Treating my room

[ericlingus]

Okay, I have a small/medium sized bedroom which is also my studio. It has a carpet, panels on the walls(looks like wood) and a lot of stuff in it, almost too crouded. What I would like to know is, what do I need to do in order to treat my room? I'm not sure where to begin. I don't know if my room needs treating at all or how much. Do I need foam panels behind my monitors? My monitors are only about two feet max away from the wall. Also, what do I need in order to be able to mic my amp or vocals? The amp could go in the closet, which has lots of clothes in it. Also in my room there is like a cut out next to the closet. It's like a closet without a door or wall in front. Just the back and sides. I was thinking, could I put like a few foam matress pads(you know, the egg crate foam pads you put on a bed to make it more confortable) against the surrounding walls and then put like a heaving curtain where the door would be and put the mic stand in the corner. Would that work a little at least? I'll take pics of my room soon. But I hope the info I gave you is a start.

[jonnyc]

Mattress foam will do little to help with sound. Treating your room is very important but you must learn how to treat it properly. You need low end absorbtion in a small room. That's really what you need to concentrate on. A very good low end absorbtion material would be 703 rigid fiberglass in the corners, 4"'s of it to be exact, well not exact hell i don't even know what your room looks like. But if its small chances are you have some low end issues you should take care of. BTW a lot of seasoned vets consider acoustic treatment in the mixing room to be one of the most important things in getting a good mix.

[ericlingus]

so what I need to do is find out where in the room to put the foam in and what kind? and how much?

[mshilarious]

Can you draw a sketch of your room, with dimensions? That will help a lot. Also need to know your budget, and your ability to make changes to the walls, floor, & ceiling.

The guitar amp is the easiest problem--just close mic it, no room worries much at all. Get it off the floor a little, on a chair or something, that usually helps.

Vocals also if you are happy with a close-miced sound, you don't need to worry too much about treatment. However if you want to back up two feet, it becomes an issue.

[ericlingus]

my amp I close mic. Same with vocals. It would be nice to experiment though. Like have one mic close and another further back. I'll take pics soon and my budget isn't very much. Just a couple hundred. Is there something inexpensive and non time consuming that I could do to get better mixes?