HELP: Vocal booth connections

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In message <1106759634.384364.189830@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,
David M <davidsetagaya@yahoo.com> writes
>Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me out.
>I'm building a vocal booth similar to the one seen here:
>http://www.digital-synthologie.de/gesangskabine/index.html
>
>I'm looking for the best way to connect the mics and headphones inside
>the booth to my equipment outside the booth. I guess my options would
>be to have two female connectors on each side of the booth's wall, but
>would this result in signal loss?

Two females? Don't you mean a male on one side and a female on the
other?

Surely you can treat the connection through the wall as a VERY short
extension lead? If made properly it'll not cause a problem.
--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Tony Quinn --- The Voice Of Insanity
reply to tony@sixpints.demon.co.uk
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Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Thanks for the replies Tony and Trevor.
Yeah, I guess it'd be more standard to have a female inside the booth
and a male outside? Sorry, wasn't too sure about that.
Also, does anyone have any recommendations for vocal microphones to use
in the booth? It's 1.52 m x 1.4 m and 2m in height.
It's constructed out of a 18mm MDF board for structure, going to put
ceramic tile on the outside for soundproofing and line the inside with
two layers of foam separated by 9mm wood paneling. It has a small
window of double layered glass as well.
I have some bass traps in there to catch the low frequencies but wasn't
able to line the whole thing with them because they're really expensive
to import here (I live in South America). The inside is about 13.9
square meters total, and it is all double layered in fonac acoustic
foam, and 4 square meters of that also have auralex 4 inch pyramids.
sorry for writing everything in the metric system (mostly).
ciao and thanks if anyone knows a good mic in this situation for
vocals, hopefully economically priced because I'm planning on buying
three of them. Also, the selection isn't that great here in Chile,
check out www.audiomusica.cl for a sampling of what I mean, it's the
Chilean version of guitar center,
david

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"David M" wrote ...
> Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me out.
> I'm building a vocal booth similar to the one seen here:
> http://www.digital-synthologie.de/ [...] index.html
>
> I'm looking for the best way to connect the mics and headphones inside
> the booth to my equipment outside the booth. I guess my options would
> be to have two female connectors on each side of the booth's wall, but
> would this result in signal loss?

The web page you cited has an excelent example of the connector
BKM (Best Known Method). A small panel on the inside with
female 1/4-inch stereo phone jacks for headphone(s). And a female
3pin XLR for the microphone Then a similar panel on the outside
with male 3-pin XLR connector for the microphone, and whatever
you want for the headphone(s).

> Another option would be to drill holes for cords and just leave
> them in all the time.

Yes, that would work, also. If you use conventional materials
and techniques, nether method will result in any significant
signal loss, etc.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Haha, there are a lot of short people here in Chile, maybe it wouldn't
have been a big deal. But the hardware store only had 1.52m as the
longest width.

Also, does anyone know of any available ebooks that are available for
recording engineering and|or acoustics? Shipping is really expensive
out here (cost me almost $200 to ship $250 worth of auralex foam here
from the u.s.) and books are usually heavy.

Also, can anyone recommend good sites to learn how to solder the audio
cables that I'll need for the vocal booth? thanks,
david

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Wow, that's a great site. Many thanks for that! A plane ticket to
miami goes for around $600. Out of the $200, about $100 is actually
import taxes that I have to pay. (19% VAT)
Thanks for the advice!
cheers,
david

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

oh, that would have saved me a lot of money if I could have just used
normal foam and cut it myself. Would styrofoam have worked? I've seen
plenty of that at the hardware store.
The only manufacturer of foam here is in Argentina, sonoflex.
www.sonoflex.com
I lined my booth with the 20mm version of their foam. It seems okay,
but I'm expecting a huge echo in the lower frequencies. Anyone know
what I can do to avoid that?
Ok, cheers, and thanks for all the suggestions guys.
david

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

>> The only manufacturer of foam here is in Argentina, sonoflex.
>> www.sonoflex.com
>
>That is the high-price stuff marketed for acoustic purposes.
>Seems common to get quite a premium price for otherwise
>ordinary foam when sold for "acoustic" purposes.
>
>I'm talking about the (relative much cheaper) stuff made for
>packing material, and even for furniture cushions (etc).
>Surely there are local sources of foam for those more
>ordinary (and cheaper) purposes.

There certainly are, Just ask the owner of the club that burned and many people
died in when their bargain foam went up like gasoline.




>We get lots of stuff shipped to my employer that uses the
>"finger foam" generic packaging material. This is what I
>use for very low-budget surface acoustic treatment.

Ghost Poo? Not very effective for acoustic treatment.


>http://www.efoamstore.com/shopcart2/default.asp?id=13
>is an example of one online source. Looks like it sells for
>less than half the equivalent cost of Sonex. But you can
>find it for free if you look in the right places (receiving
>docks where equipment is unpacked).
>
>In another thread I am asking about expensive, commercial
>Sonex, but that is for use at the office where convienence
>was more important than budget.

And You had better use the stuff that is fire retardent in any commercial
installation.


Unfortunately, it has such
>a strong smell, my co-workers won't let me install it.
>
>> I lined my booth with the 20mm version of their foam.
>> It seems okay, but I'm expecting a huge echo in the lower
>> frequencies. Anyone know what I can do to avoid that?

Bass traps.
Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty