Need help

[iced]

Hi im only 14 years old ... but i do rap. So i meen i hava a little setup/ studio type deal going on ... here:

i have large 5ft long 3 1/2ft wide wooden desk.

i have my 17 inch, flat screen monitor on desk.

open computer tower to left, behind monitor.
(Its open becasue it stays cooler)

an old speaker stand with 3ft board ontop.
::On top of stand: 2 gemini comp speakers 1 on left side, one on right.
(tilted just a bit toward inside)
Speaker stand is like 3-4ft high!

i also have my mic just sitting on my desk and i have a guitar amp sitting on my desk.

i have a sheet blocking off the back behind me, and i have a sheet toward the end of the desk/ blocking off the rest of room.

now im gonna get egg crate foam and put it all on the back wall behind my desk. ( For better recording )


Now all of this is in my bedroom.. and my bedroom is very very small .... so anyway dose this setup work... just for a beginer? ...

[iced]

Here is a pic i made of my room... NOT PERFECT! lol



Here is a pic i made of my desk

[earthboundrec]

Hey dude,

Your set up should work for what you want to do. The sheets and egg crates though probably won't help you at all.. I dig the lizard tank..

Good luck to you, make sure you post some of your toons up in the MP3 clinic when you get them recorded.

[earthboundrec]

Also you'll probably get better monitoring if you speakers are at ear level rather than way above your head like that.... just a suggestion. take care..

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Darned good drawings there mate. For a starter, it looks like you're doin fine.

I have a little tip for ya. Instead of the foam, if you can find a commercial building that is being renovated or remodled, and it has an acoustical tile suspended grid ceiling thats being torn out or replaced, ask if you can have some of these tiles. The right ones are yellow rigid fiberglass about 1/2 inch thick and about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long, with a white vinyl sheet on one side. Usually it has a design on the vinyl. If you can get a dozen or two dozen of these, you can make some terrific broadband absorbers for your room. Peel off the vinyl sheet, stack 4 or more of these together, wrap some burlap or musin or other type of loose weave fabric around these and sew it together on the back with thread and VOILA!! 4 to 6 2" thick broadband absorbers. Maybe thicker if you get enough. You won't believe what these will do for the sound in your room.
Might want to be carefull handling this stuff though. It can give you a rash. Wear gloves and long sleeve shirt, and even one of those cheap paper breathing filters they sell at hardware stores if you can. They're less than a buck.

Put 2 behind your monitors, hang 2 on the ceiling over you mixing position and maybe hang a couple on the sheet behind you. If you can get more, thats even better. Put the extra ones across the corners of the room floor to ceiling. These are for bass trapping. Or you can buy these at a Home Improvement store pretty cheap too. Just remember, the thicker the better, as these work on a principle whereby the thickness determines the low frequency rolloff. You can improve low frequency absorption by spacing these units off the wall about an inch. You could even use a piece of cardboard as a backer, and a 1" x 1" strip of styrofoam or wood at the top and bottom as a spacer. You can then use hot melt glue and glue gun to fasten the fabric to the back of the cardboard. Then hang the panels like pictures.
This is exactly what I am using. Got them free. If you can get more, use a couple on the sidewalls.
One other suggestion. Get your monitors(speakers) down to ear level. Maybe move the stuff on your desk so the monitors have a wider stereo spread. But only you know how stuff fits on there. The point is to get your stereo image a bit wider.
Anyway, good luck with your recording and have fun. And welcome to the board.
fitZ
PS...Lizzards huh? Thats cool.

[iced]

the sheets do help.. like i noticed less echo in my recordings.... that is u can barley hear it with the sheets down.. but it still helps ...

and about that stuff ur talking about puttin on the walll .. well i didnet understand anything u said

i think that egg crate stuff will do fine .. but w/e

and about the speakers... lets see.. there only like 1 1/2 feet high from the top of my moniter.. but i meen i get really good sound when there up that high.. like when i want to play music ... i just pop a cd into my comp and turn up the volume and it sounds great... projects threw out the hole room ...

[Ptownkid]

Originally Posted by iced

i think that egg crate stuff will do fine .. but w/e

I'm not going to give you a long explaination on this, but they're useless, period, don't do it.

other than that, just keep reading all you can about acoustics and you'll get the big picture soon enough.

[Dani Pace]

At the very best, all the eggcrate will do is sort of dull some of the highs, it wont absorb any sound or keep any unwanted sound out. Replace the sheets with heavh quilts or a couple of layers of blankets, you'll be surprised at the difference this will make. While your speakers may sound fine for playing CDs, mixing is a little different, don't mix at high volume. Lowering the speakers to a level so that the tweeters are at about the same hight as your ears will allow you to hear the overall sound much better. One more thing to keep in mind, (I noticed you are limited for space) is try not to record dirrectly in front of your monitor, or at least move as far back as possible, monitors produce energy fields which sometimes show up on recordings an unwanted noise (hum). Some mics and electric guitars are particularly sensitive to this. All that said, it looks like you've got a fair set up for a beginner, hang in there, don't be afraid to experiment, and keep recording, the more things you try, the more you discover.

[Ptownkid]

I've noticed that single coil pickups are the worst in front of monitors and tvs. However: it's usefull at capturing some messed up sounds.

but i digress, egg crates bad!!!

[photoresistor]

if you want to create better recordings, you're going to need to read on here a LOT and be willing to learn.

for example, dont think that egg crates will do fine because you think so--egg crates are not going to be effective for what you want.

some people have given some good advice already on this thread--dont ignore it. you are right to come here and ask for input on your setup, but be prepared to change some things and become smarter in the process.

good luck with your recordings.

-dan