Ethan...

[Bodhisan]

I've read a lot of your FAQ on soundproofing/acoustic treatment.

I have a 10 x 8 room that has sounded good recording acoustic guitar, mandolin, accordion, banjo, some amped guitar, vocals. But now that I'm trying to record fiddle, I'm not getting a good sound at all, using the same MXL603S that I've used on all of my other acoustics. I got to this part in your FAQ:

"When a room is very small the reflections are too short to be useful and just make the room boxy sounding. In that case the best solution is to cover all of the surfaces entirely with absorbent material and, for a studio room, add any ambience electronically later."

"Boxy" is exactly what this darn fiddle sounds like. The walls are covered with all sorts of crap (pictures, 20 instruments, posters, etc.), but if putting up "absorbent material" will get ride of that boxy sound in my fiddle, I'll do it tomorrow. I don't have much of a budget, so would the foam acoustic treatment be okayi?

THANKS.

Al

[Ethan Winer]

Al,

> "Boxy" is exactly what this darn fiddle sounds like. <

Yeah, all those nearby walls create nasty comb filtering and short echoes. My recent article from EQ magazine explains this in more detail than my FAQ, and that article is now on my company's web site. The short answer is you can make a big improvement by covering at least one wall with foam or fiberglass, then stand near the middle of that wall while recording.

--Ethan

[Bodhisan]

Thanks buddy!

Al

[TexRoadkill]

My room is about 18'x31'. I put up some 2" OC703 panels on 2 walls (one long and one short). The panels are 4'x8' and I left a 1' wall space in between panels. It greatly improved the room and killed most of the noticeable early reflections.

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by Bodhisan

"Boxy" is exactly what this darn fiddle sounds like. The walls are covered with all sorts of crap (pictures, 20 instruments, posters, etc.), but if putting up "absorbent material" will get ride of that boxy sound in my fiddle, I'll do it tomorrow. I don't have much of a budget, so would the foam acoustic treatment be okayi?

THANKS.

Al

I have the same room & the same crap, but with fiberglass on all walls. It doesn't sound boxy; it doesn't sound like anything. 'fraid that's the best way in a tiny room.

I do recommend having the crap. The mics don't pick up much of the reflections off the crap, they're too quiet & not in a cardioid's field anyway. But somehow it makes the room sound less claustrophobic to the musician.

[Bodhisan]

Actually, mshilarious, I think you're right. With all the crap, it deletes any echo/bad sound movement (think of when you walk into an empty apartment, and it's got echo, but when you move your crap in, the echo's gone).

I'm wondering if the problem I was having was with the heat. It was about 90 degrees in our house/my studio, and is it possible that it could affect, in a bad way, the microphone and the fiddle itself? It seems now I've got a good sound now that the temp's back down to 70 or so. BTW: I had just started trying to record the fiddle during that heatwave.