Mic placed right in from of Auralex Foam

[malcolm123]

Anybody every tried placing a mic directly in from of say a auralex foam or some other type of padding?

I will experiment this evening,, but basically I have been recording all of my vocals for the past 3 years this way.

Is this a good practice or should I remove the foam.

My mics are all placed against a wall and I usually just pick a mic stand and move it in from of the foam before recording.

Maybe1 or 2 feet or so.

What I am doing by doing this? Am I lossing anything.

I started doing this a while back because it would take some of the ring out of the room for Vox.

Any suggestions or comments welcomed.

Thanks

Malcolm

 

[mixsit]

Jusy a wild guess here, seems like you might get some amount of hard reflection from the wall in the lower end. What's 2"? About 50% absorption below three or four hundred?
If it was right on the wall you'd have a boundry mic effect with no rear return at all.
Wayne

 

[malcolm123]

Jusy a wild guess here, seems like you might get some amount of hard reflection from the wall in the lower end. What's 2"? About 50% absorption below three or four hundred?
If it was right on the wall you'd have a boundry mic effect with no rear return at all.
Wayne

Ok,, Im trying to follow you.. The increase in the lower end seems on point.. I usually have to dial in somewhere around 250 or so and decrease maybe 1 or 2 decibles. Just depends on whos on the mic. Right now I am about to start a session with a V67g.

So your saying that the mic needs more space behind it because the back of the mic also pics up some type of reflection or sound?

The foams seems to kill some artifacts to me,, but this evening I will place it in the center of the room and compare the two positions.

Thanks

Malcolm

 

[mixsit]

..<snip>..So your saying that the mic needs more space behind it because the back of the mic also pics up some type of reflection or sound?

The foams seems to kill some artifacts to me,, but this evening I will place it in the center of the room and compare the two positions.

Thanks

Malcolm

Naw, just speculating.
Wayne

 

[Herm]

My vocal booth is 3 feet wide by 8 feet long and i put my mic (ntk)
within 1.5 feet of one end of the booth. The ceilings are only 7 feet, I have 100% aurlex on the walls and a 2 by 4 peice on the ceiling above the mic, I also have the bass traps in the coners behind the mic.
All i can say is i cant record worth a darn for most things but when it comes to vocals they always turn out well.
That is one space the foam and bass traps
have paid off.

When you think about it The foam behind the mic is not going to
take anything away from the sound of the singer if anything it will
keep the crap from comming back that you dont want.

Also I dont want to sound like a big foam fan from aurelx cause
I think they try to sell alot of foam and when I got mine i went
by what they told me to get for my mix room and it was a huge
waist of money there The room was very dead and so much so that
reverb would just get lost in the room and i could never mix
in that space.
I have moved since and put up a small amout of foam in my new room and i can hear whats going on now.

 

[chessrock]

In order for this to truly work, what you need to do is go to the corner of your room, and put auralex up on either wall . . .

Then stand right in the corner, sing, and listen to the clarity ! ! !



Just kidding. Buy or make some bass traps . . . stick those in the corner, and if you have any spare, place them against any hard, thick walls. If you can somehow rig it, glue/staple/tape the auralex foam to the surface of one or several packing blankets. Hang those up around you, several feet away from any of the walls or corners.

That's about the best you can hope for, for the time being, and should improve your final result noticeably.

 

[malcolm123]

In order for this to truly work, what you need to do is go to the corner of your room, and put auralex up on either wall . . .

Then stand right in the corner, sing, and listen to the clarity ! ! !



Just kidding. Buy or make some bass traps . . . stick those in the corner, and if you have any spare, place them against any hard, thick walls. If you can somehow rig it, glue/staple/tape the auralex foam to the surface of one or several packing blankets. Hang those up around you, several feet away from any of the walls or corners.

That's about the best you can hope for, for the time being, and should improve your final result noticeably.

Chess,
Were you referring to just room treatment in general or the mic placement question I asked. As far as room treatments, I have that pretty straight. I was just wondering how a mic placement as such would affect the performance of the mic it's self.

thanks

Malcolm

 

[chessrock]

As far as room treatments, I have that pretty straight.

If you really did, then you'd know the answer already.

What are you doing to tame sine waves, and where have you caluculated your room modes to be? If you're scratching your head over the question I just asked, then chances are you're not straight in terms of room treatment, and you need to pay a visit to the studio building/display forum and ask your question there.

Not trying to bust your chops or anything . . . just trying to be helpful.

 

[malcolm123]

If you really did, then you'd know the answer already.

What are you doing to tame sine waves, and where have you caluculated your room modes to be? If you're scratching your head over the question I just asked, then chances are you're not straight in terms of room treatment, and you need to pay a visit to the studio building/display forum and ask your question there.

Not trying to bust your chops or anything . . . just trying to be helpful.

No problem Chess and thanks.

As far as the overall room it's self, I personally did not treat it.
The last room we had just had auralex foams thrown up wherever I though they should be. I know nothing about how to acoustically treat a room proffesionally. I can work the gear,, but the room however is not my forte. So we built another room and because we could not get around having parallel walls,, I knew we would need someone to come in a do it for us. I worked the gear and lay a few tracks,, that's about it. But I did always place the mic center wall of one side of the room for tracking vox. I would place it right in front of one of the foams. Sonically,, how does this affect the characteristics of a mic. I do understand about standing waves and basstraps in corners etc as far as listening,,,Oh I think I get cha now. Place the mic where I would place myself and listen to how different it sounds.. That would be the same or close as my own ears. maybe ?

Thanks
Malcolm

 

[chessrock]

It's just that a lot of the same principles are at work when tracking as when monitoring.

If you want to capture the sound accurately, then think in terms of . . . if I were monitoring in this room, where would the most neutral spot be? And usually, they tell you to stay away from walls, right?

I realize that's a very general statement. Obviously, while tracking people will sometimes intentionally want the room to add character/color to the sound. If that's the case, then it may be preferable, actually, to stand close to a more reflective surface . . . ideally one that is diffuse. My wild guess would be perhaps a book case with books and other random objects scattered about in varying positions. That might actually be your best option.

Otherwise, I'd stay away from any surfaces that might provide any unwanted early reflections and what not, just to be on the safe side.