noisy home studio problem

[jeap]

i have a rode nt1. i got it for vocals but didnt like it so i use it now as a drum overhead. i REALLY like it now!

there are no other designs of condensers that i know of that will reject noise better than a cardiod condenser.

i think you havent worked on the problem hard enough!

im sorry for saying bad things about the sm57. i read that the red hot chili pepper dude uses one for vocals in the studio. i think maybe there are more too.

 

[laaronx]

You may be surprised at how much noise you can keep out just by working on windows and doors. Try to seal off any area where air can pass between the recording room and the outside world. I was pretty surprised at how much noise I was able to keep out of the room just by getting foam weatherstripping (about $4 at Home Depot for the really good stuff) and thoroughly sealing the door and windows to the room. They also make foam insulating pads to seal off wall faceplates that seem to do the job pretty well too. All told, for about $10 and an hours work you can make a pretty big difference. If you're going to make baffles, I would make them so that they cover over a window... I don't think free-standing or hanging baffles in your room will help you much.

 

[jeap]

the freestanding ones can cut directional noise - high frequencies.

if you could have the entire room draped with a sealed plastic film that is a few inches from the walls and ceiling and can flap freely you could cut out a lot of lower frequencies too.

kind of a reverse room condom.

 

[laaronx]

That room condom idea is a pretty good one, jeap... hadn't heard of that approach before. Bet the wife will love me hanging plastic sheets from the walls even more than she liked me plastering studio foam all over the place.

 

[smcbutler]

more data

hi all,

i just got done with another session with the vocalist and we managed to borrow the NTK, the KSM27 and the CAD e100.

all in all i'd have to say that the e100 had the best combination of amibient noise rejection and warmth. i was somewhat surprised as i had expected the NTK to perform the best. does this surprise anyone else?

i hung a leather jacket around the mic (suspended from the ceiling) and that helped a lot! what i'd like to find is something that attaches to the mic stand and surrounds the mike with sound insulating material. some kind of half sphere like contraption would work best i'm thinking but i can't find anything like that online.. i'm kind of surprised (maybe i need to take out a patent on it ) does anyone know of something like this? also i guess a baffle on an adjustable stand i could place behind the vocalist would be good too. anyone of something like that?

thx again, this is an awesome group!!

-simon-

 

[jeap]

feel the luv!

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yeah, room conditioning is a pain, but helps. Using a very close mic with good mic technique helps. A gate helps a lot, as long as you don't overdo it. In the end, in addition to all that stuff, my solution is to track vocals in the dead of night. This won't help as much on a major thouroughfare in a big city, but very few people mow their lawns at 3 am! Now as soon as I kill that guy with the Harley...-Richie

 

[littledog]

Now as soon as I kill that guy with the Harley...-Richie

Hey! Watch it! That "guy" might be Fletcher! (or Eve Anna!)

 

[Riverdog]

I second this notion...

Build a room, It may cost you more but its the only way to really tackle this. The studio building forum is a good place for ideas.

I must say - This quote is the best...
Get yourself a good mic and do some extra saving or work OR ANYTHING and work to get either a portable isolation booth or something else going...

I have my own personal soundbooth in my studio that's about 6x6...
It's been a great room in the basement in the first place... But, I never knew how much I'd been missing... I had blankets hanging up and I thought the sound was pretty good... I had a reasonable amount of control over ambient noise...

Just recently though I found a person who gave me all the 2" thick studio foam I could use - for a song (Quite Literally!)... I installed the foam and had a client come over that had only a few lines of an ending of a song to perform to finish the song one night...

After she sang the ending I was blown away by the change in the sound...
The same mic I'd been using sounded completely different after I put in the acoustical foam... HOLY COW! I thought... We had to "mess up" the EQ just to finish the song so the mic would sound the same!

Moral?!
I'm hooked in working to isolate your "live" recordings as much as possible...
Save a little extra and get some stuff that works good...

Hope this helps...

Riverdog
www.homepage.mac.com/riverdog