Will a Portabooth work for instruments?
April 28, 2012 12:31 PM   Subscribe

Will something like the Porta-Booth Pro work well for recording instruments or other large noise-making devices?

I'm looking to improve the audio situation in my office, and the Porta-Booth (or something like it*) seems like the best way to do it -- it's cheaper and more convenient than foam panels or baffles. My only question is whether it will work for recording anything other than vocals. In the provided picture (and in this video demo) it looks like you can position your head a good half a foot to a foot or so away from the front edges of the thing, which I think would be compatible (if a little unwieldy) with pretty much any instrument that can be recorded with one mic, but it's hard to say without trying it. If you have any experience trying to record instruments with this type of set up, I'd love to hear your take on it.

* I'd love to pay less than $350 for something like this, but it seems like getting that amount of solid acoustic foam would cost about $200 anyway, and any home-built version of this thing would probably significantly less convenient to use.
posted by invitapriore to Media & Arts (1 answer total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: The Porta Booth is ok for having a person near the mic, but the more distance you place between the open side and the sound source, the more you decrease any sound dampening.

Will it help? Of course. But it really is designed for close in recording--it relies on the body of the person speaking into it to be a noise block as well.

Notice in the video that they include the fabric to put over your head--that speaks volumes.

You might be asking a little too much from this tool (unless you could stick your instruments inside the hanging fabric.
posted by Murray M at 8:11 PM on April 29, 2012


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