Is a totally dead room useful for a small home studio?

[Weasel9992]

Originally Posted by TheEqualizer

Cute.

Nothing personal, really...you asked.

Frank

[TheEqualizer]

Originally Posted by Weasel9992

Nothing personal, really...you asked.

Frank

No insult taken. You could replace "cute" with "clever," but then it
just wouldn't have the same charm.

[666666]

Untreated small rooms yield very close reflections which lead to frequency cancellations and other strange issues. A source being recorded in a small untreated room will almost never sound natural. Now if you prefer a wacky unpredictable response into the microphones, loss of certain frequencies, excess of other frequencies, and other strange issues and artifacts, go ahead and record in a small untreated room.

I would think that most people would prefer a rich natural sound from whatever they're recording... which means if you have a small room, you need to treat it properly (which often means a very high degree of treatment), or you need a larger room (with an appropriate degree of treatment).

If I put a well-tuned high-end drum kit in a small untreated room, it sounds absolutely horrible to the ear and in the mics. All kinds of excess vibrations in the heads, kick drum may have zero low-end or excessive low end (depending on how close it is to the walls), cymbals are ear splitting, tons of excessive bleed into all close-mics, no definition whatsoever, it's a big mess. And forget about achieving any level of "stereo", you can put up a pair of XY or even AB mics in a small untreated room, the end result sounds like mono. It's a total blur. Now take that same exact drum kit, stick it in a larger room with some treatment, it instantly sounds like a million bucks, all the above listed problems disappear. I know because I've been through this, first hand, several times.

I would never consider doing anything in a small room without very large amounts of top-quality absorbers / bass trapping.

Sure, a totally dead, dry room may not be the ideal thing, but at least the source sound will not be negatively altered by serious close reflections and other weird sonic chaos etc. I'd rather have a rich accurate sound that is dry (can always apply a top-end digital reverb in the mix or even "re-amp" into a larger "real" room later etc) than to yield a sound that is very goofy with overall poor fidelity, frequency cancellations etc, just in the name of trying to capture some "live wetness" from the small room it is being recorded in.

There's really no argument here. For those who may like the sound of a small untreated room, please post some audio examples of things you recorded in a small untreated room, provide the room specs, and pics if you got `em. If you really feel it sounds good, please share, perhaps the rest of us have something to learn. No need to argue.

I unfortunately do not have any recordings done in a small semi-treated room because whatever ones I had have been tossed, they were not worth using or saving.

Soon I will have recordings done in a very small heavily treated room... I will be glad to post when ready.

[audiothings]

TheEqualizer, i'm inclined to agree with you, but i wish you wouldn't make it so difficult for me. Have you explained your stand in a different post i did not see? or is there some other reason why you think its reasonable to make blanket statements against mass opinion without any justification whatsoever? I wish you'd explain convincingly, and you'd help me confirm my suspicions about the validity of a little liveliness in small rooms.

personally, i think a combination of relatively reflective wooden slats of different widths and a great deal of bass/mid-bass trapping is a good way to go. but thats my unqualified, unjustified opinion.

[terry j]

Originally Posted by DanDan

Terry, if you want to explore I suggest you check out Space Couplers. You could duplicate them if you are good with wood. I have info which suggests they enhance LF absorption of a Trap placed behind them by 40%. Plus they promise some diffusion or liveness.
All good, but untested AFAIK. If you go there please do some tests, as the promises for these devices are very enticing. Arise now Sir T :-)
DD

Originally Posted by terry j

Want me to build a space coupler?? SirT(ainly) haha.
.........
To build something like that is simplicity itself.
.........
Hmm, colour me pretty intrigued.
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Hmm, the interest is growing!!
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Darn it, you're on!!

Thought I'd better put a link in for any future readers of the thread

SPACE COUPLERS. Theory, construction and effectiveness on traps.