(Advice Needed) Help fix Vocal Recording Area

[Qtechstudio]

Hello Everyone,

I will be the first to admit I have been dabbling in home studio recording on and off through the years and recently got back into setting up an area to help out some of my friends on their journey in recording demos.

I ask for advice on fixing this vocal booth area that I have set up as the first try on recording vocals in this area I am not happy with the results and know I must have some error and mistakes going on.

This area is a small rectangular corridor in my home studio area.

Measurements: 39.5"(W) x 90.5"(L) x 83"(H)

The far end wall had a window in it. I framed with off with 1.5" x 1.5" frame with 3/4" mdf board on both sides - the framed was packed with Sanctuary Sound+Thermal+Fire Insulation made by Greenfiber. All small gaps caulked.

I have included pictures of the area. I did put up acoustic foam and I'm pretty sure I made some mistakes lol. I also hang a moving blanket open the opening of it when vocal recording is in process. I also have included a picture of a female vocalist during a louder portion of her vocal take for some rough references.

Any advice and help would be appreciated with any flaws and error you see in the set up. If you need me to answer anymore questions or go in further details I'm happy to answer all questions.

I thank you all for your time and consideration and look forward to hearing from anyone willing to help out.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi,
Welcome to the forums!

Of course you're seriously limited by the space, and you've done what you can there,
but I notice you've got the microphone right up against the only wall area with no treatment.

Is that where it stays when in use?
If so I'd move it so there's lots of space behind it, or turn it 180 and have the singer put their back to that wall.

Would you be willing to share a clip? If so, attach one with no processing.

 

[Qtechstudio]

Thank you very much for the fast response.

The microphone was in that exact position when these vocals were recorded. Microphone is a little under 3 feet away from the wall. I guess it is worth noting as well the microphone used was a UA Sphere DLX.

I knew probably that back wall was going to be of concern. I have no issues with re configuring any of the foam in there and setting it up differently if that is a solution. Also turning the vocalist the other way would not be a problem either. This was the first attempt at using the areas and I went into it knowing that I could very well need to make changes

Since I am new here what is the best way to share audio file clips? I did go to attach the file but it will not let me select the clip, is there only certain formats allowed?

 

[Qtechstudio]

I believe I figured out what is one way of sharing clips on here

 

[TalismanRich]

You can attach MP3 files, not .wav files. Make them at least 256kbps, or better yet 320 if they aren't too long. Or you can embed Soundcloud links, as you found out.

Room treatment is used to remedy two common problems, unwanted reflections (flutter) and uneven frequency response (nodes). It's difficult to determine just by listening to a vocal where the exact peaks and valleys will be, as the voice itself will have particular peaks. You can determine room nodes using AMROC, and then see if those nodes correspond to the peaks in the voice.. Looking at the nodes, you have some fairly strong nodes around 804 and 813Hz, and your spectral chart shows a peak at 810. This might be contributing to a peakiness in that area.

Here is a simulation of your room based on your listed specs. You can move the cursor over the "piano key" area and see how the nodes will change with pitch. Moving your microphone to an area without a node could change the recorded sound. One way to minimize nodes is to have nonparallel walls. You'll see this often in studios.

https://amcoustics.com/tools/amroc?l=230&w=90.2&h=211&r60=0.6

As for reflections, you can start a recording and use a clapper and look at the strength of the echos in the recording. That will help you know if the foam you have added is doing what you need. If you're going for a dead room, then you want to knock down as much reflection as possible. That means you'll probably be adding a reverb later.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Thanks for sharing the clip.
The first thing I'll say is your singer is clipping at various points.
A good example is the word "called" at around 0:26 - That harsh distorted sound you hear.
Just dial the gain back on your audio interface until that doesn't happen any more.

I think singing right against that, or any, wall probably isn't going to help so, as suggested, try to have some space behind the microphone.
Microphones have polar patterns and, yeah, it's going to be more sensitive to sound from the front,
but that doesn't mean it can't 'hear' what happens from behind,
so your current setup is picking the most reflective wall and putting the microphone as close to it as possible.

Having some open space behind the mic will almost certainly help.


I see that's a modelling mic with its own software.
Are you using that software, or is this just a pure dry recording?

It sounds, to me, like there's some processing going on - It sounds like it's got a heavy De-esser in play or something.

Edit : Very unlikely but ensure the microphone is definitely facing the correct way.
I know that might sound stupid but it happens more often than you might think.
The logo and 'sphere dlx' writing should face the singer.


If it is just a pure dry recording I think do the above and, from there, EQ is your friend.