Lars68 Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 We have rebuilt the first floor of our house and the very big room that I used to play and record in has now been split into two smaller rooms. I have the opportunity to (sort of) set one of these rooms up for playing and recording. I don't mean that I intend to turn it into a studio, but I'm fairly free as to placement of furniture etc. The room has a full carpet on the floor, one window which will eventually have long curtains, two tall bookshelfs, two small armchairs, and a table. The room is furnished about 50% right now, and I played in there for the first time yesterday. I found it sounded very loud but kind of cool and distant. Great for hearing the guitar and voice,but not so great yet for recording. I lacked a bit of warmth. Any simple suggestions as to add warmth? The room is anly about 10 square meters of floor area. Right now it has the two small armchairs, the two bookshelfs (mostly empty yet, but one with full glass doors), and the full carpet, no curtains and no pictures on the walls. And again, I am to keep it looking like a normal room, no egg cartons on the walls Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Strange things happen when you sit in different places Lars Back to a window / blank wall / bookcase wall . Etc The different surfaces behind , or sitting with a wall or window in front of you etc Hope you understand what I'm trying to get at here , sit with back close to the wall so the large part of the room is behind the mics or sitting with the mics in front of a wall and the majority of the room behind you Sit in a corner Try all that kinda thing before you start turning the room into something the wife is really going to give you jip for ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisrownSal Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Lars, is the carpeting a done deal? I have a small home office (you see it when I record my crap). I opted to keep the hard wood flooring, with a small area fake oriental rug. I also have a "tray ceiling", which creates a beautiful small room reverb naturally. I realize the ceiling is not something you can easily change - my office was an addition, so when we were building it I had in mind certain things I wanted for "my room". The flooring choice you can change, and that makes a big difference. Wall to wall carpeting absorbs sound. What good is having a gorgeous guitar that records and sings out, if those sonic waves are muffled with pillows.... Short of the above, record fairly close to the mic, and add in reverb in production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Yep. Listen to the Sal. Wood. Real wood. Not a bunch of chips glued together. When I moved to Southern Illinois over 20 years ago, I made many dozens of trips to Nashville because it's only a few hours away. I was building a studio/jam room at the time and toured the historic R.C.A. Studio B and the first thing I noticed was it was NOT filled with egg cartons, foam, curtains and stuff. I was struck with how much wood was in there. Trim, boards for the partitions, etc. The same stuff great guitars and pianos and mandolins are made of. While I'm a fan of certain laminate electric guitars, I'm not a fan of particle board made of junk wood and glue and formaldehyde. I would bet money Abby Road and the Motown studios have some real wood in there. I also believe the Peavey combos from back in the day sound crappy PARTLY because they used so much particle board. When Eddie Van Halen contracted with Hartley Peavey to build the 5150's, birch plywood was insisted on by Eddie. Wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Yep. Listen to the Sal. Wood. Real wood. Not a bunch of chips glued together. When I moved to Southern Illinois over 20 years ago, I made many dozens of trips to Nashville because it's only a few hours away. I was building a studio/jam room at the time and toured the historic R.C.A. Studio B and the first thing I noticed was it was NOT filled with egg cartons, foam, curtains and stuff. I was struck with how much wood was in there. Trim, boards for the partitions, etc. The same stuff great guitars and pianos and mandolins are made of. While I'm a fan of certain laminate electric guitars, I'm not a fan of particle board made of junk wood and glue and formaldehyde. I would bet money Abby Road and the Motown studios have some real wood in there. I also believe the Peavey combos from back in the day sound crappy PARTLY because they used so much particle board. When Eddie Van Halen contracted with Hartley Peavey to build the 5150's, birch plywood was insisted on by Eddie. Wood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 Why did it do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 Thanks for the tips, guys! The carpet is indeed a done deal, and it covers the entire floor. The elements that I can change (within limits, of course) are the placement of the furinture, the type of curtains, and choice of wall decorations (pictures, fabrics etc). Our first floor has been a complete building site for about six months, during that time I have made most of my recordings in our bedroom. I love the sound I got on those recordings. That room is about the same size, but about 50% of the area is covered by the big bed. There are also large drapes covering the window from floor to ceiling, a hardwood floor, and typically lots of clothes lying around. Here are two examples of recordings made there, that I like the sound of very much, especially the second one (the quality of the performance is another story...): (voice and guitar on one track) (voice and guitar on one track, organ added later) Both recordings are done with only an Apogee mic, into Garageband on my iPad. I then added a touch of compression and reverb afterwards. I don't intend to mess with my recording gear. I like this simply approach, so any changes will have to be in the environment. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I find it hard to hear what compression was doing for my recordings . I'm not lecturing here Lars , just comparing amateur notes I know very very basically what it does and to be honest I was adding t because I thought it was something that should be added , but I try to leave out as much as I can and I'm not so sure what compression does for a simple acoustic and voice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 I find it hard to hear what compression was doing for my recordings . I'm not lecturing here Lars , just comparing amateur notes I know very very basically what it does and to be honest I was adding t because I thought it was something that should be added , but I try to leave out as much as I can and I'm not so sure what compression does for a simple acoustic and voice I only added compression to bring a few spikes down, so I could turn up the overall volume. I did not add it to improve the original sound quality. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EuroAussie Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 It sounds like the experience when i first moved into my man cave, lots of reverb, sound bouncing of the wall, not particularly warm. As others mentioned you need to fill this space with absorbing material, like carpet, bookshelves (full) sofas and furniture ....and you need wood, so buy another 6 guitars and that should do the trick. When I fill my man cave / music room/ office/ home cinema with 'stuff' the overall quality of acoustics and warmth improved dramatically - here's a couple pics of how it stands this morning, as you can see its not a big space, but big enough to get 3-4 people to rehearse and hang out in. Make sure to have a sofa if you can, and a lava lamp ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 "The carpet is indeed a done deal, and it covers the entire floor. The elements that I can change (within limits, of course) are the placement of the furinture, the type of curtains, and choice of wall decorations (pictures, fabrics etc). " <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 13px;"> I understand that you need to keep the room looking like a room, and not a 'music room'. I would get rid of the 2 armchairs. I've never found an armchair i could sit in and play a guitar. Get a small sofa, or love seat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldCowboy Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 How about a couple one-armed chairs? A fleet of bar stools? Wooden boxes? A bale of hay? Bean bag chairs? Western saddles on saw horses? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 It sounds like the experience when i first moved into my man cave, lots of reverb, sound bouncing of the wall, not particularly warm. As others mentioned you need to fill this space with absorbing material, like carpet, bookshelves (full) sofas and furniture ....and you need wood, so buy another 6 guitars and that should do the trick. When I fill my man cave / music room/ office/ home cinema with 'stuff' the overall quality of acoustics and warmth improved dramatically - here's a couple pics of how it stands this morning, as you can see its not a big space, but big enough to get 3-4 people to rehearse and hang out in. Make sure to have a sofa if you can, and a lava lamp ! Looks nice EA! A little too much of a strict music room compared to what I will get away with, though. I estimate my room to be about as wide as yours, but not as long, and maybe 3/4 the size and also square. No plans just yet to add barstols, horse saddles, or any hay bales! However, there might be a few old wooden tennis rackets hanging on the walls, along with lots of musician biographies in the bookshelf. My guitars will get a small closet of their own. The Swedish climate in the winter won't allow any guitas hanging on the walls. Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted October 28, 2016 Share Posted October 28, 2016 I guess if you had a room twice the size you could record in, and now have what you described - with most of the choices left being 'decorating', I'm not sure how much you can move the needle from "Sitting Room" to "Music/Recording Room". I'd say Euro-Aussie's room looks like a pretty good model: Wood floor with an area rug with tight nap, or an Oriental. Not too much on the walls or covering the windows, to offset the bookcases, etc. But, I'm still really not sure I understand where you are going to sit with only a couple of armchairs. I would petition the Project Manager to swap out the armchairs for something actually functional, that can still look inviting. Think Feng Shui! (I've got all my old tennis rackets stored behind the couch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted October 28, 2016 Author Share Posted October 28, 2016 The armchairs are actually perfectly fine for sitting in while playing. The armrests are not the full length of the seat, so they don't get in the way. I just received a veto regarding my acoustic suggestions from the Commander in Chief. I will play around with placement of the mic, and whatever variables eventually at my disposal, and make a few test recordings before reporting back. Have a nice weekend! Lars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullmental Alpinist Posted October 30, 2016 Share Posted October 30, 2016 Hey Lars, Just do what this guy did to his recording room. Not an egg carton in sight! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWesb1MaEMI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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