Makeshift acoustics.

[xTbs]

Hey everyone. so its been a long time since i posted but I wanted to hear some input about how to do budget acoustics for the studio. Because if i have to be honest. proper paneling and equipment and carpeting costs a friggen fortune when its added up. So I did some digging on how to make some DIY acoustic cancellation and was wondering if it will make a difference or not. I found a couple articles where using some convoluted foam and a binder you can make a makeshift gobo. i found some foam at the local hardware store and im going to be picking up a binder and some glue to hold it and allow for positioning. I know its crude and that proper acoustic foam is much denser than what I grabbed. but will it make enough of a difference with my recordings? due to the fact that its being done in a basement with tiles and some form of metallic heater in the room (which i have covered with blankets from time to time.) I get a very unpleasant reverb through the mic. would this help with it?


also on a somewhat related/unrelated question. are there plugins to help remove ambient noise from the recordings?

thanks in advance

 

[Gtoboy]

Plugin alliance has a plugin called SPL DeVerb which doesn't work miracles but can help remove the "room". The tried and true method for removing noise from a track is have an intern(ha ha) go through track by track, phrase by phrase and cut out the noise from in between, leaving just enough to fade in and out so it sounds natural. Of course if you are like most of us the "intern" is you so it might be less painful to do volume rides and mute automation to get as much clean signal through. As for actual noise with the signal , there are a few surgical plugins (isotope Rx springs to mind, also Waves has something similar, many DAW's have an offline tool) that with a little practice can do good things but it will only get so good before it goes bad.
As for the room , I would recommend reading through the posts for suggestions already out there. It can take a lot of creativity to get what is essentially a cave to not sound awful, lots of heavy drapery and something blocking the ceiling from flutter echoes("cloud absorbers") will go a long way for the least investment. Youtube search studio building also.

 

[mjbphotos]

Thin foam will not do anything good for you. Even 'acoustic foam' is only going to help with slap-back echo - hi-mid to high frequency attenuation. Do a search on youtube for 'constructing bass traps' You can build 6-8 4" thick rockwool (4'x2'') bass traps for under $250 if you have just a couple of tools like a screw gun and stapler.