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.

1. Rode USB mic at mouth level
2. 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)
3. MacBook Pro with the camera at eye level and remote enough to show my head and shoulders
4. Mic not visible in the video
5. 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:

1. Instead of two random boxes I’m using one long laundry bin on its side. That means I can put the laptop further away.
2. 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.)
3. 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.