Small room with 7'4" ceiling

[CAGuy]

My ceiling in my small home studio is only 7'4" and the other room dimensions are 10' x 12'.

I have good bass traps made of 4" thick rockwool with foil facing in all the vertical corners and I also have cotton insulation stuffed behind these bass traps.

I am also using Studio Traps from Acoustic Science Corporation which helps tremendously. The problem is that when I record acoustic guitar, my tracks seem too dark and unbalanced if I try to eq out the low end mud.

I believe this is because my ceilings are only 7'4". Here's my question. Is it possible to put bass trapping on the ceiling above where I sit to record acoustic guitar and fix the problem OR do I just need to find a room with a 8' or higher ceiling?

If anyone thinks bass traps on the ceiling will work, what products do you recommend?

[kasmira]

Bass traps hanging from the ceiling are recommended very often on this board, usually referred to as a "cloud". Most people will use a 4" thick trap mounted 4" below the ceiling for the generalistic "best results"

• Have you also been experimenting with placement of the mic you're recording with? (Or pickup only / no mic?)
• Is there any other furniture in the room?
• How many Studio Traps from ASC do you have & where are they placed in the room? (The tube traps, correct?)
• Why do you believe the low ceiling is whats causing the mud?

Not trying to question your logic, just, the more information that is given will help others quickly address the situation to help you better

[CAGuy]

I have tried MANY different mic placements from
1. xy in front of the 12 fret 4" away
2. xy in front of 12th fret 2' away
3. ORTF 18" away at the 12" fret
4. Micing from directly above about 2.5-3' above with mics on a spaced pair stereo bar with one above 12 fret and one above bridge pointing down
5. Spaced pair 4" away with one at 12 fret and one at bridge
6. Single mic at the 12th fret.

I will not record acoustic guitar with a pickup because pickups sound terrible in the studio.

And just about anything else imaginable.

I have 8 studio traps and I create a sound field shaped somewhat like a horse shoe but a little more round, and record inside it with me sitting in the open end with my guitar. The only other furniture in the room is a small drummers stool I sit on to mix the music after it's recorded.

I always have to notch out a lot at 164 Hz or somewhere near that range. My ceiling is only 7'4" and I do have two ASC Half Round bass traps on my ceiling above where I sit to record. I can tell I have a much brighter sound using the Studio Traps but there is still always a large notch that needs carved out around 164 Hz or so, and what is left does not sound natural. The best sound so far came from micing from above with spaced pairs but I still needed a lot of EQ which left it sound once again not natural.

I believe the problem is the low ceiling because it seems like the Studio traps help take the problems from the other dimensions out of the recording, but there's still that low ceiling. I'm wondering if the ceiling is just to low for the half rounds Bass traps to absorb the problem frequency adequately.

[CAGuy]

I am thinking I may just need more bass trapping on my ceiling. I found that if I position my head exactly centered below the two ASC Half Rounds on my ceiling, I can hear my voice become balanced and not bassy. I'm going to try this with the acoustic guitar today and see what happens. I think it is possible that I may need one or two more half rounds on my ceiling and hopefully my bad sounding room will actually sound nice and balanced. I think that because my ceiling is low and the acoustic guitar puts out so much bass, I need more traps on my ceiling.