Is acoustic foam treatment necessary?

[guitaristic]

if you have a decent one now that'll run you AT LEAST $500 bucks for a LDC

I beg to differ.

 

[Armistice]

Prob the NT1A....some people love it. Some people hate it.

I've never heard anyone wax poetical about the NT1A...

 

[guitaristic]

I've never heard anyone wax poetical about the NT1A...

It just comes naturally

 

[aaronmcoleman]

Well if you think about it logically, you may THINK that you are getting good recording in an untreated room but you won't know because your hearing your tracks in that room. Some pros mix in untreated rooms. But they have YEARS of conditioning their ears, and they have undoubtedly learned thier rooms.

Even if you throw that out. New Mic that really improves your sound? if you have a decent one now that'll run you AT LEAST $500 bucks for a LDC, more for a stereo set of Smallies. New Monitors? even if you have $300 KRK's your aren't going to get a HUGE improvement until you get into the $800 dollar range and those aren't any more help untile you fix the room. New software processors? You can use free ones but theres no match for pro ones and in that dept you are shelling out $200 at least. New AD/DA? you aren't even going to hear it in a bad room and it'll run you 1k. Pre professional level guitar? new drumset? vocal lessons? all those can push several thousand. I think (Haven't got a chance to myself yet) you could DIY treat a room for just early reflections and bass trapping for under $500 and see HUGE RIDICULOUS improvement. Once you have enough gear to give you the basic ability to record what you want the room is the first place you should look to improve your sound. It's not easy but if recording audio were easy this forum wouldn't exsist.

Well I can tell if my recordings are decent or not based on how they sound on different systems. Same as any other recording.

And good mics will definitely make a huge difference.

Again treatment is great but not at the top of the list.

 

[Ethan Winer]

Well if you think about it logically, you may THINK that you are getting good recording in an untreated room but you won't know because your hearing your tracks in that room.

Indeed, though it's even worse than that. In truth, room acoustics matter far more than all the other stuff. A newbie will do better, and get a good mix faster, using budget gear in a room that's well treated, versus the other way around. It amazes me that people who ignore the importance of acoustic treatment are usually the same people who don't have it and never heard an accurate room.

--Ethan