What Sort Of Acoustic Room Properties?

[Vikki]

I'm new to the recording game and i was wonderring what sort of acoustic properties are needed in a room to record acoustic guitar and vocals? I have a 12 ft by 9 ft room that i was going to try and convert into some sort of recording room, the recording sysem can be in another room if required. What i have at the moment is an emty room 8 feet ceiling height, 4 brick walls and one studded wall, floor is bare wooden boards with a window at one end and door at the opposite end, quiet country location, most of the time. Do i have to just make the room dead so there's little acoustic sound, which way would you go?
Vikki(uk) :?:

 

[Michael Krusch]

Vikki, your from England, right. Write to Sound on Sound and they will come and improve your accoustics. :grin:

What are your major problem frequencies?

 

[Vikki]

Yep
I've seen that in sound on sound, they hang a sleeping bag on the walls and things like that.
Vikki.
I haven't sorted any problem frequencies yet, i'll have to try some recodings and see what happens.
V

 

[HiString]

Vikki,

I suggest posting your questions here;........
http://johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/index.php ............it may take a little while to get your answers but it is a Studio Design specific forum and has some knowledeable guys there in John Sayers,
Knightfly and a couple of others.

Cya around HR's mic forum. :wink:

 

[jaotao]

Well, first let me say i'm no expert & that my background is not primarily in acoustic music, tho' the more i progress in the game the more interested in a natural sound i become, you just can't fight the purism sooner or later it gets ya................. anyway!

But basically i've just done 18 tracks with acoustic guitar so i will give u some advice. I will assume that if ur asking this question you might need to know other things about recording accoustic guitar sorry if u dont.... i'll start with the room...

1) I recorded mine in a large empty room in a building site, all hard surfaces etc. very verby - i found that i had to get very close in order for it not sound too verby but in retrospect i think it sounds just a little too close on some tracks, adding verb later doesn't quite do the trick like you'd hope. I didn't have enough sleeping bags around to really deaden it much wish i had.

2) This is important, listen to similar music to the music you wanna make. before you record to give you some ideas

3) If you're doing stereo mic-ing read up on the techniques (spaced pair, xy, ORFT, one up one low) but really move the mics around like crazy & dont just follow the rules put one right on the hole & hear the boominess. It is incredibly ridiculous how different a sound you can get i can't stress this enough, its really cool too, acoustic gtrs a lovely instrument

4) Use headphones to monitor as u move mics around if you can, and mix two mic channels to check for phase problems. Know the 3:1 rule but dont just follow it blindly etc (distance between mics = 3x distance from sound source)

5) Room mics? if you've got the inputs use em, natural verb can be fantastic

6) I wish i had recorded more tracks with the artist singing & playing at the same time rather than tracking the vox, i like the ones we did like that best. Also u end up with less guitar parts that are too hard or too soft or too fast or two slow or speed up too much & have to be redone or bodged

 

[jaotao]

but generally speaking accoustics are recorded in quite verby rooms..... for your room you could have a dry end & a wet end to the same room

 

[PRR]

> a room to record acoustic guitar and vocals? I have a 12 ft by 9 ft room

So how does it sound, right now, when you sing and play acoustic guitar?

I suspect a room that small and hard will be "wonderfully supportive", a joy to sing/play in. That's good.

When you throw a mike in and listen somewhere else, it may be "too live" and "sound small". The large reverb, when reproduced in another space, confuses the ear, which can tell that there is a "phantom room" (the recording room) transplanted to the playback room.

So I would then throw enough thick soft fuzz (sleeping bags, overstuffed cloth sofas, or the fiberglas and foam panels made for the purpose) in there to take the reverberation down, but not eliminate it. Compare how the performer feels against how it sounds in the mix.

If the location is quiet and the weather is nice, opening the door and window will give you about 20 square feet of perfect absorption for free. That will bring the room average absorption down from about 0.98 to maybe 0.95, a small but probably audible change. If that change is in the right direction, but there is not enough quiet/nice time when you can leave door/window open, get about the same square feet of thick soft fuzz.

If doing baritone voice, bass guitar, drums: you will find some bass notes are over-emphasized. The bottom of an acoustic guitar may be in this range. Hanging sleeping bags 4"-8" out from the wall helps their bass absorption. Hanging the sleeping bags in the corners absorbs excess bass more than midrange; you can buy bass traps made for this use. But don't worry about it if you can't hear it in the room (or in the mix).