How To Make A Small Room Live

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acoustaman

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I am new to the recording scene and have started setting up a studio in my un-attached apartment garage.

Without doing any research I put carpet on the concrete, some on the walls, and foam in certain areas. This is a small garage, 10' x 18', and it sounds pretty dead in all my tracks.

What can I do to make this room sound more alive and responsive to the drums, vocals, and instruments?

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
I'm no accoustics expert but it would seem a couple well placed reflective surfaces would help a bit. You just hwve to be careful to avoid making them parallel to avoid flutter echo.

Someone else will be along with a more pro opinion...welcome to HRC!
 
Remove some of the material you've added

or

install hardwoods on the floor.

hardwood is your friend.
 
Dethska said:
How does hardwood differ from concrete?
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It reflects less harshly than concrete.

Wood can resonate, where as poured 3-6' thick concrete slabs rarely do. The resonance of the wood is key to say, piano soundboards, which is why one piano sounds nicer than another.

Same for the floor.
 
Ok, so lets say (hypothetically) I don't have the money to lay hardwood floors in my garage, if I removed the carpet from the concrete and took some of it off the sheetrock walls would that produce a good live sound in such a small space? Or am I better off with the carpet and close micing the instruments even though the drums sound dead?
 
Thanks Frederic. That's a question that's been bothering me for awhile. It makes sense now.
 
Got a reverb unit?
Might be a better way to go to record dry and tight and add some reverb to the parts in a realistic amount to give the illusion of space. I doubt your drywall walls will give a favorible sonic depth to your recordings, but you never know.
 
acoustaman said:
Ok, so lets say (hypothetically) I don't have the money to lay hardwood floors in my garage, if I removed the carpet from the concrete and took some of it off the sheetrock walls would that produce a good live sound in such a small space? Or am I better off with the carpet and close micing the instruments even though the drums sound dead?
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A live room is more than just reflections, its a combination of tonal changes, air volume, and reflective surfaces that are often labeled "warm" or "rich".

Wood, for example, is warm, concrete, is harsh.

Anyway, if you're not into slapping down hardwood in your garage (its an awful lot of work and fairly expensive) you might want to experiment in your room, and take out the sound treatments you have, one at a time, and record your percussion after each change. You probably will find that removing treatments from the center of the walls in front of the kit might be all you need to do.

I'd leave "stuff" in the corners though, as bass frequencies tend to congregate there.

Another option is to leave the room dry, record the drums, then add digital reverb or spacial effects to your liking. Then you can simulate a drumkit in a bathroom, or a drumkit in a cathedral, or anything in between.

Some of the devices are very cheap too!
 
Dethska said:
Thanks Frederic. That's a question that's been bothering me for awhile. It makes sense now.
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You're more than welcome. Over a decade ago I asked that very same question, and was given "because it does". Someone later (and kinder) gave me the piano analogy.

Frederic (analogy monkey)
 
Man, this is some good stuff....thank you all for the help. One last follow-up and I will call it quits.

With the setup I have how much room ambiance do I want when recording vocals? I always saw people recording vocals in small sound proof booths. Do I still want my room to be dead and produce that booth effect for the vocals or is it better to have some reflection for vocals and then how much?

Sorry for the questions but thank you so much for the help.
 
Sorry for the questions but thank you so much for the help. [/B]
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No problem, we're happy to help.

With the setup I have how much room ambiance do I want when recording vocals? I always saw people recording vocals in small sound proof booths. Do I still want my room to be dead and produce that booth effect for the vocals or is it better to have some reflection for vocals and then how much?
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This is a preference thing, but I'll tell you what I prefer to do.

I prefer to record vocals, drums, elec guitar, elec bass as dry as possible. dry dry dry. oh, dry.

Instruments that are self-amplified, such as acoustic bass, sax, fugel horns, flute, strings, acoustic guitar, well, I try to record them in a natural sounding room with nice ambience and a warm feel to it.

The advantage of dry recordings is you can really edit them later, cut and paste, add echo, flanging, etc.

hope that helps.
 
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