Vocal Baffle-cheap and works

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 3:14 pm

Having my share of Auralex and steadman pop screens I've been thinking more about isolation within open rooms. With a fair number of padded office room dividers and moving pads I was still looking for something quick, easy and cheap and I had ALL the materials right at hand.

If you take one of those small, light futons (3 fold) with zipper ends and cloth covers you can simply slide mic boom stands in the zipper openings and have a quick, L-shaped vocal blind that works great for isolating vocals with the mic stands raised to standing height or to surround a seated guitarist or amp. There's no modification needed for the stands or the futon so storage is a snap when not in use and the adjustable height is handy.

It doesn't look bad either. Esthetics are worthy and this doesn't even look bad in the best of studios. This may have been covered but 2 cheap mic stands and an old futon will get it done.

Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 9:09 pm

I am curious to see a demonstration of this setup. got a picture?

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:40 pm

I got this futon thingy, post a pic of your example please

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:09 pm

How heavy is your mic stand?

Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:52 am

I set this up about 2 months ago and it's worked great. The Futon is lite weight and has cloth on one side and vinyl on the other. The zipper ends allow for just about any boom end of a mic stand to be inserted with the zipper vertical and the boom horizontal at the top to hold up the futon. You'll have to judge the heft of the stand by the weight of the futon. I'm using a small, single futon with a very light foam pad. The stands are inexpensive ProLine stands (without mic clips). The stands are tripod and you do need to be aware of the direction they are placed to get a stable baffle, best used in an L-shape. The Futon has 3 panels that are 30" x 24" each. Because of the way a futon folds, the functional use is an L-shape with the boom stands are 90 degree angles and the height being either for a guitarist seated or a singer from the waist to the face level.

I've used them to baffle the front of a drum set, singers, acoustic guitar, amps and even in front of an open upright piano to eliminate sympathetic overtones in the room. When you need the mic stands you simply pull them out and fold up the futon. The stands allow for multiple height adjustments and add stability to the baffle. It isolates many sounds and also stores easily. I just saw a vocal baffle advertised ('V' shaped) for $300. I'm sure it works great but I'd rather buy another mic.

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