How to proceed.

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pinkphiloyd

New member
Okay. I can't afford acoustic foam or bass traps at the moment. So I'm having to make do. At my disposal, I have a queen size mattress and box spring, as well as four 6'x7' moving pads. What's my best bet for utilizing this stuff to record some decent vocals? Moving pads in a corner, mic facing out, and mattress behind the mic, maybe?
 
You don't mention what room you will be recording in. I guess it's a bedroom (mattress) but what are the dimensions and shape? The room could sound good without any treatment. Have you tried it yet? If you really need to squelch reflections and standing waves, I'd say drape the moving pads over a stand of some sort and set them a foot off the wall in a corner. Place the mic near the corner so the singer is facing out into the room.

You should be asking what to do with your room for mixing.
 
Yes, it's a bedroom, and a pretty small one. 12x10. Carpet. Far from ideal but it's all I've got at the moment. Yea, I've tried recording both acoustic guitars and vocals and it's impossible to get anything approaching a dry sound in there. I'm stuck with mixing on phones for now. I know, one problem on top of another. I got a good deal on a pair of AKG K702's. Monitors are out until we move because the walls in this place are like paper and I can't use them without creating noise pollution for the other residents.

Ceilings are about 9 feet or so.
 
Stay away from the corners (even behind you). Set up a moving blanket hung behind you, with the mic a few feet out from it, so you're facing into the room. Maybe a moving blanket on either side wall and the wallin front of you, see how that works. In this situation, dynamic mics/closemiking would be better than condensor mics.
 
mjbphotos said:
Stay away from the corners (even behind you). Set up a moving blanket hung behind you, with the mic a few feet out from it, so you're facing into the room. Maybe a moving blanket on either side wall and the wallin front of you, see how that works. In this situation, dynamic mics/closemiking would be better than condensor mics.
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I'll try this, thanks a lot.

For now, we stood the mattress and box spring on end and parallel. We turned the four moving pads into two thick pads using safety pins. We then hung them on shower curtain rods and these are now forming the other two walls of the make-shift "booth." Threw two heavy quilts over the box spring. I won't get a chance to record anything and really see how it sounds until this weekend, but it definitely killed a lot of the echo. You get in there and clap and it's dead, dead, dead.
 
Wish14 said:
Dead, dead, dead, isn't necessarily a good thing.
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I know. I'm gonna see how it sounds and go from there. I'm out to explore any and all options here, just looking for a little guidance where to begin, so to speak. My money says I end up going with something like mjbphotos suggested. Gonna build some PVC racks for these blankets so they'll be easy to move around and experiment.
 
Sounds like you have the right idea! I'll weigh in with a few points:

- If you can, try to absorb the sounds where they're going to bounce off the walls (early reflections). To do this, set up the mic and the singer and move a mirror along the walls. When the mirror is positioned such that the singer can see the mic in the mirror, that's a good spot on the wall to set up some treatment.

- Put treatment behind the singer. That's the direction the mic is going to pick up from the most.

- Stay away from corners. You'll get more bass buildup in the corner, which you probably don't want.

- Experiment! Find a good starting point, record a couple phrases, stop, and listen back. move the mix some, and repeat. Try a few different positions and see what sounds best.

Good luck!
 
mjbphotos said:
And you don't want foam, even when you can afford to do some treatment.
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What's the broadband deal against foam? It has it's uses and applications. It isn't a cure-all, but it can solve some issues, even when you can afford to do some treatment. I've heard some pretty damned good recordings done it rooms treated with nothing but foam.
 
bongoboy said:
What's the broadband deal against foam? It has it's uses and applications. It isn't a cure-all, but it can solve some issues, even when you can afford to do some treatment. I've heard some pretty damned good recordings done it rooms treated with nothing but foam.
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Sure, foam is ok, when used in the right ways, or in conjunction with broadband absorbers. By itself it can leave the sound very boxy with uncontrolled low end problems.

I just added some 4" wedges in a few places where I can't put traps - with hard oak paneling, and a lot of other reflective surfaces in my small room, I need all the absorption I can get!
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The doorway through to the Kitchen? Is a great bass trap. It's in the corner of the room and the bass escapes through the opening LOL.

Alan.
 
witzendoz said:
The doorway through to the Kitchen? Is a great bass trap. It's in the corner of the room and the bass escapes through the opening LOL.

Alan.
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Yeah, unfortunately its a front corner of the room, and I added that small triangle chunk in the upper corner. I've got the superchunks in the upper rear corners. My first reflection points are actually where two doorways are - I keep the door open on one (picture 2 above), and the other doesn't have a door (picture 1 above). There's only 3" of space above the drop ceiling, so I stuffed the whole perimeter area with fluffly pink stuff. You work with what you've got!
 
mjbphotos said:
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Yeah, unfortunately its a front corner of the room, and I added that small triangle chunk in the upper corner. I've got the superchunks in the upper rear corners. My first reflection points are actually where two doorways are - I keep the door open on one (picture 2 above), and the other doesn't have a door (picture 1 above). There's only 3" of space above the drop ceiling, so I stuffed the whole perimeter area with fluffly pink stuff. You work with what you've got!
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What I was saying is that with the door open, the open door itself acts as a giant bass trap as the bass frequencies that build in the corner go out the door, because with the door open it is no longer a corner. I have the same situation in my control room, due to the existing building that could not be changed the door ended up in the rear corner of the control room and leads to a long corridor to the recording room, there are isolation issues with spill between rooms and the control room door is only shut if guide vocals are being done in the corridor. So I have found that the control room door is open 99% of the time for fresh air and the fact that the room sounds a little better with it open. If the door was shut there would need to be a bass trap in the corner.

Cheers
Alan.
 
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