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more photosJay Riker, left, chief operating officer of VocalBooth.com, and Calvin Mann, the company’s founder and president, have been running the business since the late 1990s. The company makes soundproof modular recording booths used by a variety of musicians and voice actors.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Quietly creating spaces for noise
Company has carved out a niche for itself with its low-cost, mobile recording booths
By Andrew Moore / The Bulletin
Published: June 23. 2009 4:00AM PSTTom Bodett has one. So does Lionel Ritchie, along with members of the Dave Matthews Band, Lyle Lovett’s band and the Black-Eyed Peas. Madonna has three.
Those are just some of the many musicians, actors and radio performers who own soundproof, modular recording booths manufactured by a Bend company, VocalBooth.com.
For the past 12 years, the company has quietly built a niche for itself in the world of the recording arts, providing its owners a cost-effective way to professionally record sound without having to book time at a recording studio.
Traditionally, studio time is expensive, said the company’s chief operating officer, Jay Riker.
And because a VocalBooth is essentially a piece of office furniture, it means a person interested in a home recording studio doesn’t have to remodel to have their own studio, added Calvin Mann, the company’s president and founder.
Said Riker, “Just as electronics prices have come down, so has the price for recording equipment, so combined with (a VocalBooth), now you can have a pristine high-end recording studio in your home.”
The booths range in size from 16 square feet up to 256 square feet for the largest model. They are lined with acoustic foam and feature a window. The booths can be customized to replace standard carpet flooring with hardwoods, or different color foam instead of the standard gray.
They also can be easily broken down, making them ideal for artists who want to record while on tour, Mann said.
The company’s smallest booth sells for roughly $3,000. The largest sells for about $12,000.
While the recession did slow production — the company went from 25 employees to eight — orders are picking up again, Riker said. The company also is growing its business, from innovating new uses — such as soundproof sleep chambers — to providing consulting and construction solutions for customers with more elaborate needs.
The company has even designed a portable recording studio that would fit inside a tractor-trailer, though it has yet to sell one, Riker said.
In the last year, the company had begun implementing lean manufacturing principals, and those have helped the company stay nimble, Riker said.
Mann, a singer-songwriter, founded VocalBooth.com in 1997 after building a foam-encased prototype in his rental home that allowed him to record but “also kept the landlord happy.” A self-described entrepreneur, Mann said he soon realized the idea could sell.
Six years ago, Mann recruited Riker, his brother-in-law, to help out and the company moved to a manufacturing plant in north Bend. Citing private family ownership, Mann declined to discuss the company’s revenues.
Riker and Mann did discuss more aspects of their business in an interview with The Bulletin.
Q: Sounds like the company is growing?
A: “We’re usually booked two weeks out, but now we are four to five weeks out … we’re in a cautious growth mode because things are slowly picking back up,” Riker said.
Added Mann, “Our product has so many uses, and our client base is so diverse … every month we hear of new applications we hadn’t thought of.”
Q: To what do you attribute the recent growth?
A: “We really know our product well, (and) know how to market it,” Mann said. “We use higher quality materials and our products do cost more, but we tell customers that and why. … We’re honest. We tell them how the product works and how it doesn’t work.”
Q: What percentage of your business is overseas?
A: “Right now, probably 5 percent,” Riker said. “It all depends on the strength of the dollar.”
Q: Do you anticipate hiring?
A: “We hired two people this week,” Riker said.
Q: Are there drawbacks to being based in Central Oregon?
A: “It would be better if we were in a more centrally-located hub, but the amount of time we’d save on shipping wouldn’t be that different,” Mann said.
Added Riker, “Location is not a huge issue, it’s finding good people. It was hard during the boom, but now we have an amazing staff.”
Andrew Moore can be reached at 541-617-7820 or amoore@bendbulletin.com.
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