Classical Music Home Recording
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Posted on Oct 25, 2010 08:54 am
bassonyc
Member Since: Oct 25, 2010
I hope this is the right place to post this.
Greetings, I am so happy to have found this spot. I am interested in building a recording studio in my basement. I will be recoding classical chamber music, instruments and vocals. Studio Dimensions: 27 ft. by 10 ft, 7 ft high. I can do anything necessary in this space in terms of insulation, walls, ceilings, partitions, etc.
General questions: should I be trying to make an acoustical setting, or a soundproof room? For chamber music of this kind, are the players/singers generally on their own mike, in their own isolated soundproof room, or are they all together, each miked, as well as ambient/room mikes? Is it possible to make isolated subsections that are both soundproof, and have a pleasant acoustic, or is that acoustic better added later as an affect? Any ideas are welcome and appreciated.
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Oct 25, 2010 09:11 am I'd say to first concern yourself with sound proofing, not necessarily to keep your music from getting out and bothering others, but just as much from outside sound from getting in and getting on your recordings.
Acoustically treating your environment would be next, and strictly inside your room. mix up reflection and absorption, and reflect sound away from, or out of corners.
I don't think I'd concern myself with isolation rooms for everyone...maybe each instrument group, but not each player...but typically I'd say for the main tracks of the whole group reacord as a group with mics placed by each group, maybe gates on them to keep them as isolated as possible...but as a group may lend a better "vibe". Then isolate any "solo" player or headline instrument.
Just my two cents.
Oct 25, 2010 09:25 am db, thank you, I am making notes form your reply. As the project gets underway I might have more specific questions. Thanks for the information.
Oct 25, 2010 09:32 am db: when you advise to reflect sound away from corners, should I put dampening materials or reflective materials in these corners? The answer seems like reflective, but I just want to be sure...
Thanks
Oct 25, 2010 09:37 am I generally try to keep sound from the corners...putting bookcases, sound control panels, chairs or even building a false wall at a 45 degree angle in those corners.
Corners are always bass heavy...there are a couple occasions I like to have one available, sometimes aiming an amp into a corner with a mic in there is a nice way to isolate the sound and add some bassy power to the sound, but generally I like to just amke 90 degree corners disappear.
Oct 25, 2010 11:42 am I just deleted a fairly long-winded post and instead I'm going to approach this in another fashion --
Are you trying to actually make "really nice" recordings in that space, or just some "demo-type" (for lack of a better term) recordings where sound quality isn't really too important...?
Coming from the perspective of making a decent number (a dozen or more) classical recordings annually, I can tell you that you're looking at a long, hard road of broadband treatment in either case and you're almost guaranteed a fairly dead space after.
But in any case - What exactly are you hoping to end up with?
Oct 25, 2010 12:04 pm I want to make quality recordings. I could go the route of renting out a church or something, but it would be great to use the space I have. i thought with the new technology it might be worth looking into.
Thanks
Oct 25, 2010 03:59 pm I'd do the church-renting thing without question in that case.
You can make a control room, maybe 19x10x7 leaving you with an overdub booth around 6x10x7-ish... If you stud all the concrete walls and fill the voids with rigid fiberglass, stack glass in the corners, etc. (basements require substantial additional broadband trapping because of the solid concrete walls), you'll wind up with a 'dead' but reasonably usable space for monitoring and mixing.
But you're not going to get open, airy, lush, dimensional sounding chamber recordings in those spaces. There just isn't enough space. You can try to "fake it" to some extent with reverbs and early reflections and what not, but nothing give a sense of space like - space. And height.
Been there, done that, doesn't happen. You could potentially diffuse the room enough to get a (again, very "fake" sounding) reasonable amount of controlled reflectivity, but at that point you're (A) not going to have anywhere to mix and (B) it'll cost far more than recording in a nicer space.
Not trying to discourage - Just trying to present reality.
