worth it to invest?

[tswsdrummer4]

i've recently purchased some low end recording equipment do to some demos for my band. After trying it all out and seeing how i like the whole recording shindig, ive decided i want to dig further into it. I am willing to spend money to make respectable recordings, but as i understand it, the room you are recording in makes a world of difference. I cannot rebuild it or tear down walls in any way. Its an (approx) 12'x20' room. Carpet squares on the floor, cheap pink building insulation inside the walls covered by wooden paneling, and a 8 foot high drywall ceiling.I have it set up right now so i can have the control room right outside of the live room.

My question is, is it possible to make decent recordings given this recording environment? I don't want to spend a ton of money just to be disapointed in the final product. Bear in mind i don't have a ton of money to drop (im 20) but i do look at this as an investment and am willing to save up on middle/high end stuff. Thanks!

 

[thebigcheese]

The room is important, but if you have a crappy room, you can always put treatment everywhere to make it as dead as possible. I'm just recording in my mom's basement, which I have done nothing to, and I manage to get decent recordings, even with the drums shoved into the corner.

When you think about it, you'll probably be close miking most of the stuff you record (guitar, vocals, bass could even be DI), so the biggest problem will be drums. Sometimes acoustic guitar, but as long as you've got some space, you should be fine. I would worry about getting decent gear before you worry too much about a space. Couches and the like go a long way to shaping a room's tone.

 

[tswsdrummer4]

thats true. i am getting just ok guitar recordings. drums are my biggest problem. i do have some foam on my entire ceiling right to try and deaden the sound and am considering getting bass traps for the corners.bass is obviously going DI so that isn't an issue.

 

[dintymoore]

Go for it!

You can make all kinds of things work, lots of people here (me included) would love to have that much space.

Great songs and performances can push through a lot of imperfections.

 

[saads]

thats true. i am getting just ok guitar recordings. drums are my biggest problem. i do have some foam on my entire ceiling right to try and deaden the sound and am considering getting bass traps for the corners.bass is obviously going DI so that isn't an issue.

You're going the right way, getting bass traps and all. But i can't help notice that you mentioned deadening the sound. Starting out, thats what a lot of people aim for, to just get a really dead room. That's not what you should be trying to do. A dead room will give you a dead sound. It's good to have a little room reverb. I sometimes move my kit to my other room which has a wooden floor, and gives me some nice bass drum reverb. So rather than just trying to stick as much foam up you should focus on getting a nice sound. Do some reading on room acoustics, there's always a lot to learn. Good luck !

 

[tswsdrummer4]

good point, thank you! the foam was completely free, otherwise i wouldn't have bothered.

 

[thebigcheese]

Here's a couple places you can read up:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/acoustic_room_treatment.htm
http://www.acoustics101.com/default.asp (this one is sponsored by Auralex, so try to ignore their product placements)
There's plenty more here and elsewhere, but those will give you a good start. From what I've read, bass traps are a good idea in pretty much any room, but you generally don't want foam covering everything else. In the room I use, I luck out because there's a couch covering one corner, my recording desk in another, my drums in a third, and then the other corner is recessed back in an entertainment center area. If you can record in a room without a lot of parallel surfaces (angled ceiling, for instance), you are generally better off, but I imagine it's not always possible to move somewhere else. Just put a lot of stuff (furniture, music gear, etc) in the room and I think you'll find it cuts down on the bad reverb a lot while still leaving some good reverb.

 

[dintymoore]

Even if foam was free I wouldn't use it. Foam sounds unmusical to me and I wouldn't bring any into a studio.

Nobody seems to have picked up on this but I swear lahala sounds great! I was in store that sold nothing but woven stuff yesterday - furniture, mats, baskets, everything, and the sound in there was exquisite. I want it.

So my next incarnation will be lahala. It sounds great, is super fast to put up, doesn't bother people who are sensitive to plastics, needs no paint or finish, is super cheap and looks fantastic. I regret bringing one sheet of drywall into my studio or house, I view it as a colossal mistake I made 20 years ago. Drywall is horrible to work with, dings the day you finish, sounds bad and you're making your walls out of cardboard and chalk folks! Going back, I wouldn't bring one sheet into my house - I hate that shit!

Lahala is a tree. I call the base of them rat condos, 'cause they are. When you see stuff like woven place mats for your dining room table, chances are it's from that tree.

 

[moresound]

Just line your entire studio in hemp and get it over with.

 

[tswsdrummer4]

thats a new one to me!

 

[moresound]

Jah mon it is truly a good thing mon.
If your hemp lined studio burns down everyone is high for a few days local stores stock of oreos are gone then you rebuild and wait for the next fire.

 

[tswsdrummer4]

excellent. that way i can build from the ground up!

 

[moresound]

First you plant the seed,then you harvest the seed,then you eat the seed.

 

[dintymoore]

Just line your entire studio in hemp and get it over with.

That may require a special license, I'll have to check.

It's not a new idea, the Egyptians made all their vocal AND drum booths out of natural fibers.

What I did notice in the woven goods shop I was in yesterday, was that the sound was really easy on your ears. There was a nice dip in the mids and the high end was beautiful. When you get close to the ratan and lahala you can hear that it sounds really good.

I've seen rolled lahala mats at Kmart, something like 6' x 8' for $20 -25 and that's where my ear tells me to go next.

Since I started this musical journey in 1956 I've constantly been morphing and that's where I'm at now - trying to get a really natural, beautiful sound, not the harsh plastic sound you hear a lot. It's basically copying nature.

I'm not saying I want it to be some cosmic Earth Music Yani crap!

It's gotta have bite, 'cause I was raised on Hendrix.

 

[tswsdrummer4]

does anyone know what site or program it is that a lot of people use to show simple layouts of their home studios? i googled it but all the sites that showed up seemed to be much more complicated than what i need

 

[moresound]

It's not a new idea, the Egyptians made all their vocal AND drum booths out of natural fibers.

King Tuts recording studio was the envy of all the ancient lands....including China! But they did manage to make cheaper knock offs but nothing could compare to Tuts original designs.