Acousti-shields w/mic in front of guitar amp useful for blocking room sound?

bluesfordan

Member
Just spitballing here, probably trying to justify spending money on an acousti-shield. basically a semi circular cylinder with a foam inner layer and a rigid outer layer (usually stainless steel or aluminum.) My music room is untreated and won't be until after the move to a new place.

are these actually useful? better for vocal than say, in front of a guitar combo/cab? I was thinking it might help a cardiod mic pick up less room sound. Google seems to return hits that talk about reducing sound coming from the cab via plexiglass shields, I want the opposite. It isn't the loudness of the amp I'm trying to suppress, more like the untreated room sound. Again, just to clarify, I'm not talking about sound from outside the room, just the sound of the guitar amp in the untreated room.
 
I imagine they'd be somewhat useful. What mics? Dynamic like 57 or ribbons with 8 pattern? Condensers with cardioid? Oh ok, you mention cardioid.

Ever tried to build an amp box/ housing? That's what I think I'm gonna do.
 
I've used a shield when recording a double bass to stop the sound of the rest of the band being picked up by the double bass mic. So yes the shield should reduce the sound of the room being picked up. You could put the amp and mic behind a soft chair to reduce the room sound also?


Alan.
 
I honestly think a duvet/packing blanket works as well or better since you can throw it over the amp and mic together giving more isolation from high frequency nastiness off of walls, ceiling ,etc.
 
I don't own one but I have used one at a friends home. It does take out SOME of the mid to upper (mostly upper) frequencies associated with room noise / sound return.........but it's not a panacea by any means. Think of it as an added tool........but not so much a cure for a completely untreated room. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I place a 'bass trap' directly behind the mic. Unless you are playing the amp at a very low volume (and the room is VERY noisy), you really shouldn't have much of an issue.
 
Back
Top