When you tell someone you’re a voice-over actor, they might picture you standing in a sleek, high-tech studio with glass windows, glowing lights, and racks of gear. For some, that is reality (or it used to be before the pandemic) – but for many working professionals, the studio started in a much humbler place. Closets, PVC pipes, moving blankets, and even makeshift forts have helped countless actors get their start. Building a booth isn’t about having the fanciest setup right away; it’s about creating a space that works for you. I’ve built five of them in my career and have gotten and recorded work in all of them.
The beauty of voice-over is that you can begin almost anywhere. Over time, your booth can grow with you – from a beginner’s closet setup or pillow fort to a mid-level PVC build or various industry ‘booth-to-go’ products, all the way up to a professional-grade studio. Let’s break down how that journey often looks.
Beginner Closet Booth
If you’re just starting out, the closet booth is practically a rite of passage. Picture a laptop perched on a small desk or shelf (or even a stool or a cardboard box), a desk mount placed backward on a few books to hold your mic at the right height, and your clothes hanging just inches away. The truth is, closets can sound pretty good. Hanging clothes act like natural sound absorbers, soaking up reflections and deadening the space. Many pros still use closets because they’re convenient and surprisingly effective. My first closet booth was unfortunately a bit too close to the bathroom, where an unseen fan that never seemed to stop ruined many of my takes – the perils of a small Manhattan one-bedroom apartment with only one small closet. I built another booth like this when I was in St. Petersburg, Florida, for two months during the winter – that booth cost surprisingly little money, and the quality was pretty spot on. But using a laptop in these booths was a means to an end; once it got too hot, the laptop fan kicked on, and I had to stop recording. So I had to get long cables and run them under the door… but I liked being able to edit on the fly, so that became an issue. For sessions, I used to put an icepack wrapped in paper towels underneath my computer to keep it cool. Ahh, the memories.
Acoustic foam panels and bass traps can make the setup stronger, and laying down a rug or multiple layers of carpet helps minimize floor reflections (and noisy downstairs neighbors). Is it glamorous? Mmm, no, not really. Will you sometimes laugh at the fact you’re wedged between winter coats, whispering ad copy into a USB microphone? Absolutely. But the closet booth has undoubtedly launched countless careers.
PVC Frame-and-Blanket Booth
As you start booking more work, or just advance in your training and find other resources to put into your career, you might find that the closet booth just isn’t cutting it. Maybe it’s too cramped, or maybe you need a space you can assemble in another room. Enter the DIY PVC booth. With a handful of PVC pipes and connectors from Lowe’s (and a little creativity), you can build a lightweight frame very quickly. This is what I did five years ago when I moved to Hawaii for six months without telling any of my clients – and since I was using my same microphone, they never knew the difference.
Drape moving blankets or heavy sound blankets over the frame, clip them if necessary, and you’ve got yourself a portable sound booth. Mine was 4’x4’x7’ – and I also had Lowe’s cut me a 5’x5’ wood ‘ceiling’ that I placed on top of the frame, with acoustic foam glued to it on the inside and moving blankets across the outside top. I got some thick shag carpeting for the floor to cut down on any reflective surfaces. Sure, it did not look fancy, but it had a vibe – and anyway, nobody saw it but me. Truthfully, these setups can get surprisingly close to professional isolation. It was no match for the Saturday morning suburban leaf blower or chainsaw, but it pretty much blocked everything else out. Many actors love the flexibility of this build – it can go in a spare bedroom, a basement, in a corner of any room, or even travel with you if you keep the connections small and you’re doing remote sessions or auditions consistently on the road.
Mid-Level Closet Upgrades
Somewhere between “clothes closet” and “PVC fort” lies a hybrid that works beautifully for many: upgrading the closet itself. Adding foam panels to the walls, using thicker bass traps in the corners, and investing in higher-density sound blankets can take the sound to the next level.
At this stage, you’re not just preventing reflections – you’re shaping the tone of your recordings. Carpeting or rugs underfoot, door seals to minimize outside noise, and careful placement of your mic and computer (sometimes outside the booth to reduce fan noise) can make a huge difference. When I moved into my latest apartment in Brooklyn, it had several 3.5’x3.5’ closets – I picked one and got to work – adding layers of professional rubber acoustic treatment on the floor, placing a perfectly cut piece of wood on top, then adding carpet mats and finally carpet so my ‘floor’ was probably 5” thick. I foamed out the inside completely, added bass traps in every corner from floor to ceiling, got a small desk, mounted my monitor on the wall, installed a boom arm with a shock mount to the back of my desk for my Sennheiser 416 (shotgun mics are fantastic for NYC apartments), added a few extra touches, and my new studio is considered ‘broadcast quality’. I did have to hire an electrician to put an outlet in there – you can’t trust running a professional studio with a bunch of extension cords after all. Also, the big step was buying a used Mac Mini to put in my booth – since it has no fan, there’s literally no sound in there but me. This booth was a bigger financial commitment to be sure, but I made the money back quickly and never looked back.
Actors often look back on this phase fondly. I certainly do. It’s the moment you start realizing, “Wow, I’m really building a studio!” There’s a sense of pride in creating a space that feels more polished and professional – even if at root, it’s still a closet with some acoustic upgrades.
Professional Builds
Eventually, you may want a fully isolated booth – something like a WhisperRoom, Studiobricks, or a custom-built studio. These booths provide top-notch sound isolation, meaning you can record even if your neighbor is mowing the lawn or your kids are watching TV down the hall (although honestly I’ve heard plenty of stories to the contrary – your location and outside environments will always be a factor) I haven’t had the need, or frankly the room, to make that investment and I’ve been a professional voice actor for 28 years.
These are major investments, and not every voice-over actor needs one. But for those who work full-time or live in noisy environments, they’re game changers. Professional booths also tend to offer more space, better airflow, and a cleaner aesthetic – all of which can make recording sessions more comfortable and client-friendly. I recently bought a house in the Pocono Mountains, and actually built a booth from scratch in my shed that’s about twice the size of my booth in Brooklyn. I consulted with a known professional booth-builder, but ultimately decided I was just going to stick with the method that had been working for me so far. This time, I had to replace the shed’s roof, build actual walls, add a door, and put up interior insulation and drywall to actually create a ‘room’ that was about 8’x4’. It was pretty exciting. I then once again foamed out the inside completely, added my bass traps to round out the corners and pointed ceiling, and even had to add a baseboard heater for those cold Pennsylvania winters. I did buy all new gear, including another Mac Mini, so with the construction, it was definitely a more sizeable investment. But when I bring my mic with me – again, no one can tell the difference. In fact, it’s even quieter than my Brooklyn studio since I only have to worry about deer and squirrels instead of noisy neighbors or illegal dirt bikes on my street.
The Big Picture
The journey from closet to pro booth isn’t just about equipment; it’s about growth. Each stage represents an actor investing in themselves and their craft. That first closet read, surrounded by clothes and whispering so the neighbors won’t hear, can feel awkward. But years later, standing in your custom studio, you’ll remember that moment as the start of something real.
And here’s the ugly truth: clients actually don’t care what your booth looks like! In fact, over Source Connect, ipDTL, etc, they can’t see it anyway. They only care how you sound. If your audio is clean, warm, dry, and free of distractions, then your booth is doing its job – whether it’s built from designer panels or hanging blankets.
Final Thoughts
Voice-over is one of the few industries where you can truly start from almost nothing. A closet, a mic, and some blankets are enough to get going. With time, experience, and success, you can upgrade your booth into something more advanced. The important part is that you start.
So don’t wait for the perfect setup. Use what you have, improve as you go, and take pride in every stage. Because in the end, building a booth anywhere isn’t just about soundproofing – it’s about carving out a creative space that belongs to you. Be positive and creative, and get excited – happy building!
P.S. If you haven’t yet taken our introductory voice-over class, where we go over everything one needs to know about getting started in the voice-over industry, sign up here!
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