Been pondering this...

[deadroom]

If someone has nice gear, can you work in a completely untreated live room and get a nice product?

Vice versa, can someone with an ITB set up and amateur gear get a desireable sound in a nicely treated live room?

How big of a role does proper treatment in the room play in your final product?

[Jules]

If sound transmission out from the studio isn't a problem then (especially for a dedicated drum room) it's always worth trying it first before zooming in and doing a lot of work. It might already sound fantastic as it is!

[dominic hoenig]

i have gotten great results from an ITB untreated room set up - i had to work harder, but i got it.

now i have a treated room, with mostly still ITB set up, bar a few compressors and reverbs. and i can still get great results but it's just so much easier to, and easier to assess my decisions as well.

[Glenn Kuras]

If someone has nice gear, can you work in a completely untreated live room and get a nice product?

Having nice gear does not take away from the need for room treatment. In fact the nicer the gear the more you need room treatment so you can actually HEAR how the "nice gear" is working.

Vice versa, can someone with an ITB set up and amateur gear get a desireable sound in a nicely treated live room?

Yes

How big of a role does proper treatment in the room play in your final product?

It makes a huge difference.

[sctt_stone]

Originally Posted by Glenn Kuras

Having nice gear does not take away from the need for room treatment. In fact the nicer the gear the more you need room treatment so you can actually HEAR how the "nice gear" is working.




Yes



It makes a huge difference.

Guitar amp in the corner, Can it be done right?

That being said, please check out this thread that Iposted yesterday.

I have the same question. I have some nice gear but Iam stuck working in an apartment.

I am trying to figure out how to make the most of it while keeping the space livable for my wife and kids.

[BlueSprocket]

An ideal environment is one with great gear and great acoustics. But most people working these days don't have the luxury of that.

For mixing, decent gear with crap acoustics is possible. Its a complete PITA, but doable. I mixed an entire album in a basement with cinderblock walls and a concrete floor and the band was very happy with those mixes. I had a decent mixer and my outboard toys, and I spent a lot of time referencing headphones and mixing at very low volumes on my monitors. The process took longer, but it got done.

For tracking, even OD's. Crap acoustics means crap tracks, and concequently a LOT of work later on in the chain. Its that simple.

[Glenn Kuras]

Just to add. In a lot of cases it cost less to treat the room then a nice preamp or microphone. Seems kind of a no brainer to me.

[Ethan Winer]

Originally Posted by deadroom

If someone has nice gear, can you work in a completely untreated live room and get a nice product?

I'm surprised nobody asked how big the room is, because that's probably the most important question.

--Ethan

[Glenn Kuras]

I will agree that as the room becomes larger you have less low end problems, but have not met a room yet that gets the pass on some kind of treatment.

[BlueSprocket]

Oddly enough, I started to write a long drawn out thing about room size. But then decided I'd shorten it to the last line of my post.