Trying to achieve high quality recordings as a home recording enthusiast can be a challenge at times. But we still want to be able to get the best sounding recordings that we can and since we don’t have rooms built for recording we need to resort to other methods to control and tame room ambiance and reverberation. One of the methods we use to do this are to use Gobos. Gobos are basically movable acoustic isolation panels. However, Gobos can be rather expensive for what they are and like most of us, we can be a little strapped for cash. Some recording enthusiasts take it upon their selves to build their own custom built DIY Gobos. This can still add up quickly and many of us don’t have the time to build Gobos. Here’s an easy and cheap alternative to buying expensive Gobos or dealing with the hassle of building your own. They’re mobile and easy to transport too 🙂
What You’ll Need
- Moving Blankets. These can be bought from Harbor Freight for $9 for a 72″ x 80″ blanket
- A Mic Stand. No particular mic stand needed, any will do. No need to spend a lot of money on a heavy duty mic stand for this purpose. These would work fine…Musician’s Gear Tripod Mic Stand w/Fixed Boom Black 2-Pack
And…that’s it. You have everything you need to create a Mobile Gobo to control room ambiance and sound reflections. To set it up, create a t-shape from the mic stand and throw a moving blanket over it and there’s your Mobile Gobo. You may consider adding on some clips or clamps to hold the blankets on to the stand.
Being so simple and cost effective you may be skeptical of the performance but I can assure you that these work great. I have used these to great effect to control ambiance and room sound when recording drums and vocals. Hear some finished recordings that I have used these on.
I have used these Mobile Gobos to create a make shift vocal booth for recording vocals and I have used them to surround drums in a very open room to get a drier sounding recording. The moving blankets are perfect for deadening the room and I have used them to create a drum room in my house too.
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Thanks for this