The importance of acoustics

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guitarguy101

New member
Hey everyone,
I run a recording studio out of my living room (or my parents' living room, to be more specific.) I have a Tascam interface and a small collection of mics (2 SM-57, an Apex Ribbon mic, two MXL LDCs, a Sterling Pencil, and a Sterling LDC.)
The room doubles as my dad's audiophile listening room (he had it built to the best acoustic specs for that purpose.) I read an article online that said that upgrading the acoustics of the room using bass traps and such could really improve your sound (more so than investing in more mics.)
Would looking into making bass traps or acoustic panels even be worth it? Keep in mind, my dad's a serious audiophile who really made sure the room was built to the best dimensions it could for the purpose of stereo listening. It's where he houses his B&W 802s, so quality obviously means a lot to him.
So, to conclude, would looking into bass traps even be worth it? There's little furniture in the room, so reflection usually isn't a huge issue (I've gotten decent drum sounds with one mic. If you don't believe me, I'll post proof :P) The only things in there are his B&W speakers (we have rear and a center channel for surround sound) and a flatscreen TV.
 
I'm not positive, but I would assume that since it's a living room it needs treatment.

Throughout the years I've picked up on
one repeated "rule"- if it has corners it needs bass traps.

I'm not an expert, but I'm in the process of building bass traps after trusted help here on the site.

Oh. People are going to show up soon wanting measurements and perhaps a drum recording... so you might want to get that ready :D
 
I'm a bit blown away that there aren't any broadband traps in the room already - especially in the corners. Unless he had the room constructed with everything hidden somehow (not impossible there) and even then, semi-rigid trapping in the corners (even in an already fine room) rarely ever hurts anything... It's not like you can really trap "too much" low end reflection...
 
Now I'm confused?
Was there a question?
You run a studio in your parents living room?
Do your lugan friends actually play instruments?
Posts like this just piss me off.
Have a good day, and get the hell off my lawn!
 
Well, in all fairness, he did ask a question......twice.

guitarguy101 said:
Would looking into making bass traps or acoustic panels even be worth it? .............

......................would looking into bass traps even be worth it?.
Click to expand...
 
Given that you are recording sound and assuming you are going to want that sound to be as good as is possible to do justice to the material, acoustics are about as important as it gets.

Bass traps will be worth it if the room is not already treated, but you will have to trust your ears to say if you like the sound in the room or not
 
Washburn100 said:
Now I'm confused?
Was there a question? You run a studio in your parents living room? Do your lugan friends actually play instruments?
Posts like this just piss me off. Have a good day, and get the hell off my lawn!
Click to expand...
Just remember, you made a cognizant choice to read HIS thread.
On top of which is the fact that he does have legitimate questions AND he has provided a hell of lot more information to go with than many other threads I've seen here all these years.
If you aren't in here to help others and came here to just spout incoherent trash, then perhaps you should get the hell off of HIS lawn.
 
By the way, guitarguy, talk to your Dad and find out what exactly he has had done to this room acoustically.
The recommendations above for bass traps is clearly a good one unless this has already been done somehow.
Also, this room may be great for stereo listening with a great "sweet-spot" but that doesnt mean it's right for recording.

Many people do buy "raw" uncovered acoustic panels and cover them with breathable material to keep costs down.
I did the same thing. Bought 6 panels of Owens Corning 703 compressed fiberglass, covered them then hung them and they have made a BIG difference.

FYI-I don't doubt you can get a good drum sound with one mic.
It's been being done for years :D
It just takes some time to find the right mic and the right placement.
Sounds like you have taken the time and thought to do it right!
 
guitarguy101 said:
The room doubles as my dad's audiophile listening room (he had it built to the best acoustic specs for that purpose.) I read an article online that said that upgrading the acoustics of the room using bass traps and such could really improve your sound (more so than investing in more mics.)
Click to expand...
If it was built to the best acoustic specs for an audiophile listening room, doesn't that mean it's probably already treated?

I used to work for a high end audio dealer, and when they did high dollar systems, it always included tuning the room for a good, flat response, exactly the same way we did control/mixing rooms for studios.

Ask pops some questions, see if you can find out what was done to the room, then do some measurements and see what the response of the room is.
 
LDS said:
If it was built to the best acoustic specs for an audiophile listening room, doesn't that mean it's probably already treated?

I used to work for a high end audio dealer, and when they did high dollar systems, it always included tuning the room for a good, flat response, exactly the same way we did control/mixing rooms for studios.

Ask pops some questions, see if you can find out what was done to the room, then do some measurements and see what the response of the room is.
Click to expand...

I ended up doing that, there is material built into the walls of the room...wasn't aware of that
 
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