Modest upgrade to video recording booth—thanks to sponsors!

My video l recording booth gets almost tidy enough for multiple videos
Tomorrow I’ll start making little video recordings of the poems in my new book. I’m excited! I have done heaps of voice recordings for my podcast, but for videos I needed something better.
First up, THANK YOU to my first two donors, Prue Densem and TT.* My office will be more orderly and I’ll save a lot of time as a result.
The new version isn’t quite finished: that egg-crate foam will be replaced with something permanent. But what a huge improvement on the previous version!

My previous recording booth: functional but chaotic
Here’s what both versions are required to achieve.
- Rode USB mic at mouth level
- Sound baffled so my voice doesn’t sound too tinny (necessary because I like to use my standing desk, which is in a room with lots of hard surfaces)
- MacBook Pro with the camera at eye level and remote enough to show my head and shoulders
- Mic not visible in the video
- Must be portable and easily assembled.
The old version almost achieved 1 and 2 but failed at 3, 4 & 5. The principal improvements so far are:
- Instead of two random boxes I’m using one long laundry bin on its side. That means I can put the laptop further away.
- At this point the booth consists of just 3 items, one box, a bit of foam, and an old trophy that props up the foam. The old booth had many more bits and it was a chaotic arrangement. (Soon it’ll be just the box, with trimmings.)
- There’s no way Ursula the cat can enter the box. That will simplify recording.
*May I use your full name, please TT? I want to, but don’t want to breach your privacy.
Ingenious, Rachel! And good luck keeping Ursula out of the picture 🤣 Happy to be named a proud sponsor of your amazing work!
💗💗