This is just like the "vocal booth" thread...
Some people really do try to give a cost-effective method of dealing with whatever conditions currently exist.
But there are others here who basically say, "you're such a f*ckup; you must have a room of X size and use this kind of acoustic treatment or you might as well just give up".
This is a pretty diverse group here. There are some who either have very lucrative day jobs or wealthy parents or another large amount of disposible income and can build/remodel rooms and buy Grace preamps without even thinking about it.
There's also your average guy with a decent income or pension who can squeeze out a few bucks a month to spend on their hobby, and who have a basement large enough to make a decent studio in.
We've also got the high school kids who've been saving their burger-flipping money for three months to buy an MXL condenser and are trying to record in their 10 x 9 bedroom.
And we have to provide answers for everyone here...
May I suggest that if you don't have an answer for a particular situation that you just stay off the thread with your negative comments. Let those who are trying to help people work with what they've got provide their suggestions or brainstorming.
While most of us would really like to have an acoustically perfect studio filled with top-of-the-line gear, most of us don't yet have it. And I would submit that the person who learns how to make decent recordings with crappy equipment in lousy rooms will end up being a better engineer than the guy who has perfect everything to start with...
There's some validity to some of the things you say here, like learning in adversity possibly arming you with diverse skills and the importance of cost effective solutions. But this
This is a pretty diverse group here.
and this
And we have to provide answers for everyone here..
are the key statements that are are your argument's greatest strength.........while simultaneously being the torpedo that damns your submarine. Because what you are in effect advocating is one way conversation, regardless of knowledge, experience or opinion. True, some of us aren't currently in a position to make some of the changes that have been suggested. I'm in that scenario myself. But believe me, it would be a far poorer forum if the RAMIs, Supercreeps, Ethans, Massives and Miroslavs of this world didn't weigh in with their opinions, experiences and what they've discovered. It's precisely those kind of views that give balance to this topic and the kind of requests that come in and save those that
don't know from flailing helplessly in mid air, guessing here and pissing in the wind there.
Let me paint this scenario for you; someone writes in saying "I have a foam filled vocal booth but my vocals sound awful and boxy and muffled; what can I do to make it sound better". And many people who have been through a similar or same scenario and can recognize that the problem is staring the questioner in the face, do not respond because they believe there's nothing that can be done to improve the scenario that the questioner actually wants. What are you actually left with ? Others responding with often untried attempts at solutions or as you put it, 'brainstorming'. Which ultimately results in not much at all. Guesswork. You
might get lucky and hit on a workable solution.
Might.
On the other hand, by having a range of options, the questioner now has opportunity to really grasp the nettle and look into this matter and consider what they
actually might do. Remember, these answers come about because someone has a specific
problem.
If someone does enjoyable songs with acceptable mixes, and they sang in a foam lined tiny booth or mixed in a room with no basstraps or whatever, then it's not an issue is it ? Not every room/space in the universe is a disaster. But when it is........the responsible respond. The advice may sometimes be put across in a brusque manner, the advice may not be liked or what one wants to hear. But it needs to be there, not only for the OP but for anyone looking into these topics in the future.
