Room treatments are stupid.........

  • Thread starter Thread starter dreib
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the major problem withmost home studios ..is no or improper room treatment... i converted a spare bedroom into a mix/mastering room

it has a layer of sheet rock 1 thickness..then high compression vinyl wall treatment ..then a layer of green rock of a different thickness running staggered to the first layer for no "seams"..[the vinyl goes 4 inches over the corners too

then i have acoustic fabric on the walls..and 5 bass traps , 2 wall absorbers ..an absorber over the ceiling and a diffuser behind me..when people come in they are always looking for the sub woofer and i use NONE..[french doors hidden by curtains effective triples my room volume so i can get down to 32 cycles in my room]
 
Obviously i named my thread " room treatments are stupid" just to be a smart ass.

I have had the privilege to record in few umm, "real studios". Sound logic and Goodnight audio in Dallas and Trackrecord studios in Hollywood. I do know the importantance of a properly treated room ecspecially when it comes to mixing.
I just think it is totally awesome that a multi platinum, multi grammy, winning band chose to record their record in a Garage/house.
YES I DO SEE THE ROOM TREATMENTS THAT WERE USED AND AM NOT TRYING TO IMPLY THAT YOU DONT NEED ACOUSTICAL TREATMENT EVER.
The point i was tring to make to most hobbyist home recorders is you do not have to spend hundreds of dollars on room treatments, their garage, bedroom, basement, will do just fine for recording with some homemade bass traps, reflectors, blankets etc. Ingenuity, expeirmenting and a decent signal chain will go a long way to getting a great sound. And not to mention great performances.
Hope this makes sense. i really didnt mean to offend anyone.
 
dreib said:
The point i was tring to make to most hobbyist home recorders is you do not have to spend hundreds of dollars on room treatments, their garage, bedroom, basement, will do just fine for recording with some homemade bass traps, reflectors, blankets etc. Ingenuity, expeirmenting and a decent signal chain will go a long way to getting a great sound. And not to mention great performances.
Hope this makes sense. i really didnt mean to offend anyone.
Click to expand...

No offense here dude. ;)

And you're right. Ya don't need to spend huge dollars on treatment to get a good sound. A little DIY and you're good to go.
but...
The room is probably one of the most important links in the chain.
If you're not hearing what's REALLY goin on, you won't be able to mix it right.

So when some of the guys pop in here and tell ya you're nuts :p , a lot of the time they be lookin to not only edjamacate you...but also the dude who googles somethin a year from now.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN MAN!


:D
 
dreib said:
I just think it is totally awesome that a multi platinum, multi grammy, winning band chose to record their record in a Garage/house.
Click to expand...

Do not confuse Grohl's enthusiasm for unorthodox recording techniques for some kind of paradigm shift where accurate recording and mixing spaces are no longer necessary.
 
Lot's of multi-million-selling artists have recorded in homes.

From Paul McCartney's first solo album all the way up to Neil Young's latest effort. Before that it was Alan Lomax recording the Smithsonian series in storefronts and even outdoors recording prison chain gangs working in the fields.

But honestly, Dave Grohl going on about how his kids are "ghetto" because they have popsicles in the garage freezer is just plain a bunch of shit.

I bet they attend a "ghetto" private school too.

:rolleyes:

And don't believe for a second that the drum set came from Toys-R-Us either!
 
great topic...when is too much, too much...er....when is enough enough...

watching the ex-Nirvana Foo Fighter dude work in his HR was like watching someone using a Ferrari to go to the grocery store. He must have $90,000 in equipment in his HR...Barefoot Monitors on his desktop ($6000? pair)....how frkn sweeeeeeeeeeeett

but he has access to a million dollar studio, he is doing the home thing to get a "vybe", to get something back from his youth of recording...to bring some fun into it. i give him 5 stars for that.

I think room treatments is more important for Mixing than tracking....I've never done mastering. I enjoy tracking, Mixing can be like work, and Mastering ...idk?

depending on tunes a lot of HR, use a Guitar DI, or 57 on the grill ...so not much room treatment needed....BASS DI......Keyboards DI......leaving a little for the Microphone vocal, so a small closet vocal booth or a SM7 broadcaster mic leaving the room at a minimum..... drums another story, I guess a close mic setup could help, if the goal is to have minimum room treatment. Maybe sample some noises from a stairwell, whatever....

but then comes mixing time.....and the speakers are ON, and the room really jacks with you. imo. the three foot thing helps, but my miniscule experience is some wall treatment is really worth the hassle.
but looking at MOtown pics or a lot of busy control rooms and it looks like a junk pile with a bunch of people often standing around ....so how picky does one have to be to get a track down and mixed?

good topic...good post imo.... makes a person think.

when is not enough effort ....not enough?
 

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I think the room is everything. Recording and mixing. If you have a mic in a room, whether it's close miked or not. It's going to effect what you get. Bad reflections are gonna show up and effect your sound. Also, depending on what u on monitoring on in order to make your mic/preamp setting decisions, your room is incredibly important. If the room you are listening in is jacked, how can you decide how to place the mic? The bottom line is, the room is everything and I have tons of crappy recordings that I have done to prove it. For the longest time I tried to correct room problems in my mixes. U can't do it.
I realize we can't all have perfect rooms, but I think acknowledging the incredible importance of the room would cut the questions/ problems in this forum by half.
 
when is it not enough, or when has it gone into overboard stupid level?.....er not the post, I meant gluing 703 everywhere....

maybe the musicians could start wearing hats made from 703?

I recall fixing a room up a few years ago and removing the drywall clap slap echo was great to remove, then I added more thinking I'd get this same result everytime I added more foam or 703....but then I couldnt really even hear any more improvements, but I still added some more and then it just started seeming stupid. Then one day I took it all down and sold it on craigslist to someone else who was going to go down the same path.

I moved to a bigger room. I read an article it said to deaden it down again, with 703, then start adding hard surfaces to make it bright again. I thought....but its bright now?
 
Dogbreath said:
No offense here dude. ;)

And you're right. Ya don't need to spend huge dollars on treatment to get a good sound. A little DIY and you're good to go.
but...
The room is probably one of the most important links in the chain.
If you're not hearing what's REALLY goin on, you won't be able to mix it right.

So when some of the guys pop in here and tell ya you're nuts :p , a lot of the time they be lookin to not only edjamacate you...but also the dude who googles somethin a year from now.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN MAN!


:D
Click to expand...

+1

Cheers,
John
 
CoolCat said:
when is it not enough, or when has it gone into overboard stupid level?.....er not the post, I meant gluing 703 everywhere....

maybe the musicians could start wearing hats made from 703?

I recall fixing a room up a few years ago and removing the drywall clap slap echo was great to remove, then I added more thinking I'd get this same result everytime I added more foam or 703....but then I couldnt really even hear any more improvements, but I still added some more and then it just started seeming stupid. Then one day I took it all down and sold it on craigslist to someone else who was going to go down the same path.

I moved to a bigger room. I read an article it said to deaden it down again, with 703, then start adding hard surfaces to make it bright again. I thought....but its bright now?
Click to expand...

The goal isn't to "deaden" the room, it's to achieve uniform RT-60 times across the audio spectrum, ideally under about a half-second.

That will stop the flutter echo and help eliminate other weirdness caused by longer RT-60 durations.
 
In the same spirit as the OP, I suppose rules are made to be broken.

Just because we don't think you can doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

:shrugs:
 
The goal isn't to "deaden" the room, it's to achieve uniform RT-60 times across the audio spectrum, ideally under about a half-second.
Click to expand...
+1. You got it Csus!
 
I record and mix everything outside, in a field, with no reflective surfaces for hundreds of miles.
 
Greg_L said:
I record and mix everything outside, in a field, with no reflective surfaces for hundreds of miles.
Click to expand...

If you could upgrade your space into a vacuum your mixes would be even better.
 
soundtreat your ears then you can mix anywhere


(no supercreep do not neg rep me again for this obviously brilliant pro tip)
 
c7sus said:
The goal isn't to "deaden" the room, it's to achieve uniform RT-60 times across the audio spectrum, ideally under about a half-second.

That will stop the flutter echo and help eliminate other weirdness caused by longer RT-60 durations.
Click to expand...

That's another +1 from me!
- Actually when referring to small enclosures like studio Control rooms, decay is more appropriate as RT-60 does not apply to spaces with volume less than around 10,000 cubic feet. We only use the term as a reference. (I say this to the newbies - not you c7sus.)

You must treat your room so that you have an environment that does not interfere with the sound source. ;)

Cheers,
John
 
jhbrandt said:
That's another +1 from me!
- Actually when referring to small enclosures like studio Control rooms, decay is more appropriate as RT-60 does not apply to spaces with volume less than around 10,000 cubic feet. We only use the term as a reference. (I say this to the newbies - not you c7sus.)

You must treat your room so that you have an environment that does not interfere with the sound source. ;)

Cheers,
John
Click to expand...

Didn't know the term RT-60 applied more appropriately to 10,000 cubic feet and up rooms.

I learn something new every day!!!
 
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