My Booth - Open Back Or Open Front?

[kaze]

so i made this little booth (well it's more like a corner then a booth), kind of banana shaped... and i've been recording with me looking into the foam, but i read on here a while back that it's supposedly better if i rap with the foam to my back and into the open (untreated) room.

can somebody explain to me why that is?

i don't have much of a voice left after last nights performance, but i did both variations... i did actually notice a difference. i think the 2nd one sounds a little cleaner, and the first one sounds a little compressed... but i am not sure which one is better for recording rap vocals. so i'm hoping you guys can give me some feedback


trial 1:
zSHARE - 1.mp3



trial 2:
zSHARE - 2.mp3

[korbes]

Originally Posted by kaze

so i made this little booth (well it's more like a corner then a booth), kind of banana shaped... and i've been recording with me looking into the foam, but i read on here a while back that it's supposedly better if i rap with the foam to my back and into the open (untreated) room.

can somebody explain to me why that is?

Because your mic might pick up more of the "ugly" reflections ching ching of your untreated room if it is pointed in that direction (the room's) while these reflections will hit the mic ching ching on its off-axis if it is pointed in the other direction and what comes in will be absorbed or softened by the foam. Ching ching... My pleasure to be of assistance to a rap star ;-)

[urbangermany]

it is always better to record into the direction of the foam rather than away from it! atleast that's what i've been told.

[azrael kennedy]

i wish my closet was that huge

[urbangermany]

just because he writes huge on it doesnt mean its huge.

[irthwirm]

toward the foam. Your body will help with the back reflections. Not too much foam you don't want the room Completely dead and that's probably why you like it when your facing outwards. You're getting some hi reflections which is a good thing. It brightens it up a little. You just don't want the whole room reflecting back in the mic. Your better off setting up/ hanging moving blankets around your room to tame those highs. and Bass traps for the corners for the lows. and have it more open then in that little booth (boxy, dull, lifeless sound). You can make or buy bass traps for pretty cheap. real traps makes some good ones i heard but i was able to find some for 40 bucks a panel. can't remember where though

OR....
Set it up like this. And then add a moving blanket on top of the ceiling. This way you can move them when you not using them. It works great! I know it may seem better to have foam everywhere in a small booth but really that's going to give you a dead boring sound.

A good test to see how things a reflecting is by clapping your hands pretty firmly. You can really hear the reflections and is a good tester to see if you getting to much or too little imo. Try it inside and outside your booth.

[PELicanWord]

Originally Posted by urbangermany

just because he writes huge on it doesnt mean its huge.

this made me lol.

[azrael kennedy]

Originally Posted by urbangermany

just because he writes huge on it doesnt mean its huge.

yeah but the size of the closet in relation to his huge bed is nice. I wish i had a closet almost the size of my huge bed.

[kaze]

korbes, thanks for replying, i think i get the picture. but could you please check out my 2 audios and tell me whether it actually does sound better that way?

irthwirm, thank you so much for taking the time out to give me a real breakdown. the booth 1.1m wide, should it be wider than that? i also have foam right above the mic, which is why i'm using that little closet as a second wall and to hold the foam above it. is the foam above too close though? actually the question should be, are my audios too boxy? if you say they are, i'll just stick the foam onto the ceiling.



were you speaking generally or do you think my audios have a dead boring sound because of my booth?

Originally Posted by urbangermany

just because he writes huge on it doesnt mean its huge.

6 doors, ~3.5m wide, ~2.10m high, and ~0.7m deep, so maybe it's not huge, but it's certainly big. pretty strange what you guys concern yourself with.

[gorillainthemix]

Originally Posted by urbangermany

it is always better to record into the direction of the foam rather than away from it! atleast that's what i've been told.

you were told wrong. You always have your back towards the accoustic treatment.
Your back is NOT going to "help against reflections" when singing/rapping into the foam, but it was a good laugh though when I read it. At first it might seem unlogical, but it actually is very logical.
Don't confuse it with a reflection filter.

Like this:

[urbangermany]

well which one is it? You're saying some else than what the other guy is saying.

[gorillainthemix]

Originally Posted by urbangermany

well which one is it? You're saying some else than what the other guy is saying.

Why would you sing "into the foam" when you're (probably) using a cardioid pattern with your mic? It's going to pick up all the reflections from behind you. Especially with a LDC.
You want as little reflections as possible, therefore you direct the front of the mic towards the treated area and switch your mic to unidirectional. Makes sense to me.

[Osten Powers]

Originally Posted by The Dutch Master

you were told wrong. You always have your back towards the accoustic treatment.
Your back is NOT going to "help against reflections" when singing/rapping into the foam, but it was a good laugh though when I read it. At first it might seem unlogical, but it actually is very logical.
Don't confuse it with a reflection filter.

Like this:

That's interesting...I was always rapping into the foam, but it makes sense to have the foam in the back because it points away from the room and the reflections which are coming from the room! I will check it out!

[urbangermany]

why is it unidirectional? wouldnt it be unidirectional if you had the mic sideways?

[gorillainthemix]

Originally Posted by urbangermany

why is it unidirectional? wouldnt it be unidirectional if you had the mic sideways?

I was talking about the mic's different polar patterns, i.e. omni-, bi- or unidirectional. Some mics give you the ability to switch through all of these.

[urbangermany]

didnt know that! must be expensive mics. i've never seen a compressor mic with a switch on it.

[ears2thesky]

I have to agree with the Dutch Master.
The "hot" side of your mic is facing your mouth, but reflections from behind you are also getting in there messing up your sound. The side of the mic facing the room is the "null" side so it doesn't pick up reflections directly from the room.
So to review: you want the side of the mic that is most sensitive to face your mouth, but you don't want the room reflections to get in there, so behind your body (the direction your voice comes from) is where the acoustic treatment should be.

[Osten Powers]

I made a test yesterday and there are less room reflections when I rap into the treatment, means the mic points inte the room! Sounds better for me...

[TsunboRecords]

Originally Posted by Osten Powers

I made a test yesterday and there are less room reflections when I rap into the treatment, means the mic points inte the room! Sounds better for me...

What's your setup like?

[kaze]

thanks to everybody for replying, i just wish more people would have taken the time out to listen to the 2 audios and tell me what i could do to get a better sound. especially since it seems to be different depending on the setup.

dutch master, the room looks amazing. maybe i'll get there in a couple of years, but right now i have to work with what i got. thanks for the explanation though. this thread really helped me get a better picture of room treatments.

[HoPMiX]

For a couple hundred bucks you could make some DIY traps. There are tutorials all over the web. They will look a lot better and not protrude into the room but rather look more like Dutch's set up. Then you can take that paper thin wall of foam you have made, prolly isn't doing much anyway, and place around some reflection spots.
Your vocals will sound a lot more open.
you could also go here.
John Hunter Acoustics (Jonathan Pond) | MySpace
he's pretty inexpensive and you can start at 4.. $300
some people may say bass traps wont be effective on vocals. but i have found that it works greats along with some auralex combined