Acoustic Treatment - Chicken or the Egg

[arcaxis]

A bit of emphasis to noobs seems to be put on room treatment when they are just at a point trying to decide what mic to buy, maybe to point they aren't sure if they should get a dynamic or a condenser mic (some may argue it makes no difference ) or treat the room before they use a mic in the room where they plan to record. Most noobs likely don't have a clue if the room may be an acoustic nightmare or not and forthright get a lot of recommendations to simply treat the room in the very beginning. Not suggesting room treatment is a bad thing or something that shouldn't be done, but rather than getting hung up on trying to make a room 'mic friendly', which may cause a noob indecision on mic selection, why not just suggest delaying treatment until the noob has a chance to use a mic for a while and gets a better feel if the room sucks or not and go from there. Don't base a mic selection on the idea that the recording area 'needs' treatment, so I shouldn't get a condenser mic cause the room is probably crap.
Don't 'fix' something that may not be broke too badly to begin with

 

[mjbphotos]

I doubt there is any noobie room that couldn't benefit from room treatment. Most noobs ignore the advice anyway (I did!)

 

[JMac52]

I would suggest to noobs to NOT treat their room at first, and decide if they even like recording/mixing/producing before taking that leap. I've seen quite a few "complete recording studio gear" ads on Craigslist (and some include acoustic treatment).

I waited about a year to treat my room and I don't view that time as wasted.

 

[Atkron205]

I too waited a year to treat my room, not because I didn't think it needed it, I knew it did. it was a budget issue. I also did a ton of research almost to the point I got sick of reading about it. I shopped around gathering the materials and was able to build nice looking traps (24 total) for 30 bucks per panel. best money I ever spent.

 

[gecko zzed]

When pursuing any activity (golf, motor racing, recording) there is a progression in experience, knowledge and expertise, as well as in the sophistication of the equipment needed to support that activity.

Someone starting out on golf may begin with a handful of rusty clubs found in the back shed somewhere. As they improve, they get better clubs, a better golf bag, a coach, and all the rest of the golfing paraphernalia.

There's a whole lot of stuff that people who start recording should have and could have, but there's no shame attached to starting off simply and gradually introducing complexity and sophistication as you improve. That includes room treatment.

 

[Ponder5]

There's a whole lot of stuff that people who start recording should have and could have, but there's no shame attached to starting off simply and gradually introducing complexity and sophistication as you improve. That includes room treatment.

Certainly. I would agree there is no shame in it. There should never be even the hint of it.

But at the same time, with each new step, there is a proceeding period of adjustment.

Sometimes, like with car racing, the adjustment is often simply enjoying the new power and handling. But sometimes, like with billiards or shooting, the adjustment is a lengthy process of *unlearning* much of what has been necessary along the way. I had over-compressed and over-reverbed for years before settling into an acceptable monitoring situation. This took some time to overcome. Of course, I might be a slow learner sometimes.

Perhaps it matters, or maybe not. Perhaps i'm making a big deal of nothing. But some of us are set in our ways (shocking, huh?). And the longer one goes without improvement, the harder it is to change.


Ponder5

 

[jimmys69]

I would suggest to noobs to NOT treat their room at first, and decide if they even like recording/mixing/producing before taking that leap. I've seen quite a few "complete recording studio gear" ads on Craigslist (and some include acoustic treatment).

I waited about a year to treat my room and I don't view that time as wasted.

I would agree here to the point that any person trying to record may not be so serious to need room treatment. It all comes down to what level of quality one wishes to have. If basic mic in hand works for them for voice-overs or any simple recording, then no-I wouldn't waste money on treatment. But when people ask why their 8'x8'x8' bedroom is not achieving great results, then the obvious elephant in the room is the room itself.

Then the next thing to be addressed is how to make the room 'not' be the thing that is causing their recordings to suffer. Proper acoustic treatment is actually cheaper to employ than wasting money on other mics or Youtube vocal isolation cardboard isolation bullshit that does not work.

The affects of any particular room 'in how itself determines the quality of any recording, is IMO just as important as the mic selection. Yeah, you can get away with things if your desired result is not to sound as good as you can, but that is for the one recording to decide.

Room treatment is likely the cheapest/most beneficial first step for those that wish to get to a higher level of quality. Way-WAY before investing in a shiny new high end preamp. The same applies for a better mic, though there is nothing wrong with experimenting with mics. But-and a big ass but- the mic will only 'hear' the room it is recording. No mic will fix the issues an untreated room will present.

So no, room treatment is not for everyone. But if one is serious about getting better results, then it is the first order of business to address. And not the foam bullshit. The internet needs to be rid of the hype of it's actual effectiveness to price ratio. Looking cool is not equate to performance.

 

[Massive Master]

I'm in a different camp when it comes to monitoring and room treatment --

I know people who have been recording for years (and years and years and years) with crap monitoring chains and maybe a sheet of foam or two. All these years later, their recordings are horrible. All the experience they have can't make up for the fact that they aren't hearing what's actually going on.

I also know people who invested in decent monitoring and a small stack of broadband traps right off the bat who were making reasonably wonderful sounding recordings almost immediately.

It's very easy ("easy" is the wrong word... "Possible" is better) to develop listening skills in a reasonably accurate and consistent environment. It's blind luck otherwise.

 

[jimmys69]

I'm in a different camp when it comes to monitoring and room treatment --

I know people who have been recording for years (and years and years and years) with crap monitoring chains and maybe a sheet of foam or two. All these years later, their recordings are horrible. All the experience they have can't make up for the fact that they aren't hearing what's actually going on. It's very easy ("easy" is the wrong word... "Possible" is better) to develop listening skills in a reasonably accurate and consistent environment. It's blind luck otherwise.

Absolutely. Unless someone has the ability to be confident in what their monitoring is telling them (which is only possible with well planned room treatment and monitors that are accurate enough to actually 'learn' what they are telling you without the room screwing it all up) , it is just an absolute shot in the dark. There is no way to know what you are hearing without confidence in the room you are listening in. Now, there is also the treatment of the room you are recording in, if different to the one you are listening/mixing in. That in itself is another shot in the dark depending on the room.


I just heard from a client today that has recorded his band @ my studio. He lives out of state 3 hours away from me so is trying to attempt recording raw tracks at his 10x30' basement. Well, it not turning out so well for him without any type of acoustic treatments. No surprise there. But he is now realizing that even the room he is recording in needs some help. He was looking into purchasing thousands in mics to fix it. My suggestions as to building a bunch of panels will save him tons of money and give way better results. Of that I have no doubt. Though if his drums sound like crap to begin with.... Ugh...