Are some rooms too good to be true?

[Joe T10]

I got a call from a female friend who wanted me to record some simple demos for her at her place, simply acoustic guitar and vocals. I went over to check the space out, expecting to have to sort out bad acoustics and try to salvage some sort of semi-decent recording space. The thing is we did some quick vocal tests with the mic set up in 2 of the untreated rooms and the vocals sounded great pretty much from the get-go! Couldn't really believe what I was hearing.

Yes, the girl is a great singer which helps but her tone aside the actual quality of the recorded vocal sound was great and to be honest I am dumbfounded as to why. The rooms are small with low (suspended foam) ceilings that must be about 8 feet in height at most, one of the walls is brick and the others are wood and the floor is carpeted. The singer stood just off centre near the middle of the room, about 10 inches from the mic, did her thing and the vocal sound was awesome. The rooms must be about about 10 x 12 feet. Is this too good to be true or has this day been blessed by the recording gods?

The odd thing as well is that I moved the mic around a few times and the sound remained great aside from when I stuck her in the corner or up against the wall (that sounds a bit risqué ) - did this just to make sure I wasn't going mad.

Can a recording goes that smoothly without any room treatment?

[johndykstra]

using an Sm7?

those things will suck the "crap" out of any room

[Jeffrey Hedback]

Absolutely! I've long-held a belief that you can capture in guerilla acoustics (or noneat all) manner a "record worthy" track in just about any space (note..."any" should be qualified...but not the point here). However, as you continue to capture in that same space and all the room anomolies are captured on subsequent tracks...and then compressed and eq'd at mix; you quickly go from the inspired "record in progress" to a demo you will NOT listen to ever three years from now.

Congrats! Great job on the capture.

[Joe T10]

If I did much to vary the recording I'd be feeling pretty smug and mighty but the truth is the room just seemed to work which has me baffled. I imagine that the guitars won't track as well in the space but fingers crossed, I suppose you never know (well, at least until tomorrow.)

With a vocal that you have recorded and are particularly pleased with, what are some of the possible pitfalls that are not at first apparent? I keep listing back to the takes expecting to suddenly think ah crap it sounds kind of boxy or muddy but all good so far. Anything that I should really hone in on? Would be interesting to hear what the big boys and girls (i.e.those who don't just record themselves and their friends) listen out for when they listen back to vocal takes. Any tell-tale signs of trouble ahead that aren't maybe quite so apparent to folks like me?

[PaulP]

Yesterday I had a similar experience and it goes to show that for a live room
(as opposed to a control room) you want as little treatment as possible.
I think where you really need heavy treatment is when you're dealing with
deep bass and high volumes.

My room is about 12' x 15' x 9', gypsum board walls and ceiling, hardwood floor,
completely untreated but there are a couple of large openings to other spaces.
The room's empty except for two small bookshelf units and a studio piano in one
corner. I recorded some acoustic 6-string guitar in it yesterday with a single
cardioid condenser mic a couple of feet way.

When I played it back in the same room I was surprised at how good it sounded.
I couldn't hear any room it was just like I was still playing. Now the room isn't
perfect as there's some ringing but the fairly quiet guitar didn't activate anything
bad.

My daughter plays flute and she loves the sound of the room. I do plan to treat
the room but I will tread lightly as I don't want to lose the nice life that's there
now. It'll be mostly a question of getting rid of the ringing.

Paul P

[Glenn Kuras]

Originally Posted by Jeffrey Hedback

Absolutely! I've long-held a belief that you can capture in guerilla acoustics (or noneat all) manner a "record worthy" track in just about any space (note..."any" should be qualified...but not the point here). However, as you continue to capture in that same space and all the room anomolies are captured on subsequent tracks...and then compressed and eq'd at mix; you quickly go from the inspired "record in progress" to a demo you will NOT listen to ever three years from now.

Congrats! Great job on the capture.

Agree 100%.

[DanDan]

I have repeatedly noticed rooms with suspended ceilings sounding good. I note the the ceiling is treated with suspended foam, better than the usual tiles I expect. A great performer, assuming an airgap above. This would be the nearest surface to a standing singer, and it is as well treated as possible. The floor is also treated, the next nearest surface/reflection gone. With the singer in mid room, all the remaining surfaces are as far away as possible. Furthermore the centre of the room is at various modal nulls. I am glad, but hardly surprised that the recording sounds good! I suspect acoustic guitar will sound excellent also, just avoid any modal peak spots around 100Hz. Find them by playing a 100Hz sine in the room. Drums will probably sound wrong in that room. I would recommend a sheet of plywood underneath, and position the drums close to a wall or even in a corner to get the bass boost.
Sax, Violin Flute etc. could also do with some help. Plywood sheets, at a slight angle to the walls to avoid flutter, bring a great woody life to bear.
DD