You've got it all backwards.

  • Thread starter Thread starter mikemorgan
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mikemorgan

mikemorgan

panned out
When a newbie like me enters the Homerecording.com website looking for help and advice about gear, we pretty much get the same advice on all fronts.
1. Get a good mic
2. Get a good mic pre-amp
3. Optimize your signal path to recording medium of your choice
4. Don't skimp on Monitors
5. Educate yourself (using the Internet makes it easier than ever)

The one thing that everyone has forgotten to mention, until recently, is to accoustically and sonically treat your room so all the other stuff you bought will not sound like crap.

It seems like that should be the first valuable piece of advice anyone could impart. Once you realize how daunting of a task this is, and how little you really understand about the subject, you might just want to go ahead and pay the big-buck studios to record your little demo. People like Blue Bear and Massivemaster prove to me that I don't have a clue.

I do appreciate all the Pro advice that appears on this board. I have climbed the ladder of recording knowledge gradually as a result. I have upgraded parts of my studio as needed. I have learned so many things. But I really expected that buying good monitors would get me close to personal-studio nirvana. Still waiting.

Maybe if I had treated my room first, I wouldn't need all this other crap.
 
Actually, I think I've seen that advice (room treatment) offered up many a time here. I agree that it can probably produce the most dramatic improvements in recording quality. And it's the one thing I'm able to do very little about, even if I knew what to do.
 
Check the Studio Building forum. It is stuffed with topics about room treatment.
 
* Anything by Ethan Winer

* www.johnlsayers.com

* www.modularacoustics.com

Learn before doing with acoustics... A lot of people have a reflex to get a bunch of Auralex and kill their room. Not that Auralex is bad stuff, but it serves a particular purpose - High-end absorption is usually the smallest part of the problem.

It can be an expensive lesson to learn if you go backwards... Not that I'm an expert on room treatments, but Ethan taught me something that I'll never forget that's been the biggest help ever... It's almost impossible (if at all) to have too much low-end absorption. I had never thought about it that way, but how could you really ever have *too much* low end absoprtion? unless it's actually between you and the speakers, it just can't happen.

You want to unleash your room? Abosorb the excess bass frequencies. Spot treat high bounce and flutter, diffuse a bit behind perhaps, but take care of that low end.
 
Moving forward again

Thanks yet again for the sage advice guys. Yes, I am learning more every day about bass traps and have studied Ethan's posts and website. I just ponied up for a powered sub the other day which substantiated that which I already knew, my mixes have too much low end rumble. What sounds great on the nearfields (Event PS6's) turns into painfully loud kick and bass rumble below 100hz in the car. Hard to believe my crappy car system is better equipped to mix with than my $500 monitors. With my new sub, I can at least hear some of this in my studio, but I know it's not accurate enough yet until I do some room treatment.

I guess the purpose of my rant and frustration is to help educate us all. When someone asks "what gadget should I buy to make my demos sound more professional?" I'll be more inclined to ask them if they have a suitable listening environment to actually know what "professional" sounds like.
 
I don't ever give rep points, because I think it's kinda' pointless.


But I did just give you one, because I thought it was an important post. Finally, someone who "gets it." Keep it up, and you'll be way ahead of the learning curve.
 
And I gave Chessrock points for being generous. :D
 
mikemorgan said:
The one thing that everyone has forgotten to mention, until recently, is to accoustically and sonically treat your room so all the other stuff you bought will not sound like crap.
Click to expand...

That advice is offered all the time. I also think that while room treatment will make a huge difference, you need to have at least some of the other pieces of the puzzle to notice it. I mean I don't buy gear often but when I do I buy the piece that will take me the biggest step closer to the sound I would like to achieve. At the moment my room is not the biggest limit to my recordings. Room treatment is one thing but (home) recording in a crappy room is better than no recording in a nice room IMO.
 
Thanks

Thanks Chessrock, what's a rep-point? Why do these guys care?

I know that room treatment is mentioned a lot here. But I also expect that there are guys who've spent serious change on gear just to stuff it in their 6-foot ceiling, square, block-walled basement-next to the furnace-room.

I never realized how badly good gear can sound until you lock it into a crappy environment, and how important it is to let my fellow audiophiles know up front that that Roland VS/HDR/Neve/Focusrite/Neuman cannot possibly produce amazing results until you address room acoustics.
 
mikemorgan said:
Thanks Chessrock, what's a rep-point? Why do these guys care?
Click to expand...


I don't really know for sure, but I think it's just a way of honoring someone's post if you found it useful and informative.
 
mikemorgan said:
Thanks yet again for the sage advice guys. Yes, I am learning more every day about bass traps and have studied Ethan's posts and website. I just ponied up for a powered sub the other day which substantiated that which I already knew, my mixes have too much low end rumble. What sounds great on the nearfields (Event PS6's) turns into painfully loud kick and bass rumble below 100hz in the car. Hard to believe my crappy car system is better equipped to mix with than my $500 monitors. With my new sub, I can at least hear some of this in my studio, but I know it's not accurate enough yet until I do some room treatment.

I guess the purpose of my rant and frustration is to help educate us all. When someone asks "what gadget should I buy to make my demos sound more professional?" I'll be more inclined to ask them if they have a suitable listening environment to actually know what "professional" sounds like.
Click to expand...

Definitely visit John Sayers's site... Knows his stuff and he's REAL good people!

If you join his forum and post a drawing of the room(s) you're working with he'll likely take it, modify it and post what HE would do with that space... no charge. He's been a HUGE help around this BBS in the past... say... does he still stop by here? I kinda miss him!

- Tanlith -
 
At the same time I'd like to add you don't need a "church" to have good acoustics. It's about dimensions and volume. The other issues can be treated/tamed to a very large degree.
 
mikemorgan said:
I never realized how badly good gear can sound until you lock it into a crappy environment, and how important it is to let my fellow audiophiles know up front that that Roland VS/HDR/Neve/Focusrite/Neuman cannot possibly produce amazing results until you address room acoustics.
Click to expand...

did you find this out from experience? have you treated your room?
 
FALKEN said:
did you find this out from experience? have you treated your room?
Click to expand...

I ahve.

I have fairly decent gear, and it sounded like crap until I treated my room.

My room ain't pefect, but it's pretty good now.
 
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