Hey Ethan,
After reading your booklike acoustics article several times, I must say that I'm amazed. Never have I received that much information in a language that I can understand when it comes to acoustics. Thank you very much!
Today, I finished recording vocal tracks and when I heard what was coming out of the mic, I jumped up and checked to make sure the mic was setup correctly because the sound was so different.
To remind you, my live room is 15x20x9. It had a drop ceiling that I removed when I began using the room for recording about a year ago. After reading your article, I put the drop ceiling back in.
There are so many items on studio grocery list that I didn't want to wait to try real bass traps. I purchased 4 rolls of insulation and just stacked them in the nearest corner. I could hear a difference by just standing in the room and speaking!!!!!
I like the idea of having both stacked insualtion in the corner and then Real Traps in front of those stradling the corner. I've always heard that the AKG was a very bright mic, and never really understood it. My results were always much different.
Now, running the same vocalist through the same AKG 414 in the same location on the same mic stand through the same preamp and soundcard creates extremely different results! I see what everyone was talking about in regard to my room being crap. I could even hear a severe difference with one of my Octava mics that I use to monitor with. (AKG 414 straight to Neve straight to soundcard, Octava to Mackie for headphone mix).
I've got big plans of finishing the hardwood floor, filling each corner excessively with rolls of insulation, and constructing some diffusors.
I appreciate everyone's help. I've gotten just a small sample of what even a decent room could do for my mixes.
Soon, I'll apply the same logic to my control room. However, for the moment, my logic says that getting to instruments to hard disk as best as possible is more important than hearing them more accurately during mixing. I mix lazily anyway and avoid eq and compression anyway.
I'm trying to figure out how bright or dark I want my live room to be. The plan is to use this room for tracking drums (usually rock bands, but I'm open to anything), guitar amps, vocals, and just about anything else. Do I want to make the room sound really live or should I go a subtle route?
I'm very interested in this whole diffusion thing. I'm ready to start chopping up 2"x4"'s into triangles and glewing them all over the wall. Is this the way to go? I'm not paying $200 for a 15"x15" square diffusor. I'd rather get creative with lattice and a power saw. Are there any recommendations or tips for building diffusors? links to plans? etc?
Everyone mentions diffusion, but seldom I see anyone get too deep into it.
Thanks again,
Brandon Drury