Jeremy King
New member
Hello, all!
I've been contributing voice acting to a number of passion projects and video game mods for some time, and I'm looking to acoustically treat my closet. I'm a college student currently living at home, and my recording situation is less than ideal; my house has horrid soundproofing, I live next to a fairly noisy church, my room directly faces the street, and I have single-pane windows which allow sound to easily bleed in. Every surface in my room (ceiling excluded) is hardwood.
A while back I moved my mic into my closet and was generally pleased with the immediate difference in my recordings. For a long time I had been recording under a thick blanket in my room, but noise would still bleed in fairly regularly. Recording in my closet yielded quieter results with less effort, and my recent purchase of the CAD e100s condenser mic made my recordings quieter still -- my typical noisefloor level tends to gravitate around -50db, with my quietest recordings somewhere around -60db or so.
My issue lies primarily in a consistently muddy low end. I have a naturally low voice, and recording in a tight closet space with parallel walls hasn't done me any favors. I'm not sure what the exact dimensions of my closet are, but if I had to give it a rough estimate, I'd say maybe 80x80 square feet. Maybe less.
I currently record with the mic adjacent to a wall with the closet door facing my right and a number of coats hanging directly behind me. To the left of the the mic I have clothing hanging up -- I tried parting the clothes in the middle and placing my mic with the clothing to both sides but found that this only aggravated my current acoustic woes.
I also have large metal brackets for additional storage, which I'm sure just makes things worse.
Just like my room, the closet is entirely hardwood.
I'm trying to figure out how to best treat this space for the least amount of money. Seeing as how it's so cramped, I would likely remove just about everything to make room for any acoustic treatment. I'm thinking if I were to remove the brackets I'd have room to cover the closet with some blankets, which I could probably hang/connect with grommets. I've also been looking into some deals on 2-inch thick auralex foam packs and bass traps on Amazon.
There are so many factors to consider, and while I'm learning a great deal every day, I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. To that end, I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions for acoustic treatment!
For reference of my current recording quality, I've included a brief sample taken from a recent audition with no post-processing. While the sample in question is rather far removed from my natural speaking voice, the notable muddiness in the lower frequency range is consistent with the vast majority of my recordings. This was recorded with the CAD's hi-pass filter engaged, too. It's slightly more pronounced here than usual due to my having recorded in very close proximity to the mic (probably around 2 inches away, in this case), but even at a lower gain input with more distance between myself and the microphone I get very similar bass response.
View attachment AuditionSampleMP3.mp3
I'd be happy to provide photos of my current set-up or exact room measurements, if it would be of any value.
Thank you!
I've been contributing voice acting to a number of passion projects and video game mods for some time, and I'm looking to acoustically treat my closet. I'm a college student currently living at home, and my recording situation is less than ideal; my house has horrid soundproofing, I live next to a fairly noisy church, my room directly faces the street, and I have single-pane windows which allow sound to easily bleed in. Every surface in my room (ceiling excluded) is hardwood.
A while back I moved my mic into my closet and was generally pleased with the immediate difference in my recordings. For a long time I had been recording under a thick blanket in my room, but noise would still bleed in fairly regularly. Recording in my closet yielded quieter results with less effort, and my recent purchase of the CAD e100s condenser mic made my recordings quieter still -- my typical noisefloor level tends to gravitate around -50db, with my quietest recordings somewhere around -60db or so.
My issue lies primarily in a consistently muddy low end. I have a naturally low voice, and recording in a tight closet space with parallel walls hasn't done me any favors. I'm not sure what the exact dimensions of my closet are, but if I had to give it a rough estimate, I'd say maybe 80x80 square feet. Maybe less.
I currently record with the mic adjacent to a wall with the closet door facing my right and a number of coats hanging directly behind me. To the left of the the mic I have clothing hanging up -- I tried parting the clothes in the middle and placing my mic with the clothing to both sides but found that this only aggravated my current acoustic woes.
I also have large metal brackets for additional storage, which I'm sure just makes things worse.
Just like my room, the closet is entirely hardwood.
I'm trying to figure out how to best treat this space for the least amount of money. Seeing as how it's so cramped, I would likely remove just about everything to make room for any acoustic treatment. I'm thinking if I were to remove the brackets I'd have room to cover the closet with some blankets, which I could probably hang/connect with grommets. I've also been looking into some deals on 2-inch thick auralex foam packs and bass traps on Amazon.
There are so many factors to consider, and while I'm learning a great deal every day, I can't help but feel a little overwhelmed. To that end, I would greatly appreciate any advice or suggestions for acoustic treatment!
For reference of my current recording quality, I've included a brief sample taken from a recent audition with no post-processing. While the sample in question is rather far removed from my natural speaking voice, the notable muddiness in the lower frequency range is consistent with the vast majority of my recordings. This was recorded with the CAD's hi-pass filter engaged, too. It's slightly more pronounced here than usual due to my having recorded in very close proximity to the mic (probably around 2 inches away, in this case), but even at a lower gain input with more distance between myself and the microphone I get very similar bass response.
View attachment AuditionSampleMP3.mp3
I'd be happy to provide photos of my current set-up or exact room measurements, if it would be of any value.
Thank you!