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Old 11-19-2007, 10:20 PM   #11
Danforthe
Human being with feelings
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 16
Default Low Budget

Small Room Acoustics .... there is lots of stuff to take care of reflections that wont break the bank... like couches, matresses, ect

here is a little ramble that might help

1
do some sound checks a find the spot in the room that sounds best... thats were the mic should be (usually).

2
make some recordings recordings without any room modifications.

3
Listen to your recording. (You should be familiar with the flavor that your recording device places on the sound)

4
Identify what kind of problems are present that are not assoicated with your recording device. what frequencies are too loud, ect.

5
Create your solution based on your problems. Here are a few tips to help you find a solution

research different kind of mics and the Hz response / uses associated with them

personally i'll use a cardioid dynamic ( directional ) for the close up , and try to aim it at the rooms sweet spot... and i'll use a condenser for room ambience. you could place it in the room next door or whatever.. experiment a little with that

some of the greatest (professional) music i've heard was recorded on one mic in the center of the room (speedy west and jimmy bryant)

definitly walk around the house while the music is playing and try to find a sweet spot.

Lower freqs are stronger towards towards the floor, and gain momentum there. They also gain momentum in corners. you could spend alot of money on diffusers, or you could place a full sized couch in the corner (with one arm rest on the ground and the other facing the ceiling).

you might be playing too loud. the guitars / vocals in rock usually have to be cranked to 11 to compete with the drummer. try putting the drummer in another room and finding a place to mic (the drums) that sounds good.

matresses are pretty useful for diffusing reflections, plus they can add some sweet reverb (if the mic is close enough to it)

the reflections of the room might sound good if they are controlled. like instead of damping the whole room, you could create a damped chamber within the room using house hold items.

if your room has a closet or doorway you can place the mattress vertically in the doorway and suspend the mic on the other side of it (bout 4 to five feet off the ground). so the matress should be inbetween the mic and the soundset, with the mic in the other room. create some walls around the mic with blankets (floor to ceiling) to catch a few soft reflections. put some densely packed blankets on the floor immediately below the mic and then suspend another one (parallel with the floor) about a foot above the blanket mass. this will help absorb excess bass

TRACK Record!! You are on the reaper forum, so you probably have track recording capabilities. all you need is a set of headphones with a long cord to go from your computer to your musician. do one or two instruments at a time... start with the drummer and move on. that way you can use eq's, reverbs, ect to fix it up and address the needs of each instrument. I have a set of extreme isolation headphones, they are great for that, but they will run you about $99.99.

good luck!!
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