Booth Construction in Progress
Wow, it has nearly been a month since the last post! Everything has pretty much stalled on my momentum in voice acting, and for good reason.
I am finishing up the construction of my booth! I started around the middle of June, when I realized that the airplane noise from a nearby airport was entirely too present in my practice recordings and auditions. I was actually rage quitting in the middle of some of my auditions because it has felt like, as soon as I get a good take going, back to back takeoffs would ruin it! I was very frustrated, so I decided that my booth needed one finally upgrade.
The History of My Recording Space
So initially, I planned on recording in my closet. This was when I first started researching voice acting. The problem is we then did a full room rotation, and the office space with the great closet became my daughter’s room. I did not want to invade her space to record in, so I had to find a better location.
When I finally took the leap of faith to start my coaching with Such A Voice in January 2023, I decided that I could use my mobile desk that was originally put to use when I started a new job in 2020. I still had it tucked away in the bedroom corner, so I decided that it would be my base. I planned around it a PVC pipe and moving blanket booth, and it served me well! I was able to finish my coaching and even did some auditions.
But in May, I started to notice an increase in plane noise. So I went back to youtube for inspiration. Without really thinking about it, I followed the instructions from a guy in his basement, creating a space using styrofoam insulation and duct tape. I didn’t even consider that my main problem is airplane noise, and his main problem was the furnace in the basement… Somehow, I landed the audition for my first audiobook, so I had to produce the book without changing my space. It was grueling trying to only record at night after the rest of the family was settled in. I was absolutely exhausted. But I knew that the inability to record anything during my lunch break for example slowed down my process immensely.
After I finished my book and received payment in June, I knew it was time to take a look again at improving my recording space.
Building from Scratch (with help from some awesome YT folks)
So at the beginning of June, whilst waiting for my demos to come back, I turned my attention to youtube again for inspiration. I put together ideas from 2 videos - one in which the artist lives near an airport like me! - and pulled together my money from the audiobook with some extra from my day job to buy the materials I needed for my booth. I am going to make a second post when my booth is completely finished, and I am planning on including a link to the YouTube video I am making to document the process! It’s also a fun way to force myself to get in front of the camera!
