Hey You Audio Engineers

[solarbird]

Does this homebuilt isolation box sound like a good idea for music recording too? I'm thinking of building one but acoustic foam is not free.

Comments

[daspatrick.livejournal.com]

I think it's all about the sound you want - lots of folks record in very live rooms, hardwood floors and such, because for them being able to "hear the room" is a priority. Others really want the more acoustically dead sound of an isolation booth - I myself tend towards the latter but have never done anything more then stick a mic in the center of whatever room I'm set up in.

I think if you put your mic in a closet and keep the clothes hung up in it, you are 90% of the way there.

[solarbird]

And we do have a walk-in closet... hmmmmmm.

[cubes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the room sound can be a huge part of the recording... or a huge nuisance. Depends on what you're looking for.

Another option for noise deadening is to find every blanket, quit, and towel you can get your hands on and hang them up around you -- put up clotheslines, whatever it takes to make yourself a little blanket-booth. Don't forget the floor, and overhead.

(I am not an audio engineer, but my husband used to record everything from folk soloists to rock bands to large chunks of orchestra in his studio)

[solarbird]

Part of the problem is that I don't entirely know what I'm looking for, in that I have no connection between physical setup and resulting sound. I just don't know how it works at all.

Hee, blanket-booth. Snuggy!

[cubes.livejournal.com]

Hubby sez he would be happy to chat with you at whatever length you'd like about some techniques you can use for home recording & what might sound good for what you're trying to do, I will send you his contact info separately.

Also if you want to take a vacation to this corner of the country sometime, he'd be happy to record you himself (he's been itching for an excuse to get back into it).

[hubbit.livejournal.com]

I'm with cubes. I think you're better off deadening walls. I don't know to put this into concrete terms because in my brain it is quite abstract, but although you don't want room noise and you don't want uncontrolled reverberation, you still will want some "breathing room" around the microphone. I think boxing it in, in one of those contraptions, will be detrimental to the sound overall.

[solarbird]

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks. ^_^