NATALIE VAN SISTINE - VOICE ACTOR, AUDIO ENGINEER, WRITER
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The StudioBricks One

11/4/2018

4 Comments

 
   At the beginning of October, I purchased a vocal booth! 
​
   I hadn't planned on making this investment for at least another year, but all the right pieces fell into place. The booth was gently used and already available on the east coast. I even had the right amount of money set aside in my savings. All the stars were aligning and it seemed like the perfect step forward in my career. So I said yes!
Why StudioBricks?

   StudioBricks has been on my radar since I saw an interview with a narrator for ACX about what her daily life was like narrating audiobooks. I was tremendously impressed by how comfortable and clean her recording booth and setup appeared, but it took me a while to find out who made such beautiful looking booths! 

   I came across StudioBricks again when I was researching audio treatment solutions for my day job as a Learning Experience Designer. There were a few key factors that I wanted to apply to my personal recording solutions, as well as impart to my supervisor, that made StudioBricks stand out above other vocal booth models I'd seen so far.
  • StudioBricks booths are double walled. There is more space to stop and diffuse sound both coming in and out of the booth. 
  • The booths are easy to put together and take apart. Someone who has their pieces staged out ahead of time and knows what they're doing (plus a good amount of elbow grease!) can assemble them in under 10 minutes. 
  • The booths are made of multiple types of material that prevent the space from becoming too "dead" or "boxy" sounding compared with competitors such as the Whisper Room. 
  • StudioBricks also includes voice over customization options in order to treat the space even further and create an ideal voice recording environment. 
Getting the Booth to South Carolina

   I was very lucky that my dad was willing to make the trek to and from Baltimore with me in his 2006 Dodge Durango. My entire plan might have fallen apart without his help! By the time we were packed up and back on the road again, we had only a few square inches in various corners of the vehicle left. With clever packing, we fit every piece and there was no room left to spare - any more and we would have been in trouble! It took both my dad and I, as well as the voice actress I'd purchased the booth from and her ex-Navy husband to make it happen. They were incredible!

​   Back in South Carolina, I was able to call in a few local friends from Audio Centrik to help me unload and get all the pieces into my apartment. Fortunately, once they were inside, my dad and I were able to assemble the booth ourselves together in just an hour!
StudioBricks in Action
 

   The proof is always in the pudding, so rather than tell you, I hope the audio sample below will give you a clear idea of what my recordings sound like in this new space. However, I can say that so far I am completely pleased with the results!

   The recording below does not include any post production at all. No noise removal, compression - nothing! I recorded using a Neumann TLM 49, Grace M 101 Preamp, and Scarlett 2i2 as an interface (I know that last bit isn't ideal, but I don't have my new interface installed yet and this is an acoustics test anyway!) Also check out the short story I'm reading here.
Thinking about your own StudioBricks Booth?

    While I can't recommend this incredible booth enough, here are a few pointers as a new owner that I would recommend for you moving forward!
  • No words can describe the weight of the door and frame, especially if you're transporting or moving them assembled together. I would easily guess they are around 200 pounds (we jokingly said it was solid glass and lead.) The weight makes it clear why this booth works but you really need to have at least 2-3 strong guys on hand to move it. After this experience, I intend to hire either movers or body builders the next time we relocate and have insurance on everything just to be safe!
  • Stage your pieces out ahead of time and make sure you can tell the wood connector pieces apart. We made a few mistakes with those, but our assembly went very quickly by laying out the pieces ahead of time in order and with the labels upright so we could find what we needed.
  • Spend the extra money on the voice over customization if you plan to use this booth for voice over. It's already a great space, but you can tell that the extra pieces add a satisfying final touch. The bass traps in particular are vital!
  • Buy extra cable ports. In order to ensure that your booth is properly sealed and maintains good isolation, you have to seal your cables once you've run them out to your computer. In order to do this, you will need StudioBricks cable ports. This video does a much better job of showing what I'm talking about than me trying to explain the process here. I absolutely recommend having extras on hand in case you ever need to switch out your cables. 
Let me know what you think!

   If this experience has you thinking about purchasing your own StudioBricks booth, then awesome! I'm so excited for you to fall in love with them too! If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments, and I will do my absolute best to provide you with an answer. My experience was a little different than a new buyer, but I'm happy to help where I can!
4 Comments
Ian Russell link
12/12/2018 01:52:52 pm

Hi Natalie, I live in Spartanburg and am in the process of buying a booth. Looks like I'm also going with Studiobricks and came across your article and you are in SC too! Small world. I was considering the One Plus as I was concerned about internal space but see you have the One. How do you find it for extreme work like videogames when you are more likely swinging your arms about? Does it have sufficient elbow room for the more 'active' Vo like myself. I assume your booth came with the ventilation system. How have you found that. Do you need to turn it off when recording?Thanks Ian

Reply
Natalie
12/12/2018 02:14:07 pm

Hey Ian! Wow you're right - VERY small world! Also congrats on your new (upcoming) booth!

So I was incredibly impressed by the size of the One. I find that I have plenty of room to move and gesture comfortably. I talk with my hands a lot, especially when I'm doing eLearning, so having some space is important to me along with the price tag. I am very comfortable in the space I have and can do a good amount of physicality without having to worry about what's around me. Mind you, I'm not significantly large person (5'4), but it's covered everything I could ask for without being suffocating. Unless you are a very aggressive and broadly physical person, it could very well do the trick!

As far as the ventilation, I have to admit that is the one thing I haven't been able to test yet! Unfortunately the only way I was able to fit it in my current space was up against the same wall where the ventilator sits. As a result, I can't use it at all at this time. I do plan to move next summer though and I am very curious to know how it works myself! In the mean time, it takes longer to heat up than the storage closet I was using. I usually need a break 45 minutes to an hour in when the window starts fogging up, haha.

I hope that helps - feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!

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T.R. Campbell link
12/26/2020 05:34:43 pm

Hi Natalie. Thanks for posting this. I too have been considering purchasing a Studiobricks booth. You mentioned the one you bought was already on the East Coast. How did you find or where did you look to find someone selling a pre-owned booth? Also, without having to say the exact price, can you tell me if it was a significant discount buying a pre-owned unit? Thank you!!

T.R.

Reply
Natalie Van Sistine
12/26/2020 06:00:50 pm

Thanks so much for your comment! I'm glad it has been helpful to you!

To answer your question (and if I remember correctly), I found the booth via a group on Facebook (VO Gear Exchange). Another voice actor was selling the booth and was offering about a 35% discount from the current price as long as I came to pick it up. To me, it was worth it to drive up and get it!

If you are looking to get a Studiobricks booth with VO in mind and have the funds or ability to do so, I do recommend splurging for a larger size than the base ONE model if possible. The ONE model sounds good if treated appropriately and certainly hasn't hurt my career, but after spending the past year working with actors that have a variety of booths, the ONE Plus model seems to sound the best out of the bunch.

I hope that helps!

Reply



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