The WhisperRoomTM sound booth is something to shout about
January 1, 2020 wasn’t just the first day of the new decade at Accredentials, it was also the day that the WhisperRoom™ was set up at our office – and I couldn’t be more excited!
I’ve been asked by a few learning professionals why I made this level of investment in the WhisperRoom™, and decided to share those reasons with all of you.
1. Sound Deadening
When we are watching educational videos, even if they are do-it-yourself videos on YouTube, we are pretty forgiving of poor lighting conditions. We are only mildly inconvenienced if the camera angle isn't ‘perfect’ for a few moments of an instructional video. However, I believe most of us can agree that we have turned a video off before the end if the sound is an issue. If we cannot understand what is being said, or we are distracted by the sound coming out of the video, then we are more apt to click the X and find another video that will teach us the same thing. If you are purchasing eLearning or videos from a business, you expect to receive professional sound. The WhisperRoom™, along with a Blue Yeti Microphone and pop filter, deadens sounds, which eliminates the ‘tinny’, echo sound. Our filter also deadens the pop you may hear when speaking Ps and Ts on a microphone, eliminating those distracting sounds.
2. Sound Isolation
Even though the WhisperRoom™ is not 100 percent soundproof, it is definitely a sound-isolated enclosure. That way, I am not a noisy neighbour in my offices and, more importantly, the other sounds in my environment are not picked up. Even though my office is quiet, I do share a wall with two other businesses, and there are a set of stairs close to the office door where foot traffic comes in and out of the building. The sound isolation is super-important to eliminate those distractions from your voiceovers.
3. Ergonomics
The office has two ergonomic desk setups from InHabit Workplace Wellness. For a person to sit and build training programs all day, these setups give me not only the ability to sit or stand when my body needs it, but also allows me to sit straight, with my arms, back and neck in the best position for deskwork.
When under tight deadlines, it is not uncommon that I will need to spend a day doing voiceover to videos. A full day hunched over to fit my upper torso into a desktop enclosure just isn’t working for me anymore. In the WhisperRoom™, I can sit or stand, I can adjust the lighting to read my script and get the voice task completed more efficiently.
4. Credibility
As my career shifts from consultant to training agency, credibility is crucial – and part of that is having the right tools for the job. If one of my clients wants to use their own voiceover videos, or they hire their own voiceover talent, the right equipment is available as part of the service. My enterprise clients may have a professional recording setup onsite, but smaller companies that are outsourcing training require all services. It’s important that they can walk into my space and see that they can do this voiceover task very comfortably.
5. Portability and Scalability
The WhisperRoom™ will grow with me. It is modular, and I can upgrade the room with more windows, more lights
and more sound isolation (I bought a single pane and can easily upgrade to a double pane). I can even replace walls to make it bigger (longer or wider). If one window is not enough, I can buy a wall with an additional window. My little room is perfect, but as requirements change, the modular approach allows me the flexibility to upgrade without having to start over.
Also, the modular system is easy to set up and take down. Should I move locations in the future, I am able to move the room with me. Building my own sound room would have created a permanent structure in my office, which may have led to leaving that investment behind if I relocate my office space.
6. I really wanted a WhisperRoom™
The truth of the matter is, I really wanted a WhisperRoom™. I believe anyone who has a sound/voice element to their business has come across WhisperRoom™ in their Google search. I did explore building a sound room, but found there wasn’t much cost savings when I factored sound isolation into the equation. Sound deadening is an easier problem to tackle, especially on a budget, but sound isolation was a lot harder to tackle.
For Accredentials Incorporated, the WhisperRoom™ is a key piece of professional equipment where the benefits and cost-efficiency greatly outweighed doing it myself.
Give me a call and come hear for yourself!
