G
greggb
New member
Hi all. I'm just starting out in recording and still have a lot to learn. Right now I'm trying to figure deal with some acoustic issues in my recording area.
For now I'm only recording vocals with a microphone. I'm plugging my acoustic and electric guitar straight into my m-audio interface... I may start recording acoustic guitar with the mic, if I can get some of these issues figured out.
I'm not looking at applying acoustic treatment to an entire room. I'm considering either making a booth in the garage, or an enclosure for the microphone, which again will only be recording vocals at this point (and maybe acoustic guitar).
I'd like to run an idea by you and hear your opinion as to whether or not this will work. Someone fairly knowledgable in this topic told me that a cheap solution to my problem might be to simply build an enclosure for my microphone with sound-absorbant material. I realize this won't be as good as making a booth or acoustically treating a room, but I'm ok with that for now, as long as I can eliminate the high-majority of the echo and hollow sound my condenser mic is picking up.
The idea is to get a piece of woven wire (like the stuff you might use to make a garden fence) and make a simple cone shape with it, with the smaller end being maybe 18" and the larger end being 24" or so. Then wrap it with acoustic material, and cover up the larger end with acoustic material, leaving the smaller end open. The idea would then be to put my microphone inside of this and sing into the smaller end.
My reasoning is that (with my very limited understanding of acoustics) that the majority of sound waves will go into the enclosure, the majority of which will be absorbed (and/or deflected) by the acoustic material. I figure some sound will go through, and not all of the sound will go into it to begin with. But hopefully, not a lot of sound will end up outside of the enclosure, and any waves that bounce back towards the microphone will be blocked/absorbed by the enclosure.
I'd also plan on acoustically treating the area behind me, so I'm not getting sound waves from the wall behind me.
Do you think this would work?
It really doesn't have to do much. I've already gotten the echo down considerably by doing some things in the room I'm recording in. I've positioned the mic in between two doors on adjacent sides of the room, and when I record, I open each door a little bit to avoid having parallel surfaces between each door and the opposite wall.
It's going to sound stupid, but I've found it really helps to position some giant stuffed animals behind and on either side of the mic, too. Between the positioning of the doors and the stuffed animals I've gotten rid of the majority of the echo. I'm hoping my idea for a mic enclosure will take care of the rest.
Do you think my idea for an enclosure will work?
Thanks!
Gregg
For now I'm only recording vocals with a microphone. I'm plugging my acoustic and electric guitar straight into my m-audio interface... I may start recording acoustic guitar with the mic, if I can get some of these issues figured out.
I'm not looking at applying acoustic treatment to an entire room. I'm considering either making a booth in the garage, or an enclosure for the microphone, which again will only be recording vocals at this point (and maybe acoustic guitar).
I'd like to run an idea by you and hear your opinion as to whether or not this will work. Someone fairly knowledgable in this topic told me that a cheap solution to my problem might be to simply build an enclosure for my microphone with sound-absorbant material. I realize this won't be as good as making a booth or acoustically treating a room, but I'm ok with that for now, as long as I can eliminate the high-majority of the echo and hollow sound my condenser mic is picking up.
The idea is to get a piece of woven wire (like the stuff you might use to make a garden fence) and make a simple cone shape with it, with the smaller end being maybe 18" and the larger end being 24" or so. Then wrap it with acoustic material, and cover up the larger end with acoustic material, leaving the smaller end open. The idea would then be to put my microphone inside of this and sing into the smaller end.
My reasoning is that (with my very limited understanding of acoustics) that the majority of sound waves will go into the enclosure, the majority of which will be absorbed (and/or deflected) by the acoustic material. I figure some sound will go through, and not all of the sound will go into it to begin with. But hopefully, not a lot of sound will end up outside of the enclosure, and any waves that bounce back towards the microphone will be blocked/absorbed by the enclosure.
I'd also plan on acoustically treating the area behind me, so I'm not getting sound waves from the wall behind me.
Do you think this would work?
It really doesn't have to do much. I've already gotten the echo down considerably by doing some things in the room I'm recording in. I've positioned the mic in between two doors on adjacent sides of the room, and when I record, I open each door a little bit to avoid having parallel surfaces between each door and the opposite wall.
It's going to sound stupid, but I've found it really helps to position some giant stuffed animals behind and on either side of the mic, too. Between the positioning of the doors and the stuffed animals I've gotten rid of the majority of the echo. I'm hoping my idea for a mic enclosure will take care of the rest.
Do you think my idea for an enclosure will work?
Thanks!
Gregg