The accoustic enviorment

[Winding Road]

I'm sitting in this room wondering what I can do in order to create the best sound. I'm in the process of measuring standing waves, but I don't have a lot of money to spend on high quality wave convertors. I was just wondering what common household items can I use in order to absorb some of the sound. Also, I hear that some reflective surfaces should be kept in order to simulate more of a natural sound than you would generally get in a completely dead room.


I'll post the dimensions of my recording room in a bit.

One last question, say that you can't possibly get a high level sound on your budget and the modifications that you've done to your room, would you say that artifical reverb can do a good enough job to simulate a decent sounding enviorment?

 

[Robert D]

This splits into two areas, tracking rooms and mixing rooms, although for a lot of home recordists they are in fact the same room. It sounds like you're addressing the recording side of the question, but is the room going to be used for both? And if it's a tracking room only, then are you going to be tracking low frequency stuff (miced bass cabs vs direct, live acoustic drums, etc.)? If it's also a mixing room, then you need to address the full audio spectrum. Do a search room treatments, it's been discussed a lot. Read about DIY bass traps, absorption, and difusion.

 

[apl]

See www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html

One big room is better than two small ones.

 

[Winding Road]

This splits into two areas, tracking rooms and mixing rooms, although for a lot of home recordists they are in fact the same room. It sounds like you're addressing the recording side of the question, but is the room going to be used for both? And if it's a tracking room only, then are you going to be tracking low frequency stuff (miced bass cabs vs direct, live acoustic drums, etc.)? If it's also a mixing room, then you need to address the full audio spectrum. Do a search room treatments, it's been discussed a lot. Read about DIY bass traps, absorption, and difusion.

Unfortunately, it's the tracking AND mixing room, so the computer is comming in the way. I'm only recording vocals in this room, so mostly high frequency stuff.

I'm still looking for an answer on this question: Would it be smart to create a completely dead room and then simulate reverb through effects on your mixer?

 

[bennychico11]

don't think vocals are just high frequency. A male voice can go down as low as 100Hz or lower, and this is well into what we consider the low frequency range. The spoken voice itself can be around 300Hz.

like what was said above, look into bass traps (although they don't trap just bass frequencies). The site linked above has a good explanation on why and how you need to treat your room. Many professionals and hobbyists do it that way and it's not nearly as expensive as you think it would be. I've seen around $13 for a 2'x4' piece.

 

[Robert D]

don't think vocals are just high frequency. A male voice can go down as low as 100Hz or lower.

Swing low, sweet chariotte......

Unfortunately, it's the tracking AND mixing room, so the computer is comming in the way. I'm only recording vocals in this room, so mostly high frequency stuff.

I'm still looking for an answer on this question: Would it be smart to create a completely dead room and then simulate reverb through effects on your mixer?

So, the fact that it's also mixing room makes the issue of what frequencies you are recording a non issue. You need to address the full audio bandwidth for mixing. NO, DO NOT DEADEN THE ROOM. Vocal booths are good candidates for deadness, but that's about it. You certainly don't want a dead mixing environment. Ethan Winer is very knowledgable about this stuff, and very generous with his knowledge. Take the time to read his stuff, which APL gave you the link for. If you're still asking if you should deaden the room, you aren't doing your homework......no desert for you!!!
Really, you need a fundimental understanding of this stuff to be effective at recording & mixing, so read up. Once again, the basics are bass trapping, breaking up large reflective surfaces with some mid to high frequency absorption, same for primary reflection points to the mix position, and then add some difusion to give the room the complex reflections that give a sense of space.
This can all be done on the cheap, but you have to have some understanding of the principles.