PVC Tee Couplers
6 - 1" PVC 90-Degree Elbows
12 - 1" PVC Pipe Caps
4 - 72" x 60" Mover's Blankets
6 - Squeeze Hand Clamps (more if you prefer)
1 - Clamp Light
1 - CFL Bulb
The only tools needed are a tubing cutter or hacksaw, tape measure and a Sharpie. The entire booth can be built from scratch in less than an hour and future setups take only a few minutes.

The Basics

Vocal booths are a common feature in professional recording studios. Large enough for one or two people, these special rooms are often built as a floating room within a room. Walls are heavily insulated and doors have serious gaskets to seal out any sound. Inside the booth, walls are covered with acoustic foam and windows are angled, all in an effort to minimize sound reflections. This gives the recording engineer complete control over the voice. With no added background noise or reflections, they are free to treat the recording as needed for the production. If the voice should sound like it's in a larger space, digital reverb is always available to simulate everything from a shower stall to a stadium.

Of course, you don't have a recording studio with a big-budget vocal booth, but that's OK. With a few bucks and a little ingenuity, you can have similar results almost anywhere. First, let's apply a little analysis and take a walk around your potential recording environment. Many independent producers either work from home or possibly a small office, while others create content as a part of their regular job. So, we'll assume you need to record voice overs at your house or somewhere around the office. Since the recording studios start with isolation, take a look around and try to find the quietest, most remote area possible. This could be a walk-in closet, storeroom or any out-of-the-way area. We're looking for a place that has minimum potential for background noise and interruption, and around six feet of room to work. Recording on location? No problem, just do a quick site survey with the same goals in mind.

Step #1 - Plumbing Parts

Our guerilla sound booth is constructed from common, inexpensive materials. First on the list is a trip to your local hardware store. Head for the plumbing aisle and find the PVC plumbing pipe and accessories. We'll use 1" Schedule 40 PVC plumbing pipe for the basic structure. It usually comes in 10' lengths which is perfect for our project - just make sure you have a truck or van to haul it home. Grab nine sticks, making sure they're as straight as possible. You'll also need some 1" PVC couplers. We're building our booth as three separate panels, (more on that in a bit), so pick up two 90-degree elbows, four Tee couplers and four caps per panel. The PVC pipe costs a little more than $2 per stick and couplers average 50-cents each. That takes care of the frame, now for some sound absorption.