All-wooden cabin for recording in the woods?

[reneegoust]

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum and am excited for my first post on here. I did search for something like this and couldn't find another thread, so here we go!!!

I am getting ready to record my first "serious" album. My budget is limited, of course, so I am going the DIY route. I have a decent amount of mic techniques down. I have budgeted mic and pre-amp rentals, but need a private QUIET place to record. I live in New York City, and as much as I have tried to work on my recordings during the "quiet hours", I just can't get the dead quiet that I need. Always somebody screaming down the street or upstairs neighbors still up at 1 a.m. THis is the city that never sleeps, after all. So this has lead me to consider renting out a secluded place in the woods where I can have some true golden silence (Catskills, Adirondacks, etc).

Just to give you a bit more background about my music: I am a singer/songwriter. This album would be mainly acoustic guitar (varying between nylon and steel string) with some electric guitars, too, and vocals. I am thinking of recording keyboards back home in NYC, since those can go DI.

So here's my question: Most places I have found are "log cabin" or just "all solid wood panel" type cabins. It sounds appealing to me at first sight, but will I get in trouble with the reflectivity of a place like this? The last thing I want is to book a one-week rental and then have my money go to waste because the space sounds terrible!!! Please advise. Am I better off looking for a standard concrete wall type of house? Any thoughts at all are greatly appreciated. I really am not well versed as far as recording spaces are concerned.

My other option is to rent out a recording studio in NY and pay for a professional to track my songs, but I don't want to feel pressured by the clock when paying by the hour. I want this to be a very personal, relaxing recording experience for me where I can play around with mic placement and once I get it right, record away freely doing as many takes as I need.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Renee

 

[BroKen_H]

Two things. #1 - you might want to go there and check the acoustics before you rent. A bit of an investment in gas could save you a lot in frustration.
#2 Gobos---sound absorption panels that you can place where needed to get the room right if it ain't.

BTW, is there no studio where you could track for a few hours at $35-50 and hour in NYC? They'd probably already have the room, the mikes and all, and you can take your tracks home to mix and master. Just a suggestion, I mean if you're going to rent a cabin for a week and rent the equipment to record, that's a pretty decent budget...let alone if you have to spend a couple hundred and some time on building gobos...Might even be some members here in the vicinity that could set you up...I know there's a couple in Jersey.

 

[reneegoust]

Thanks a lot for your input. Jersey sounds like a great idea! Please send forward any leads, if you have them. I'll look into it myself.

 

[dyermaker8]

What Broken said, good ideas he has. Your idea,. while it maybe an inspiring/peaceful enviroment,. will likely ending up costing more. And when you start playing back your recorded tracks, the disappointment at your results from a improperly treated and unknown room will likely negate the initial inspiration.

Maybe post in this sub-forum asking for people in your region who could help with tracking.
https://homerecording.com/bbs/general-discussions/mix-this-/

******************Mods!! : Is there a place in this forum for a sub-forum that enables this type of connection? Something similar to the classifieds,. aka Help wanted ads. Or possibly a volunteer sign-up directory organized by state/country where we could list our contact info and services we provide, with a cavet that the listing must be updated periodicaly or be automatically deleted. Just a thought.

 

[BroKen_H]

Okay, for one: Guitargodgt (username) is in Auburn...just a hop, skip and jump out 90. He has a nice space (See his studio space here at post 4153)
I'll keep looking.