The Fun Zone: Eric and Co

The booth is complete. It took a bit longer than expected, but the assembly wasn't all that painful. Actually it was a good bit painful, as my sore arms and back will tell you.

Before...


...and After.

Although I'm very happy with the size of the unit, I almost wish I had gotten one a touch smaller for assembly purposes. The design of these things assumes that you have access to all four sides of the box at all points during installation. In my room, that wasn't the case. Wall clearance wasn't quite optimal. I couldn't reach all of the straps to tighten them, and at one point I had to climb on top of the thing to secure the ceiling. It held quite nicely. I'm considering using it as a sort of attic...

As I said, there is plenty of room inside. I had my first outside talents use it today, and the talkback system works just fine. I haven't even fiddled with the dials on my processor, but I can already tell the difference in the recordings. Sometimes, I just sit and stare at it. It's almost as if it's speaking to me, telling me to do things...

"Bring me a lint brush."

There are still a few things to take care of:

1. As I was hooking up the microphone, the 26-cent bolt that holds the mic stand together stripped, causing the whole thing to fall apart. Turns out that this is some rare metric carriage bolt, and nobody stocks them in Southern Connecticut. I currently have it held together with a similar bolt and wing nut combination, tightened with pliers. I can currently only work with voice talent of a certain height range.

2. I need to re-do the ventilation system. I spent extra money for a silencing attachment, so you can't hear the fan through the port holes. The problem is, I put the fan motor so close to the booth (cramped quarters, remember) that you can hear it through the wall. In order to get at the fan, I have to take that whole thing apart piece by piece. That may wait until the weekend.

3. I still need to figure out what to do with all of the things that used to be in the room before we put a giant gray box there. I have a new filing cabinet on the way that we plan to put in the closet. I don't know where the stuff in the closet is supposed to go yet.

4. There is currently a 3-foot stack of cardboard in the garage. I need to cut it up into bite-sized chunks so that the recycling people will take it away. Otherwise, I can't use the passenger side door to my car.

All in all, though, I'm very happy with the purchase. Oh, and Jason, you're right. The door locks from the inside, so it could be used as a sort of panic room. Of course, an attacker could simply unclip the straps and pry open the ceiling, so I guess it's not all that secure...