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Old 11-24-2008, 04:43 PM   #19
yep
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Join Date: Aug 2006
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Part III - getting down to brass tacks

The challenges presented by standing waves can be basically divided into two areas: recording and monitoring. Ideally, we would have a perfect acoustical space for everything, but in practice it may be easier to tailor a multi-pronged solution. I'm going to start with approaches to recording, since the things we do to get good recorded sound are important anyway, and then get onto the fun part of creating a good listening room so you can evaluate and mix your now vastly-improved recordings. But everything applies to everything, and the understanding you get by working through both problems will improve every aspect of the process.

The first and easiest way to short-circuit the problems of standing waves in recording is to record bass instruments direct. Bass guitar, synths, and other bass instruments are very well-suited to direct recording anyway. We'll get to kick drum a little later. So there's one shortcut.

The second thing, and this is one of the most important things any recordist can do, is to pick up some kind of portable recording device or microphone and walk around the spaces that are currently available to you to record in and talk or sing into the recorder. Just do it. Chances are 100 out of 100 that some parts of your usable space will sound vastly better than others, and they may not be the places you would first think of. Do not overlook bathrooms, stairwells, and hallways. Get a guitar player to walk around with an acoustic guitar while you follow her with a mic. Try it with the doors open and the doors closed. Try it in the corner and in the other corner, facing towards and away. Try it with the mic pointed one way and pointed the other. Pick up the friggen snare drum and ride cymbal and carry them around to different places in the room than wherever your older brother left them when he moved to Ohio.

You don't have to suss out every square inch of the house, just spend an hour or so. The best part of this exercise is that you will start to attune your ears to the differences in spaces and you will begin to hear them without needing a recording rig. This is an invaluable skill for anyone who wants to make recordings. The second-best part is that you will learn to make acoustical effects work for you instead of being subject to their whim and mercy. If you can get good natural resonance and reverberation by recording vocals in the kitchen or putting a guitar amp in the bathtub, it will blow away anything you can achieve with plugins.

Your recordings are getting better already.

Next up, a look at acoustical treatment.

Last edited by yep; 11-24-2008 at 06:01 PM.
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