One of the main critical points that anyone setting up a studio for home recording must avoid is that. Of underestimate grossly the significance of ‘ acoustics of the room …
And to believe that barely because you have a decent condenser microphone and costly office monitors. It is then automatic to get a good sound. The truth is actually that… room acoustics affect sound quality.
More than anything else in your studio anything. So rather than go through months of frustration trying to figure out what’s wrong, you could deal with that by reading this article.
And it is for this reason that in today’s post I will guide you step by step through the whole process of creating an effective acoustic treatment for your home studio from Addicted to Audio.
Are you ready? Let’s begin…
Acoustics: basics
Before starting with an acoustic treatment, it is good to have a basic understanding of acoustics more generally.
The good news is… you don’t need an acoustic engineering degree to run a recording studio.
All you need are a few SIMPLE CONCEPTS. Let’s start with …
1. How Sound Propagates in a Room
Whenever a sound is produced in a room, exactly this happens:
Starting from the source, the sound waves are projected outwards in all directions.
A small portion (known as direct sound) travels in a straight line to the microphone.
The rest (known as reflected sound) randomly bounces between the surfaces of the room.
After a few moments, some of these reflections will likely return to the microphone.
Now…
Since direct sound does not interact with the room, the balance of its frequencies remains pure and its tone unaltered. With reflected sound , each new reflection can potentially MODIFY the original sound.
Depending on the size of the room , and the reflective surfaces inside it …
The sound change could be LARGE or SMALL … GOOD or NOT. In maximum rooms, this is not a good change. Here because:
2. Because most cabins have bad acoustics
Have you always toured a huge cathedral like the single in the photo along side?
If the answer is yes, have you noticed how any sound inside it is absolutely incredible?
This is due to the fact that it was not only designed to be aesthetically pleasing …
But also to PLAY in an equally enjoyable way.
The problem is that… an environment with optimal acoustic performance requires A LOT of space and A LOT of money to build. Since none of us are probably in a position to do such a thing … here’s how to create it in a “fictitious” way:
3. How to Recreate Great Venue Sound
Someone invented that wonderful machine known as the Eco Room .
This tool allowed the engineers to simulate the reverberation of a THIRD room compared to the one where they are recording. Over the years the technology has become more sophisticated, and today …