Thanks very much indeed for all the replies. Looks like a good setup you have there Noel. Room isn't square Rharv so maybe that will help a bit.

As I have just returned am AKG 120 mic to amazon I am now well aware of all the unwanted sounds a mic can pick up, though my cheap basic shure mic doesn't seem to have the same problems as I had with the condenser.

1 I was wondering would cast off foam from the cushions off a an old sofa give the same result as the above? Probaby would improvise and string 3 or 4 foam pieces together with rigid wire or something like that.

2 since the booth thing doesn't go all the way around I take it unwanted sounds can still find their way to the mic from behind etc?

I don't know if there is any home theatre installers where I live, but ill have look in yellow pages. Thanks for suggestion Mac


Thanks agian
Musiclover

Old couch cushions should have foam in them. You could also look to craft stores for 2 inch foam. When I built mine, it cost me time. Yes. Time. I found a guy on Craigslist giving away doors. I drove 14 minutes each way to get them. Then I stopped at the U-Haul near me (if you are in the south, it'd be Y'all-Haul) and asked if they had any old moving pads or blankets they were looking to dispose of. They gave me one of the thick pads and 4 blankets. I laid the 2 doors down on the floor butted against each other and stretched the pad across them, then stapled the hell out of them all along the perimeter. And stapled some more. I emptied a staple gun twice going around those doors.

Now when I want to sing, I set the mic stand up, set those doors at about 75-80 degrees so it stands but closes me in, with nothing behind me. Any sound that would come from behind me would have to be reflected, and the thick pad absorbs everything. It is REALLY dead in there.

I also suggest keeping a spray bottle of Febreeze handy, as the air can get a little ripe singing up into a moving pad.... spray the thing liberally before you start or at some point you may go for a big gulp of air and come up empty.

And for me, I also do vocals with no room sound, all headphone. I don't want any bleed into the vocal mic. I suppose most people do that as well but I wanted to add that just in case.

I have 1 and it seems to work okay.
There appear to be 2 or 3 brands that all seem the same except for price.
WSS

Before going any further - is there a clothes closet in the room or an adjacent room? If so, open the door, loosely stuff it with hanging clothes, put the back of the mic facing the open door perhaps 10 cm from the hanging clothes and voila, you have your booth. It will have way more absorption than the item in the link.

Honestly, before you do anything else - try that. It might take investment in a long mic cord to reach down the hall, and some time to cut out the unneeded extra time in your recording as you walk from your PC to the 'booth' and back.

-Scott

1 thing, eddie, if you have sonar x 1 producer you should have the pro channel.
Try 1 of the vocal presets on the input, I just used it for the first time and really liked it.
I understand there are more free vocal presets on the sonar site.
Hopefully when I get more time off I will mess around with some vocal tracks.
WSS

I know how time can be. You have a big show coming up soon, don't you?

Well not really just a lot of dates in the islands at around town.
That's the catch 22 about playing and recording.
It seems like it's a good idea to sing and play in the studio during the summer what I'm really busy, the throat and fingers are a lot stronger.
But it's hard to get motivated on your 1 or 2 days off...
WSS

Now go get Rosalita and jump a little higher....!!!