My Home Voiceover Booth Setup

Hi all!

Now that we are staying home more often, many of us are trying to figure out ways to work from home and still be creative. I thought it might be helpful to you to share my home voiceover booth setup and equipment list so you can build your own studio.

I built the DIY PVC Vocal Booth, as detailed on Vocal Booth To Go's YouTube Channel:

I used 2 layers of their Producer's Choice Acoustic Blankets to line my booth, as they give exceptional noise reduction. (I tried moving blankets, and they weren't enough.)

There is a lot of construction noise in my area, so I chose the Rode Procaster, a dynamic microphone, which will reject a lot of sound that a condenser microphone would pick up. I really like this microphone -- it takes a lot of work out of the editing process for long narration. Point the back end towards whatever noise you would like for it to reject, whether it's your computer, the air conditioner, etc.

My microphone is held in a Boseen shockmount and mounted on a microphone stand with a boom arm, and then connected to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB interface. Many recommend using a Cloudlifter CL-1 between your mic and your interface to add 20dB of gain, but mine added an audible hiss that rendered my audio unusable. I find that my Scarlett Solo adds enough gain to have good, clean audio.

I may add a DBX 286s next, as an audiobook client of mine requires that any high pass filter, compression, or gate be applied before the signal reaches the computer. The DBX 286s can do all that in hardware, so it might come in handy for future gigs!

UPDATE: I did get the DBX 286s, and I love it. I'm only using the high-pass filter, de-esser, and gate, and that alone is worth it. There's a heat pump on the other side of the wall of my booth, and it's not too loud in summer, but in winter it is so loud and adds about 15 dB to my noise floor! The gate on the DBX 286s takes care of this. Also, my audiobook clients require that all compression, etc. be added to my signal before it reaches the computer. I am to do no in-computer processing whatsoever. This machine helps me improve my sound and noise floor before it gets to the computer, so I am able to follow their instructions and get them a cleaner signal. Win-win.

I use LyxPro XLR cables to connect everything. They're a little more expensive than generic, but they are recommended as being of higher quality. Whatever cables you use, it's recommended that they be both balanced and shielded.

Inside the booth, I use $5 Christmas lights from Target, for noise-free lighting. I have a monitor that was gifted to me, and a wireless keyboard and mouse that all connect to my noisy computer, which is kept outside the booth.

I use a DJ stand for my monitor and keyboard, with a little shelf for the interface, and another shelf for the mouse. Lastly, I have a Dragonn by Vivo chair so I can sit comfortably for long periods with good posture.

I hope this helps! Happy recording, everyone!