ISDN Studio Build 2008www.voiceguy1.com

chris@voiceguy1.com800.356.5519

Gotta start somewhereThis is the “FROG” room over my garage, stripped nearly to the walls. My dad cut a door into one wall because behind each wall there is tons of free attic space – we cut and put down plywood for rough flooring to put extra STUFF away!

Humble beginningsThe first wall, containing the opening for the door frame. On the other side is limp mass vinyl (“sheetblok”) glued to the surface.

And then there were two…The base section was completed (with pink insulation inside, and all joints silicone-caulked), with gym mat for the floor, and the first wall section temporarily attached.

HELLO? IS THIS ON?The opposite wall, containing the window opening. Limp mass vinyl is against the “outer inside”, and again all joints have been caulked tight.

SAY WHAT??Now the pinkboard has been attached to all inner surfaces, and more silicone applied.

Moving along…Finally, a corner. Door entry wall, and a side wall, screwed tight and siliconed.

D’oh!As we built the 4x6 version rather than the 4x4, this meant extra panels were needed to close everything up. Just about to that point in this pic.

um – peekaboo, or somethingLooking through from the door opening to the opposite wall. (Thank you Captain Obvious!)

IMPROVISATION!So naturally, in the early stages of the booth build, I get an ISDN session! I took the moving blankets I had been using for sound damping and clamped them up, over and around the booth to close it in a bit and damp some of the ambience. Worked OK in a pinch!

No wait…Um, no, that’s pot roast.

Making senseNow all the walls have been put up and together, the insides have been insulated, caulked and masonite put on for interior walls. Carpet is up on the exterior walls.

What’s a plenum?!This is…the beginnings of the ventilation unit, with ports through to the booth for in & out venting.

AestheticNow the interior is taking shape – Auralex studio foam on the ceiling and side wall, LED light bars have been installed in the ceiling, pending an AC box in the booth.

Let there be….These give off practically no heat (this booth is hot enough!) and they’re out of the way. Plus they give off tons of light for their size! Very nice.

Windows 2009Looks like the plexi windows have been installed – one perpendicular, and one at an angle to keep things out of parallel. Airspace between is around 1.5” or so.

STUFFJumping ahead, this is the workstation I chose for the new studio, just for the sheer amount of flat surfaces. The outer shelves now hold 2 KRK Rokit 8 monitors, and my Alesis QS6 synth is across the top arms. PC, ISDN codec and Onyx interface are down below. The PC I use for VO recording is on the metal shelving unit to the side of the booth, with the monitor mounted inside.

PowerNot the best pic, but this is the 4-outlet grounded AC box and a Dell 24” flat panel monitor mounted on a swivel arm. A paperless studio, how ‘bout that!!!

the doorsA side view of the open door, weather-stripped and with Auralex affixed. Carpet corner has not yet had corner moulding attached.

HOT HOT HOTNot perfect but it helps a bit – this is a shot of the 2 fans that vent in and out of the booth. Need to keep the room as cool as possible in order to keep it from going up to 110 in there! Not the strongest part of the design, but we learned something.

We’re woikin’ here!Finally a chance to get at the microphone. It’s a Neumann TLM-103, one of the widely-used favorites of many VO artists. A trusty popper-stopper is an essential piece of gear.

A look insideThis is pretty much what I see while working. Nice to have the monitor inside the booth, eliminates page rustling and heavy printing costs.

Let there be puppies….The other meat of the operation – on top is the M-Audio Firewire Solo which feeds the pre-amped signal to my PC for recording. Below that is the Grace 101 pre-amp, which is nice and clean, and makes my voice on the Neumann sound great without changing its sound.

Still at itThe headphones are Sony MDR-7506.

Making a pointDoing what I do. Give me a call or an email so I can give your project its voice! Thanks for watching.

Professional ISDN Voice Talent

www.voiceguy1.comchris@voiceguy1.com

800.356.5519