Recording @ home

[Wolfchild]

Regarding improving acoustics:
I've read some articles on shielding the mic with a foam shield of booth... Also placing matresses or blankets behind the singer.
I wonder if this works.
I want to improve my acoustics for recording but I can't treat a room for it, I need to rely on something that I can disassemble after use. Any ideas on which tricks I can use that will improve my recorded sound/ cut a bit the unwanted background noise?

 

[ecc83]

Regarding improving acoustics:
I've read some articles on shielding the mic with a foam shield of booth... Also placing matresses or blankets behind the singer.
I wonder if this works.
I want to improve my acoustics for recording but I can't treat a room for it, I need to rely on something that I can disassemble after use. Any ideas on which tricks I can use that will improve my recorded sound/ cut a bit the unwanted background noise?

Woah! Big subject!
First let's deal with background noise. What is it? You have a laptop? Well that should not be noisy and if it is chop it in for an HP i3 like mine! Seriously tho' a laptop should not intrude unless you have a noisy hard drive or something is making the CPU go nuts and get hot.
So, external noise? Not a lot you can do to be honest, you certainly cannot proof against it under about £1000 a (small) room. My son had to wait until 2-3am for peace and Q and we live in a very quiet, leafy suburb (G earth me NN55Pguess). I cannot get an SM57 and an A&H zed10 mixer down to its system noise, i.e. the world is worse. Best I get is -70ish dBFS when my noise floor is -93dBFS electronically.

Acoustics: Pick the biggest room you can and setup so that you are not facing square onto a wall. You are correct about duvets, hang them, best way you can in front of you, behind the mic but MOST importantly hang absorbents behind you. The mic front is live and reflected reverberation comes in over your shoulder. But you DO NOT WANT A BOOTH! These are used for totally dead voice overs. G'awful places to sing in!

Have fun.

Dave.

 

[Bobbsy]

I have some self-standing frames I made from the sort of PVC pipe you can get cheap at building supplies shops--I've left any corners with out adhesive so I can pull them apart and let them go flat for storage under beds. I use spring clamps to hang quilts or moving blankets from them.

I can dot them around the recording area as required but, as ecc83 says, the biggest benefit (at least with cardioid mics) is to put them behind the person I'm recording. I also set up the room so any computer noise is directly behind the mic in the null zone. Working this way, any reflected noise in front of the person I'm recording gets absorbed by the moving blanket before it's reflected back into the mic.

More expensive, but I can also recommend the sE Reflexion filter, especially for the spoken word were you want things really dry. Works a treat, especially in combination with my pipe frame stuff.

 

[Wolfchild]

Hehe and I've read quite often to record in bathrooms and other small spaces, even closets.

Ok, this is a drawing of my living room, the largest room in the house. It is about 30 square meters/ 322 square feet.

I have two sofas I can put standing on their sides, and maybe cover them with duvets or blankets. The windows have curtains that should reduce a bit of the sound reflection from the glass, also my tabletop is made of glass so I could cover it with a blanket as well?

Should this help or should I consider a different placement/ etc?