Recording Space

[chipwits]

If you are doing dry, close mike, recordings of instruments. What does recording space matter really? Can't I add in a space with a convultion processor like Voxengo Pristine Space? I can't get the fiddle to sound good close miked perhaps.. I dunno.

I see a lot of people saying that recording space is the most important thing. But unfortunately I am confined to my bedroom. I do however have an empty closet i could convert into a booth for singing. Perhaps I could get some pieces of plywood to lay on the floor from time to time. And some portable acoustical material for the walls. Don't know what to do about the ceiling though: standard flat ceiling, "cottage cheese" sprayed on drywall. (Lol, I call it cottage cheese, cause I don't know the appropriate term for it.)

James

 

[Kasey]

how large is your bedroom? if treated acoustically, you could use it to create a great sounding sense of space.

 

[Micter]

Closets are great for iso booths for guitar amps but usually too small for vocals. I have done some really easy stuff to get vocals onto tape. Like set up a mic stand like a "Tee" and throw a blanket over it. Have the vocalist sing into the blanket. It will work to dampen the room sound.

 

[chipwits]

how large is your bedroom? if treated acoustically, you could use it to create a great sounding sense of space.

Thanks Kasey. A gif image of my room layout can be found here:

http://home.comcast.net/~chipwits/room_layout.gif

Any advice would be appreciated. Need to record old-tyme/celtic fiddle, mandolin, guitar and country/western swing male vocals.

James

 

[Todzilla]

Most folks will tell you that you really need the space to evaluate your tracks. If you mix and track in bad room, it will manifest itself with recordings that sound very different in different systems.

 

[chessrock]

The main problem is that you're limiting yourself almost exclusively to close-mic'ed tracks of everything.

And sometimes "up close" isn't the ideal position for the mic. In certain situations, a given instrument / voice needs some room to breath and to push a little air before it ever really sounds natural, or achieves it's best possible sound. And when mixing ... if all of your tracks are either close-mic'ed or DI, then you create mixing problems. You just do. If everything is tracked from exactly the same distance, then it's tough to create any sense of depth, even with reverb or whatever.

Secondly, in an un-ideal accoustic space, you're basically limiting yourself to mics with a tight cardioid pattern, usually. And in some situations, again, that isn't always ideal. Mic choice and positioning is often the X-factor between okay or bad recordings ... and great recordings.

In a smaller room, you've got all sorts of accoustic anomolies to deal with, including flutter echo, room nodes and standing waves ... all of which can throw off and alter the sound the microphone is trying to pick up. EVEN when you're close-mic'ing. And as Todzilla points out, they can really wreak havok on your ability to monitor accurately. And when you're not hearing things correctly, you're not able to make accurate decisions when tracking or mixing. Even if you think it's sounding great ... go and check them on another system, and listen to everything just fall apart.

.

 

[BigRay]

Thanks Kasey. A gif image of my room layout can be found here:

http://home.comcast.net/~chipwits/room_layout.gif

Any advice would be appreciated. Need to record old-tyme/celtic fiddle, mandolin, guitar and country/western swing male vocals.

James

you need to visit John Sayers forum and www.realtraps.com