Large room v small room

[nickbalcombe]

Hey guys -

I'm planning doing some recording over the next day or two in a space where I haven't recorded before. I have the option of a large sparsely furnished rectangular living room (5x8m) with 2.5m ceiling and a hard wood floor or a small 'walk in closet' (3x4m) with a carpet floor and two door in adjacent walls leading into highly reflective rooms (bedroom and bathroom/hallway). I only have bedding etc to create any kind of insulation / sound treatment and a large mattress...

I will be recording primarily with a Zoom H4n and a Rode K2. My initial tests indicate that the large room (naturally) has some nasty high end reflections and the smaller room has some weird characteristics also.

I guess my questions would be:

1. Which room would you immediately pick considering my mics / limited sound treatment resources - is it better to go flat or more reflective (I am fairly good at managing problem issues in my DAW with parametric EQ etc)
2. Would the big room be suitable if I placed the mic(s) and mattress / thick bedding appropriately to deaden it up / create a recording space.
3. Based on your choice of room what would my mic placement look like?

Photos attached - hope this helps.

Cheers,

Nick

 

[RAMI]

Larger room is always better. Hard wood floor is better. Forget about closets and mattresses.

 

[nickbalcombe]

Hey Rami - thanks for the response - I have done some tests and get some really messy room reflections with bigger notes on vocals with the K2 (1 inch diaphram)... thoughts on that? Cheers

 

[JimmyS1969]

In a room like that, without a bunch of treatment, I would go with a dynamic mic myself. You could try hanging heavy blankets over boom stands around the mic/singer in the center of the room (actually 1/3 between walls may be better), but that won't help with low end build up. It will surely help the high end reflections though.

 

[mjbphotos]

I've never seen a stove that narrow with burner controls for a counter-mounted stove top!

Dynamic mic, definitely.

 

[nickbalcombe]

Guys thanks for your input - the only dynamic mic I have is a Shure Beta 58... isn't there a quality trade off with dynamics? I just tracked a test run with both the Zoom H4n up close 12th fret and the K2 sitting back about a foot and the combination fills highs and lows nicely while room sound is actually quite pleasant! Will post a sample when it's tighter. Cheers

 

[cobaltaudio]

If you're recording acoustic guitar - the larger room is probably more comfortable, and you can get nice and close with your mic(s) to minimise the room ambience as much as possible.

If you have to do vocals, I'd swap to the beta 58 because you'll probably be singing at a higher level than an acoustic guitar, so there will be more room noise which you will need to cut out more than with the guitar - but i guess that small vs large for vocals is probably just a try it and see! It's difficult to tell without being there or hearing the rooms.

 

[nickbalcombe]

Hey guys - thanks for the responses.

Large room seems better but the reflections are hurting me a bit... It still sounds too roomy... You can have a listen to the room via this track done on a Zoom H4n at about 4inches away from the 12th fret: bit.ly/WfAyoP (only HPF'd). I still think there is too much room sound which makes the overall sound a bit muddy and blah.

I am planning on singing the vocals separately so that's not too much of an issue - the K2 seems to work well in this room. I'm going to have a go with some 1inch panels of eggshell sound insulation foam on the walls from the hardware store just to minimise reflections...

But yeah, I might give the Beta a run - and I also have a Rode S2 1/2 inch condenser which might work.

Cheers

 

[mjbphotos]

"eggshell sound insulation foam" Doesn't do crap! It's not 'sound insulation' at all. Might be good on your old mattress, though.

 

[RAMI]

1inch panels of eggshell sound insulation foam

Hey Nick, this is not a good idea. I responded to your PM and hopefully explained why you don't want to use egg-shells, carpets, foam, or blankets to treat a room.

Good luck.