Microphone setup in my bedroom - Please help!

I

IntoTheFray

New member
Okay so I purchased a Shure KSM27 microphone recently...I'm about ready to dish out some vocals to my tracks that have been laying naked without them.


My bedroom is basically my studio.. because my apartment is rather small.

My question is:

I want to re-create the feel of an actual recording studio microphone 'booth', as cost-efficient as I can.

There is much background noise and hiss coming through my microphone when I try to record anything because my walls arn't padded etc..

funny as this may sound (and even really strange) but do you think it would make sense if dragged something into my apartment about the size of a telephone booth, hooked my mic up inside the booth, and I would just step in, close the door behind me, and record?


What is everyone else's opinion? I need some practical advice!

Thanks everyone
G'day.
 
IntoTheFray said:
Okay so I purchased a Shure KSM27 microphone recently...I'm about ready to dish out some vocals to my tracks that have been laying naked without them.


My bedroom is basically my studio.. because my apartment is rather small.

My question is:

I want to re-create the feel of an actual recording studio microphone 'booth', as cost-efficient as I can.

There is much background noise and hiss coming through my microphone when I try to record anything because my walls arn't padded etc..

funny as this may sound (and even really strange) but do you think it would make sense if dragged something into my apartment about the size of a telephone booth, hooked my mic up inside the booth, and I would just step in, close the door behind me, and record?


What is everyone else's opinion? I need some practical advice!

Thanks everyone
G'day.
Click to expand...

Similar to what he said, get ya a box of binder clips( http://www.artstuff.net/binder_clips.htm ), go to Walmart and get some hooks that you can screw into the ceiling. Put the clips on some thick blankets and hang them from the hooks. This is very easy to move in and out and all you have are a few hooks in your ceiling. Like stated above, try different shapes. I usually make a trapazoid. 3 to 4 feet across the front, about 5 feet across the back and just throw up some sides. Works great.
 
Don't forget the possible reflections floor-ceiling... I have hardwood floors and ceilings, and even if the walls are reasonably dead (bookshelves), I have lots of reflections from floor and ceiling. But I guess in a bedroom, you may have a think soft carpet already.

If not, put some blankets there as well -- just make sure you don't trip and fall ;-)

Oh... and make sure you put the blankets at some distance from the walls/ceiling. If it is too close, it will have less effect.


-- Per.
 
baekgaard said:
Oh... and make sure you put the blankets at some distance from the walls/ceiling. If it is too close, it will have less effect.


-- Per.
Click to expand...


what do you mean by this?
 
Hooks in the ceiling is good but if you can't do that then get as many duvets and mic stands together as possible and put them in the room, not necessarily on the walls but a touch away from. Try to put something in the corners of your room too.
 
React said:
what do you mean by [put the blankets not too close to the wall]?
Click to expand...

A blanket or any other absorber works by damping the movement of air particles (which is what sound is all about ;)).

Very close to the wall, there is basically no movement of the air particles, due to the reflection of sound from the wall... so placing a porous absorber there is pointless.

1/4 of a wavelength from the wall is where a damper is most efficient, as this is where the air speed is highest.

If you want to damp e.g. 100 Hz, the most effective place, 1/4 of a wavelength away from the wall, is calculated like this: The wavelength is the speed of sound divided by the frequency, i.e. 340 m/s / 100 Hz = 3.4 m. And then 1/4 of this distance is 0.85m (or 2.8').

Of course it will have an effect also for other frequencies, depending on the wavelength. But at the frequency where the material is 1/2 wavelength away from the wall, there will be no damping as the airspeed is again 0.

If you calculate the "room modes" (i.e. all multipla of frequencies where the wall-wall or ceiling-floor length is 1/2 wavelength), you can get an idea of the deepest frequencies that you need to damp. Turns out that by placing an absorber in the middle of the room, you can damp the deepest modes... but it will then have no effect at all for certain other harmonics even though it has max impact on others. It is usually also not so convenient...

Thus, in practice, what you can do is to place the absorbers "some way" from the wall. And as the lowest frequencies are also the most difficult to damp, as it requires heavier but still porous material, you could try to maximize the damping where the carpet/whatever is most efficient -- so maybe 25-50cm away from the wall would be a good starting point. If the room is large, and you want the carpets to provide also some sound insulation from other sound sources, then even further away might be OK.

As for stuff in the ceiling, the same applies. Putting it "on" the ceiling is the least efficient -- hang your panels at some distance from the ceiling.

Here are a couple of links that outlines a bit more details about room modes etc:

http://www.customaudiodesigns.co.uk/articles/rpgpaper.htm
http://www.learn.londonmet.ac.uk/student/resources/doc/acoustic_notes.html

Hope this helps?


-- Per.
 
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