Hope you don't mind a weird reply.
Doggone frederic, your back. I thought you were going to be gone for a week? I was going to return your call on Sunday, but didn't really have a moment to do it till late at night. My folks were here and we were runnin all over the place. They gave me a car, and went for rides in it. Cool. Now I have something to drive that actually is fun!!
Hey, theres nothing weird about your reply. I did an hours worth of typing last night for this thread. But decided it was late and I was rambling, so I saved it untill someone else replied, JUST so I could see how weird MINE was
OK, now I'll post it. Low and behold, you said a lot of what I said, and then I erased it cause I was sure as hell it was SO dumb. But here it is, after modifying it 10 times. Ha! Doesn't even give a real answer. So much for typing late at night.......
"Hello fitterbkw. Where you at in the pacific northwest. I'm in Coos Bay Oregon. Western Red Cedar huh? Cool. Nice stuff. I deal with Port Orford Cedar. Nice stuff too! Well now, size huh? Lets figure some things out.
You already said you LIKE what you hear at some point because it sounds GORGEOUS> right? But when is that? When you are playing AND recording? Or playing with the amp in a ROOM and just listening? Or does it sound gorgeous in the soundproof box, while using headphones, but you are not capturing it on tape? That tells me you've already solved one big problem though. Getting a gorgeous sound in the first place. The problem is..... WHEN and WHERE does it sound gorgeous?
Personally, I would guess not capturing it to a recording has to do with three things.
#1Monitoring while recording. How do you monitor? If you like what you hear as you are recording it, that tells me you are listening with HEADPHONES, correct? If so, they fool you. If not, how DO you tell what you are recording WHILE you are recording it?
2#The listening envirinment. WHERE to you play the recording back? One of the most difficult concepts for home recording enthusiasts to grasp is the ROOM colors the sound. Many things can account for this delima. The SIZE, SHAPE, and furniture. Not only that, but electronics, speakers, placement of speakers, etc etc all have a bearing on the validity of what your hearing. HOW do you know that the speakers are telling you the truth. What kind do you monitor with? Do you use a graphic eq in the room? These kind of things will totally distort your perception if they are not up to par. Lets put it this way. How do you really know your not capturing the sound you want, if you are comparing what you heard in the headphones(if thats what you monitor with while recording)with what you hear when played back on the speakers. Make sense? Either one may be lying. Get my drift? Not only that, have you played back the recording on more than one system? That is called "translation". If it sounds good on your system, but sounds like shit on another, it is NOT translating. But since you have already heard it sound "gorgeous" at some point, but does not sound good on your system, well thats why I suggest looking at other reasons.
Man, building a room just for an amp, sounds really like overkill. I would suspect the real problem is a combination of the above. However, IF you insist on building a room just for mic'ing an amp, well, what kind of space do you have available? You may do better to use the cedar as slats on a slot absorber wall, but that is getting into room acoustical design. Oh oh, crap, now we've opened pandoras box!
OK, heres the deal regarding size. First off, there are what is known as optimum room dimension RATIOS. These ratios determine the most evenly distributed room "MODES". A simplistic explanation would be that the dimensions of the room coincide with the wavelength of sound, and given these dimensions, certain things happen with them. Like cancellation among other things. "Acoustical theory" states that parallel surfaces cause whats known as standing waves to occur at frequencys determined by the distance between them. And each dimension of the room determines the frequencys which are affected.
So size is one thing, which will determine how LONG the sound takes to decay, but the ratio of the dimensions is far more important. And this is EXACTLY what your existing listening space consists of. Dimensions that for the most part, alter what you are hearing. Which causes you to try and cure it with MORE and MORE EQ, which in turn, is telling you even a bigger lie. For instance, a perfectly square room is a BIG no no as each dimension affects the same frequencys. Rectangles are more favorable for even distribution of the modes. And the ratios of Width, Length, and Height will determine by way of mode analysis, what SET of dimensions to use. But a good starting point is your limitations.
What are they? Once we know that, then we can recommend a starting ratio to you. Ok? Well, thats about all I can offer at the moment, other than just say "12' long, 9' wide, 8 1/2' high. But that doesn't mean a thing untill the dimensions meet your limitations, and then if you really want something correct, run through the mode analysis. Which if we are lucky, will be offered by other members here or wait untill another forum that is down at the moment comes back on line. Then we can link you up to some people there. OR, just build any old size and treat it! Ok thats my .02 for now."
Thats what I wrote last night. Please don't laugh too loud or I'll KILL ya!! Hahahaha!
Man, what a rambling moron. Hey fitterbkw, just trying to help. Your question is interesting.
fitZ
And now, with no oil trail, don't get lost
